A Trip to Tallinn

Last week, my friend and I had a day trip to Tallinn on a cruise ship. After living in Finland for two and a half years, I finally went abroad. The closest I ever got to traveling in Europe was booking flights and hotel rooms for a trip to the Netherlands. However, the trip was canceled. With no expectations, my Tallinn trip was both surprisingly amusing and disappointing. This post will go into what I liked and didn’t like about my trip to this Estonian city.

How to travel to Tallinn

I went there on a Viking Line cruise. The booking and check-in were all done online. Viking Line seemed like a popular choice and their price was affordable (14€/person). The cruise left from Katajanokka in Helsinki and arrived in Tallinn 2 hours and 15 minutes later. 

The cruise

It was my first time being on a cruise, so I wasn’t familiar with the customs and protocol. For example, I didn’t know many people rushed onto the cruise to get seats by the windows. I also wasn’t aware of the seating plan, where people just sat or stood everywhere instead of having assigned seats like on a train. The ship was huge with multiple stores, bars, and gaming sections, but none really interested me. The cruise left very early in the morning, so I didn’t have time to eat breakfast and didn’t remember to bring anything either. 

Tallinn Old Town

After the dullness and lack of activities on the cruise, Tallinn Old Town welcomed me with its beautiful streets. 

A picture really speaks a thousand words. It was so snowy and the streets looked like they were straight out of a fairy tale. The buildings had a Gothic style and featured a vibrant color palette. I could randomly point my camera and the picture would come out stunning. I was taken from one surprise to another by how pretty the streets were. I tried to walk through all the streets to see what stores there were, but I didn’t have time to visit many. Most stores sold handcrafted products, along with bakeries, coffee shops, and restaurants. In my opinion, it’s not necessary to plan ahead for a day in Tallinn, as you’ll for sure want to visit every store you see there. One thing you must do, though, is climb the hill of Toompea. From there, you can see an overview of the Old Town. There’s also a Russian Orthodox Church at the top of the hill with a cool design.

Outside of the Old Town area, Tallinn is a fusion of Slavic and Nordic/European design. Some new buildings remind me of Finland, while some old apartments look just like those in Russia.

The best thing about Tallinn is its cheap price—much cheaper than in Finland. I had an 8€ bowl of Pho for lunch. In Helsinki, it would be almost double that price. Pastries were also cheap and diverse. I got a chocolate cookie the size of my face for 3€! Even though I didn’t buy any alcohol, many people on the cruise brought back multiple cases of beer on a trolley because alcohol is much cheaper in Estonia. 

The people

Estonians didn’t give me the impression that they were particularly friendly. Most cashiers and salespeople didn’t greet me like they typically do in Finland. Some even stared at my friend and me for taking too long to choose. Moreover, their English wasn’t that good (or maybe they didn’t want to use English with me). The worst interaction was with the cashier at a sock store. She was literally angry and acting aggressively toward me for no reason. She was friendly to other White customers though :)

Despite the small hiccup with the angry cashiers, I really enjoyed my first trip abroad from Finland. If possible, I would definitely visit Tallinn again with other friends in the spring.