Day 20: Helsinki/Tallinn - Maiden Cruise, Fairy-tale Old Town, and eerie dolls
After a good day's rest, I was ready and eager for the first cruise in my life. There are several cruise companies with daily ferries to Tallinn. However, the friendly staff at Hotel Finn had recommended Tallink as they had more departures per day and are fairly reliable. I booked the 10.30am departure for today online and thanks to the helpful posts on Tripadvisor forums, I found out that I was eligible for substantial discounts on my cruise ticket with the Eurail pass. I paid only 26 Euro instead of the usual 43 Euro - a whopping 40% off! There are several types of cruise and tickets - some being more 'luxurious' than the others. I had booked the M/S Superstar for a 'deck' seat, meaning that I could roam freely and sit anywhere I want on the cruise. There are business class seats too and these tickets entitle you access to a business lounge with free flow of food and drinks. But they cost considerably more of course. And then there are the 'cabin' seats, where you have an entire room to yourself. These would be popular with overnight cruises but it's only 2 hours from Helsinki to Tallinn.
I left Scandic Marski at 9.30am to be sure I would be in time for the cruise at 10.30am. As the West Harbour is rather too far to walk, I took a taxi instead and the 10 minutes ride came up to 11 Euro.
The M/S Superstar was huge, and there were many many people day-tripping or otherwise to Tallinn. There are 4 levels where passengers can roam around freely. Level 7 is dedicated to cabins and Level 9 is deck level. Levels 6 and 8 had food courts and supermarket so you would never be hungry or thirsty. Thankfully, the cruise also has a luggage room (as well as lockers) so I left my luggage for 2 Euro and I could roam around freely.
I chose a seat by the window and had a great time listening to the iPod while looking out to the endless sea. Wifi was also free on the M/S Superstar so you could also surf the net and check emails. The two hours were pure bliss.
The ferry docked at Tallinn Ferry Terminal D promptly at 12.30pm. Fast and efficient! As there were loads of time, and check-in to the apartment wasn't until 2pm, I decided to take my time and navigate my way to Sauna street in the Old Town.
The walk was pleasant, and the weather was good. It was not too difficult to find my way to Viru Gates.
When I arrived at Sauna street, I was rather surprised. I had expected the apartment I booked to be some sort of bed & breakfast ... but it seemed like it IS just an apartment in a old residential block. I pressed the doorbell and no one came down. I waited around and thankfully, a 'Manager' came from the other end of the street. The apartment was on the second floor and there was no lift in the block. So I had to drag my luggage up two long flight of stairs.
The apartment was old. There were two bay windows, and the room had a few decorative furniture and the presentation was pleasant. Although this was not quite what I had expected when I booked the apartment, it wasn't so bad either and it was actually rather nice to be living among the locals. Wifi unfortunately did not work for the entire two days I was there but I do get free local wifi the moment I stepped out of the street. Estonia is huge on technology, this being the birthplace of Skype and file-sharing technology.
After freshening up a bit, I headed in the direction of the Town Hall. The Old Town is pretty with many nooks and corners and beautiful old buildings are everywhere.
The Town Hall is the oldest in all of Scandinavia and the Baltic countries and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
As the weather was great, I decided to head straight to the highlight of Tallinn - the Aleksander Nevski Cathedral in Toompea hill. On the way up to Toompea, I passed by the short leg gate tower. Legend has it that this is the most haunted tower in Tallinn. Passing through the tower did indeed give off spooky vibes!
The striking Russian Orthodox church did not disappoint! Estonians, as I understand, however dislike the church as it was built during the late 19th century as part of the "Russification" of the Baltic states. Nevertheless, the church makes for great photography and many tourists swarmed here to look at it.
However, the highlight or the 'iconic landmark' of Tallinn as recognised by most locals has to be the Toomkirk, which is also on Toompea hill. It is a beautiful and graceful white Cathedral, and looked elegant in the sun.
There were a few panoramic lookout points on Toompea Hill. I took the Kohtu approach to the lookout point over the Old Town. The views of the Old Town were simply beautiful! Blessed with great weather, I had a field time trying to capture the beauty of the Old Town's sky line.
