Traveling to Tallinn

At the end of September, I traveled to Tallinn, Estonia with my friend and fellow Fulbrighter, Erica. We took a 3-hour bus from Lappeenranta to Helsinki and then a 2.5-hour ferry across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn.

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Upon arrival we were picked up by Erica’s former boss, Carl, and his co-worker. Throughout the weekend we were treated with an insider experience that would not have been possible on our own. First we went to the top of the Radisson Sky Hotel and saw a beautiful view of the city. Then we stopped at a cafe for coffee and truffles. Carl showed us around Old Town by night and was full of interesting and relevant stories. The city is old and full of history. In fact for dinner we ate at a medieval style restaurant that had both period food and decor. We ended the night at a “secret,” speakeasy type bar with no exterior sign in which you had to call for entrance. Finally we went to our hostel in Old Town, where I slept surprisingly well for being surrounded by four strangers.

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The next day after breakfast, we embarked on a day-long pursuit of abandoned Soviet sites, which Carl was eager to tell us about. We drove along the north-western cost of Estonia and stopped at various places along the way including a propaganda site filled with broken glass and missing ceiling, a prison-mine that now favors a scenic lake, a creepy bunker, a beautiful manor, and a crumbling monastery. Before heading to Carl’s home town (an hour outside of Tallinn) for dinner, we visited a small store and tried a bunch of different Estonian snacks. Some were weirder than others, such as the soda that tasted like bread!

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On the last morning we did some shopping. I got my standard postcard from a souvenir shop, which I will eventually add to my scrapbook. As some of you may not know, Finland has fairly high taxes on alcohol. For that reason, many Finns and international students alike travel to Tallinn to purchase alcohol and bring it back to Finland. We’re talking cases of alcohol rolled on and off the ferry with dollies. Though I’m not that into drinking, it was shocking to observe that one liter of the beloved Finnish Long Drink in Tallinn costs the same as one can in Finland. That’s three times as expensive in Finland. Overall this was a great weekend trip across the Baltic Sea! Thanks to Carl for making our stay so memorable!