The ferry ride from Helsinki to Tallinn only took two hours, so I checked my luggage in the locker and explored. This boat was much nicer than the Viking Line, with more interesting observation decks, bars, and comfortable seating areas.
I got into Tallinn, Estonia in the late afternoon and I was a bit concern. I had no idea what a former soviet occupied country would look like before and certainly had no inkling of what it would look like now. I was quite surprise to find that it was no different than any normal mid size city I visited. There were old buildings mixed with new ones, shops and hotels, typical cars and local people. There wasn’t anything that screamed old soviet communism.
As I approached the intersection with the huge Stockmann department store and a brand spanking new Swisshotel, I turned and found my hostel (GIDIC Backpackers), a broken down condemned wooden building in a gravel lot. It was surreal how unsightly it could be and if it was in Nepean, the city council would complain. The facade inside was not that much better, with broken door frames, peeled wallpaper, and the only men’s bathroom that pooled water towards the toilets (we were allow to use the women’s bathroom the next day).
2010 08 15 - Tallinn, Estonia - the should be condemned GIDIC Hostel
Luckily the staff were super friendly and great local tips. Although the areas around the hostel was closing down for the evening, the old town, a walled enclosure with beautiful old buildings, great restaurants, interesting shops, and plenty of bars, would stay open into the late hours during the summer tourist season.
2010 08 15 - Tallinn, Estonia - the entrance into Old Town
2010 08 15 - Tallinn, Estonia - one of the many restaurants in the Old Town
2010 08 15 - Tallinn, Estonia - the beautiful town square in the Old Town
The prices were amazing too, especially just after breaking the bank in Scandinavia. Estonia was also in the process of adopting the EUR, but until then, the local Estonia Kroon (EEK) was in circulation. Using the map I found myself a great little pub called Hell’s Hunt serving local brews. The server was awesome too, advising me to that the appetizer (herring with potatoes and sour cream) I ordered could be a meal in itself. It was like eating sashimi, so fresh and yummy. I think I paid less than $8 CAD for the meal and two pints.
2010 08 15 - Tallinn, Estonia - pickled herrings with sour cream and potatoes
The next day I went on the free walking tour (they are everywhere now) and I had the best time. Helen was a funny and outgoing university student and for the next two hours kept us laughing with her insights of what Estonians were all about. It was quite interesting to hear how they felt when they were forced to become part of the Soviet Union and then their liberations years after.
2010 08 16 - Tallinn, Estonia - Helen, our guide, recounting stories at the Free Walking Tour
2010 08 16 - Tallinn, Estonia - Rooftops of the Old Town
I also met a lot of other tourists and after the tour, Francesc from Spain and I decided to go explore some of the areas outside of the old town, including an old abandoned concert hall with obvious Soviet influenced architecture but now covered with graffiti and broken beer bottles. We met up later back in the old town for a great Estonian dinner and more drinks at the Hell’s Hunt. Yeah, I would go back to Estonia again.
2010 08 16 - Tallinn, Estonia - dipping my hand in the Baltic Sea
2010 08 16 - Tallinn, Estonia - sharing a pint at Hell's Hunt
The next day, I boarded a bus from Tallinn to Riga, Latvia, another former Soviet occupied country. My bus buddy, Marie from France, told me that she got tired of work and decided to travel the world and had been on the road for nine months now. Her passport was full of stamps from Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Peru, Chile, Argentina and laughed about cheated in Brazil (got the stamp from stepping into the Brazilian side of the falls), and many more. I was so tempted to one up her but then realized I just got a new passport renewed and I got only my tiny stamp from entering the UK and one tiny stamp from flying to Copenhagen. Feeling extremely inadequate, I adjusted my sitting position and kept my passport to myself.
After sharing horrible Estonia hostel stories, Marie did not have a place booked yet in Riga. So she followed me to check out my hostel. When we arrived, we were floored how two Aussies (Jarryd and Ben) could afford to turn the top two floors of the trendy barrack building in the middle of the touristy old town into such a great hostel, the Blue Cow Barracks. Unfortunately, the hostel was fully booked and so Marie left to find another.
2010 08 17 - Riga, Latvia - the converted Barracks
2010 08 17 - Riga, Latvia - the Blue Cow Barracks Hostel
After settling in (and doing a full load of laundry for free), I joined Jarryd and Ben at the restaurant downstairs for cocktail happy hour. A few more rounds and a steak dinner afterwards, it was great that I didn’t have far to stumble home.
2010 08 17 - Riga, Latvia - Happy Hours at the Barracks
Back at the hostel, Noemi and Antoine, both musicians from Paris, helped me with finding a great boutique hotel in their neighbourhood for my next stop. We all veged in front of the giant flat screen with Merieke and Richard from Holland in the living room having a lazy night. Jarryd and Ben must have passed out when my 3 room mates Iago, Concha and Raquel from Spain arrived late. With my limited Spanish and mostly English, I checked them in and gave them the same information as I got earlier, including their room keys and maps to the city. Everyone was quite grateful (including Jarryd and Ben the next morning) and I think I just found my true calling.
The next day I explored the art nouveau section of the town before meeting up with the free walking tour. We went through little Moscow and most of the old town. After a rest back at the hostel and meeting my new roommates whom I didn’t have to check them in this time, I ended the day with the sun set view on the 26th floor at the Radisson Skyline bar.
2010 08 18 - Riga, Latvia - one of the many buildings in the Art Nouveau section
2010 08 18 - Riga, Latvia - Rats Square
2010 08 18 - Riga, Latvia - beautiful buildings in the old town
2010 08 19 - Riga Latvia - our tour guide from the Free Walking Tour
2010 08 18 - Riga, Latvia - the Freedom Monument, honoring those killed in action during the Latvian War of Independence (the Radisson Hotel is in the background)
2010 08 18 - Riga, Latvia - Sunset from the 26th Floor Skyline Bar at the Radisson
1. At the airport in Riga
2. Paris, France
3. Everything I ate was captured on camera....
4. Perhaps taking some day trips visiting other cities of Estonia and Latvia, definitely would have loved to go to Vilnius, Lithuania, next
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