Day 1 Tallinn
I had a very early start this morning for my 6.30am train. Walked down the street to the train station and got some breakfast at my last Russian canteen. I got some blini, ham & eggs and some kind of juice drink.
St Petersburg is a great city and I'll miss it. It's not the prettiest city in the world but it's got loads of character and it's just fun to walk around.
The train itself was OK but definitely an older train. Certainly not as good as the Japanese trains or the Moscow->St Petersburg train I got. Really not too much to say about the train ride. The scenery was pretty consistent with the stuff I'd seen throughout the rest of Russia.
We did the border crossing thing on the train so we were stopped for about 45 minutes while the Estonian border guards checked everyone's passport and gave out Visas. No dramas.
Arriving in Tallinn kind of caught me by surprise. There was a whole bunch of nothing then some houses then a department store then we were in Tallinn within about 10 minutes. It was a nice sunny afternoon when I arrived which was nice after the clouds and rain that's been plaguing me in Moscow and St P.
To get to the hostel I had to walk through the centre of the Tallinn Old Town. Holy shit. What a lovely place. This is apparently the most well preserved old town in Europe and I would believe it. It's so clean and well maintained. Winding cobblestone streets and old buildings everywhere. It's beautiful.
My hostel is about 5 minutes walk past the old town in a section of Tallinn called Rotterman. It's sort of an old run-down district that they are fixing up building by building and filling with restaurants, hotels, office buildings and shops. I'm on the third floor of the hostel and I think I've been upgraded rooms because they are not very busy. I booked a bed in an 8 bed dorm room but I've been given a room with 3 beds and I appear to be alone. Score!
The hostel is OK but it feels incomplete. There aren't really any common areas and the lighting is pretty poor so it just feels empty. The bed is comfortable and the room is a beautifully renovated space but it has no window coverings and only a small cupboard. Again - it just feels incomplete. Like they ran out of money before they were finished. Be interested to see how it looks in a couple of years.
So my plan today was basically to walk around around Tallinn a bit and explore the old town. I went to the tourist information office and picked up a few brochures then basically walked the streets of the town. I think I covered every street in old town looking around, taking some pictures and playing Ingress.
After a few hours it was starting to get a bit cold so I headed back to the hostel. I stopped in at a market on the way and got some dinner and breakfast food.
Later on I went out and had a look at the town by night. I went by a lookout that was mentioned on a tourist map but it was pretty shit and didn't really show much of the town. Wandered around for a while then stopped in at a craft beer bar at the top of old town. Really good selection of beers but just far too busy so I left after 1.
Pretty quiet day really but I enjoyed it. Tallinn is a beautiful town to walk around. It's definitely a tourist town but it's really nice and it feels authentic.
When I got back to the hostel a group of about a dozen Brazilians turned up and started to make a hell of a racket. Thankfully none of them ended up in my room because they were noisy enough with my door shut. Yelling and howling and slamming doors all over the place. Very annoying. Praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster for earplugs!
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