Tallinn a wonderful old town
Trip Start
Jun 18, 2007
1
102
150
Trip End
Ongoing
Tallinn,
Estonia
Sunday, March 9, 2008
After the 5 hour bus trip from Riga to Tallinn in which we flow past the old boarder posts of pre EU Europe, we got into the bus station and quickly got into a taxi - something unimaginable to me if i was traveling by myself, though it was undeniably nice not have to worry about spending an hour trying to get to my hostel by bus or some other form of public transport. That is the cheapest way.
Like Riga, the major reason for tourists to came to Tallinn is its old town. A wonderfully compact area of quiet streets, amazing churches, great restaurants and friendly people. Unlike Riga we both really enjoyed this old town as it seemed a little more authentic, with more interesting touristic attractions to participate in. Two days were spent heading into different types of churches - both Russian Orthodox and Christian as well as getting my mother up the tight dark stairs of the old town wall which we then walked around. However the most wonderful thing was simply walking around, ducking into little allys and exploring the old town with no fixed idea of where we were heading
One thing that has been plainly clear from walking around is how much effort everyone makes in dressing up. I've actually felt under dressed, simply walking down the street due to my cloths not being the most coordinated around -something that I certainly didn't feel in India and Asia. At least i got a haircut before i turned up and got rid of my $2 shoes, cause i properly wouldn't have been allowed into some places.
The idea of going to Russia however has been dashed with the news that, as a travel agent says, 'Russia really isn't getting along with Australia' and as such īgetting a visa will take at least 10 days - something we weren't really ready to do. Indeed it would have been easier and quicker to for us to head back to iran, but Christina wasnt having any of that.
This however has meant we have approximately 4 weeks to go anywhere in Europe. Now this sounds great, indeed a dream, but deciding where to go on a whims notice is not that easy especially since we live in Australia and just cant fly over any old weekend to Europe. This had to be discussed and researched so after a few beers in a pub we decided to head to Ireland for st pats day and then spend two weeks in Italy seeing our relatives
Yes it's a hard life i know but someone has to do it.
Next stop Ireland
