Tallinn and Helsinki - Baltic Sisters

Day 1 - Traveling to Tallinn

Today was spent mostly traveling. We caught a very quick mid-morning flight for the 150 miles from Krakow to Warsaw, where we had a layover and then another flight into Tallinn, where it was foggy upon our arrival.

Our taxi took us to our hotel, within the walls of the old city and we received our first glimpse of the pastel coloured, old buildings which seemed untouched by the centuries. It was about 7 pm when we arrived in our room, which was lovely and comfortable.

First up, was a trip to the grocery store, to stock up on supplies of water, fruit and snacks. Then we ate dinner at a German-style beer hall, where we shared a pork shank with sauerkraut and mustard sauce and a couple of steins of beer. It was very Disney-esque themed, but it definitely hit the spot!

We then went back to our hotel to rest up, despite it still being light outside at 11:30pm and then with dawn again at 3:30am - we would have to get used to this, as we traveled further into the Scandinavian region!

Day 2 - Tumbleweeds in Tallinn

Travelling seems to be starting to wear us down a bit, as we managed a late start on the next morning. We started off by having a wonderful breakfast at our hotel, then going for a walk to explore the city.

We headed up to Toompea – Upper Town to see the castle, as well as peer into the Russian Orthodox church called 'Alexander Nevsky Cathedral'. This church sits across from the Parliament buildings. We then walked along the hill to some lookout points where we had a majestic vista of the old Lower Town and the Gulf of Finland beyond. We could see the fog rolling in again from the water, which looked like a blanket being pulled over the town – this reminded Melissa very much of San Francisco, where she had once lived.

Afterwards, we headed back down to the Lower Town where we further explored the lovely medieval architecture. It was easy to feel like we͛ve stepped back in time, because along with the architecture, it seemed that anyone working in shops or restaurants wore traditional, colourful Estonian attire.

In some ways, this place also reminded us of Old Quebec City, with the old architecture and the Upper and Lower Towns and walled city – although Tallinn is somewhat bigger, but less steep than Quebec.

We searched for a specific coffee shop that was off the beaten track and had good ratings but found that it was closed for summer holidays. This seemed odd as you would think this would be the busy season, but there you go. Instead we had a long, leisurely lunch at a nearby restaurant. One of the highlight foods in Tallinn, and Poland for that matter, is the black bread. It is so good, and unlike most other places in Europe, bread is served with butter. After resting at our hotel for a couple of hours, we went out for another walk and explored another part of the Lower Town that was new to us. We had a fast-food meal of hamburgers at a Finnish chain called 'Hesburger'. This was very much a McDonalds knock-off, but with fresher ingredients and a little less salty.

While Melissa headed back to the room, Colin, knowing the cruise ship day-trippers were gone, braved the steps back to the Upper Town to get a few more pictures of the Orthodox cathedral and from the viewing platforms, including pictures of the unfortunately named 'Kiek in de Kök' fortification tower. This towers name actually translates to 'Peep in the Kitchen', as occupants could look into the kitchens of nearby houses.

Day 3 - Taking it easy in Tallinn

Today we took an easy day - spent re-exploring parts of Old Tallinn, taking pictures, writing our blog for Poland and enjoying a wonderful meal in the courtyard at a nearby restaurant called 'Von Krahli Aed'. This restaurant was interesting as you could choose a meat or vegan option for each of the main courses, so if you were a meat eater, dining with your vegetarian friend, neither of you would feel left out.

During our travels today, we also ran into the 'Society of Creative Anachronism' (SCA), which is a club where members dressed up in medieval period costumes, to act out historic events and just pretend to be old fashioned – in a town steeped in the medieval, this seems like a perfect fit!

Day 4 - Traveling to Helsinki

We spent another leisurely morning waking up late, having breakfast and then doing more sightseeing before heading to the pier to catch a three-hour Ferry boat to Helsinki, Finland.

After storing our luggage, we ate in the ship restaurant with seats overlooking the water. We then explored the many decks where we discovered that there was so much to do! There were many restaurants, coffee shops, wine bars, kids areas, a spa with a sauna (which is a big thing in Scandinavia) but not too many places to just sit down without having to part with your money. We finally found seats in a lounge which was playing very, very loud dance music, and then, much to our horror, this turned into a performance geared toward the small children on board. This 'children's show' had all the young ones up on-stage dancing, singing, screaming and pretty much enjoying themselves, while we were grateful that we had brought sound-cancelling headphones with us (is this one of the many circles of hell, we had mistakenly entered?).

The view of Helsinki as we approached was stunning, as the ship navigated in between the many islands leading up to the mainland.

After checking into our hotel, we headed out to explore the city centre. We walked along the streets which were set up in a grid pattern and realised that, aside from a quick trip back home to Canada for Melissa several weeks ago, it had been a very, very long time since we saw streets that were set up on a grid plan, rather than the typical winding narrow streets and lanes that are common in almost all of Europe. This is because Helsinki is quite young (by European standards), and as such it is a planned city. Because of this and also due to the style of some of the architecture with the street cars (trams), we felt that we could squint and be back in Toronto 🇨🇦!

We found a nice pub where Colin ate lamb sausages and Melissa enjoyed a bowl of salmon soup, which is a local delicacy and is delicious, although perhaps a little rich.

Day 5 - Living the highlife in Helsinki

After breakfast we set out for a long walk about the city. We first stopped off at the Central Train Station, which was voted as one of the most beautiful train stations in the world by the BBC. It did not disappoint! We were particularly enchanted by the statues out front that in addition to adding beauty to the structure, also provided the function of being lamp posts. After a quick coffee break, we then headed to Temppeliaukion Church, also known as the 'Church in the Rock'. This church was completed in 1969 and is built directly into the rock with a copper domed roof that is surrounded by a skylight to let in the light from outside. A lady was playing a musical instrument called a kantele, that looks like a harp that is on its side. The acoustics in this rock church were phenomenal and her music had a very peaceful calming effect as she played. From there we walked to the sandy beach and then on to the food market where we enjoyed a bowl of fantastic salmon soup for lunch before heading back for a rest.

In our room, we watched parts of both football matches – and were so happy to see that England has moved on to the next round and a bit stunned to see Russia, the host country eliminated.