Wednesday, 13 August 2014

The final part of the Baltics (Estonia)

We are sitting in a coffee shop in Riga... There's a couple of teenagers awkwardly getting to know each other in the opposite corner, two women gossiping on another sofa, and Jane is reading her new book, ....so I will write the blog.

We leave on our flight to Paris in the morning, and I'm trying to remember everything that's happened in the last few days... We've covered a lot, so there may be bullet points.

And having made some notes, I'll do it in two separate posts. So first.....

Tallinn, Estonia

We got an overnight bus from Vilinus, while sat next to a REALLY dodgy Russian guy...skin head, prison tattoos, angered when people approached him, facial scars, listening to loud rap music without headphones, obviously underage Asian girlfriend...

Helpfully, and cause it always happens, he wanted to be friends and chat.

Having made our excuses and moved seats, we had a good sleep and arrived in Tallinn at 06:50, where we found everything was closed and people were drunkenly stumbling out of bars.

Our hostel was pretty basic..the worst so far, but we were not to spend much time there...it was sightseeing time.

Highlights:

Wandering the old town (which is straight out of a fairy tale).



Watching some random 3x3 basketball competition.



Trying our hand at archery (Jane narrowly won, though we weren't competing).




Climbing the back of the city to an amazing viewpoint.



An out of town abandoned prison, now used in part as an art gallery.




Eating dried and smoked fish in the marina



Finding a random set of pull up bars.



And then Jane's 'pull ups'...




Finding an out of town restaurant in an abandoned warehouse area.



THE Depeche Mode bar... Where they only play, show on TV, advertise, and adorn the walls, ceiling, and bar with Depeche Mode. Really. Really. Weird.



Cinema! Guardians of the galaxy! In 3d! With both Russian and Estonian subtitles! (8/10)

Overall, Tallinn is really nice. There's about two days of stuff to do, there are loads of bars (though we didn't go in), and the old town is almost perfect. But apparently 90pc of tourists don't venture beyond the walls and this is a real shame; our favourite sights, food, and views were all outside, and I'd encourage anyone who comes here to explore more.

Chris


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