Our journey from Scandinvia into eastern europe begins with another ferry crossing, this time on the Tallink ferry – Baltic Princess.
The sun is setting as we arrive, dipping slowly below the horizon, yet the light takes longer to fade. We are slowly getting used to this, as the light up here in the Northern part of the Northern hempisphere hangs around for just that little bit longer.
We’re camped up in Pirita harbour, just a few kilometres east of Tallinn centre. We’ve cleaned out the van, somehow it managed to get dirtier than ever, despite the fact we have been in a hostel for four days in Helsinki.
Our drive from the ferry port to here took us past some of the strangest constructions I have seen. The all concrete construction casts them instantly as Soviet structures, the crumbling edges and mossy roofs tell a tale of a time forgotten.
The two structures, on either side of the main Pirita road line up to look out over the Baltic, back to Helsinki and Finland. Sitting behind one of the structures is a large column, a soviet memorial to the war dead.
Across the harbour resides the facade of a monastry, it’s single remaining wall contains holes where windows once were but little else.
Yet if you look closely you start to see the real Tallinn, modern constructions are springing up, barely visible through the pine trees and internet access points are signposted everywhere. For a country that has only been free for two decades it has already, in some respects, over taken some of the grand old powers in Europe.
The clash between old and new continues as we walk towards the old town of Tallinn.
Modern wood and glass clad extensions site atop old stonework foundations and buildings.
Tallinn’s old town is it’s real gem. Hidden away behind stone walls complete with round towers and gatehouses it instantly grabs you, despite the fact that McDonalds has prime location just inside the city gates.
Here the contrast between old and new stops. There is only one new building here and it makes no attempt to be sympathetic to the old. Yet here, unlike in the suburbs, it feels out of place.
The Town Hall is our destination to meet Sarah and Valerio, two travellers with whom we have arranged an evening, again the couchsurfing network has come in useful.
Over 500 years are contained in these brick walls, the cafes and bars are lively yet, if you manage to shut them out, or just peer down an alleyway or up one of the small streets you could quite believe that this city has changed very little since that time. Until of course the small blue vans of the litter pickers arrive to keep this small piece of World Heritage clean and tidy.
A newspaper lying on the floor, it’s headline proclaiming something in a different alphabet, reminds me just how close we are to Russia.
After a few fairly reasonably priced drinks in the Hell Hunt, Estonia’s first bar, established in 1992 – we travellers disperse again, agreeing to meet Sarah tomorrow for some sightseeing.
If ever you want to get to know a religion the key thing is to look at its buildings. The sparse Lutherian church near the east gate, with its walls covered in coats of arms – deep brown wood and fading gold lettering to the immensenly white and gold Orthodox Cathedral sat high above the city. Sarah insists that we see three of them, and she left the Lutherian interior as a surprise for us, so I shall leave the final church as a surprise for you.
After that we head to an unassuming restraunt entitled “Kompressor” where Sarah informs us that they do the best pancakes – and we are not dissapointed, the taste and the quantity suppress our appetite for ferry buffets for now.
Our evening walk leads us out to the park on the east side of town, past the art museum and it’s pretty garden and out to another memorial on the edge of the ice blue Baltic.
Estonia has lost its Soviet feel, what remains are now more quirky artifacts that concrete monsters, the drive towards modernism is surprising though here the people are noticeably more reserved than the Scandinavians.
Coming into Tallinn is like no other city I have been to, it is a complete melting pot of different cultures, different times and different architecture. A truly unique city that should be on every one’s “to do” list.
…
We stayed at Pirita Harbour Camping.
Camping cost us 200eek (11gbp) per night including electric hookup and toilets, but no showers.
Wifi access is included but you have to send a text to the council run system to gain access for a 24hour period. The SMS will be charged at your normal rate and there are no other charges.