After the fabulous views, I made my way back to the Old Town via the Danish King Garden and spent some time at the old city walls with views over St Olav church.
I then walked downhill to Harju street for a good view of St Nicholas Church.
I spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around the Town Hall square. There were many pretty sights and lanes. I came across St Catherine passage by chance, and on one side of the passage were tombstones from the 14th century. Spooky!
One interesting thing that I noticed was there were many shops that displayed a life-size eerie doll outside their doors. I don't understand it. The dolls are just creepy! I would not like to walk alone the streets at night with these dolls staring at me.
I left Scandic Marski at 9.30am to be sure I would be in time for the cruise at 10.30am. As the West Harbour is rather too far to walk, I took a taxi instead and the 10 minutes ride came up to 11 Euro.
The M/S Superstar was huge, and there were many many people day-tripping or otherwise to Tallinn. There are 4 levels where passengers can roam around freely. Level 7 is dedicated to cabins and Level 9 is deck level. Levels 6 and 8 had food courts and supermarket so you would never be hungry or thirsty. Thankfully, the cruise also has a luggage room (as well as lockers) so I left my luggage for 2 Euro and I could roam around freely.
I chose a seat by the window and had a great time listening to the iPod while looking out to the endless sea. Wifi was also free on the M/S Superstar so you could also surf the net and check emails. The two hours were pure bliss.
The ferry docked at Tallinn Ferry Terminal D promptly at 12.30pm. Fast and efficient! As there were loads of time, and check-in to the apartment wasn't until 2pm, I decided to take my time and navigate my way to Sauna street in the Old Town.
The walk was pleasant, and the weather was good. It was not too difficult to find my way to Viru Gates.
When I arrived at Sauna street, I was rather surprised. I had expected the apartment I booked to be some sort of bed & breakfast ... but it seemed like it IS just an apartment in a old residential block. I pressed the doorbell and no one came down. I waited around and thankfully, a 'Manager' came from the other end of the street. The apartment was on the second floor and there was no lift in the block. So I had to drag my luggage up two long flight of stairs.
The apartment was old. There were two bay windows, and the room had a few decorative furniture and the presentation was pleasant. Although this was not quite what I had expected when I booked the apartment, it wasn't so bad either and it was actually rather nice to be living among the locals. Wifi unfortunately did not work for the entire two days I was there but I do get free local wifi the moment I stepped out of the street. Estonia is huge on technology, this being the birthplace of Skype and file-sharing technology.
After freshening up a bit, I headed in the direction of the Town Hall. The Old Town is pretty with many nooks and corners and beautiful old buildings are everywhere.
The Town Hall is the oldest in all of Scandinavia and the Baltic countries and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
As the weather was great, I decided to head straight to the highlight of Tallinn - the Aleksander Nevski Cathedral in Toompea hill. On the way up to Toompea, I passed by the short leg gate tower. Legend has it that this is the most haunted tower in Tallinn. Passing through the tower did indeed give off spooky vibes!
The striking Russian Orthodox church did not disappoint! Estonians, as I understand, however dislike the church as it was built during the late 19th century as part of the "Russification" of the Baltic states. Nevertheless, the church makes for great photography and many tourists swarmed here to look at it.
However, the highlight or the 'iconic landmark' of Tallinn as recognised by most locals has to be the Toomkirk, which is also on Toompea hill. It is a beautiful and graceful white Cathedral, and looked elegant in the sun.
There were a few panoramic lookout points on Toompea Hill. I took the Kohtu approach to the lookout point over the Old Town. The views of the Old Town were simply beautiful! Blessed with great weather, I had a field time trying to capture the beauty of the Old Town's sky line.
After the fabulous views, I made my way back to the Old Town via the Danish King Garden and spent some time at the old city walls with views over St Olav church.
I then walked downhill to Harju street for a good view of St Nicholas Church.
I spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around the Town Hall square. There were many pretty sights and lanes. I came across St Catherine passage by chance, and on one side of the passage were tombstones from the 14th century. Spooky!
One interesting thing that I noticed was there were many shops that displayed a life-size eerie doll outside their doors. I don't understand it. The dolls are just creepy! I would not like to walk alone the streets at night with these dolls staring at me.
posted by Lonoxon at 5:00 am
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