katiesfootprints: Tallinn

So I now have another love in my life... Tallinn, Estonia. Had a stellar time in this cool little city! We arrived a bit worse for wear on Sunday planning to spend just two nights there before moving on – we ended up staying four.

Our first night was very low key, after going out for a late lunch/early dinner we chilled back at the hostel – The Purple Goblin which comes very highly recommended – for the rest of the night.

Up early on our first morning and off to do the walking tour – the guide was fantastic, very humourous and full of energy with only the interesting facts talked about minus all the numbers that “only tour guides know and care about”. As Estonia is so small it's not uncommon to see celebrities or political ministers etc - she informed us that the Minister of Education just walked past us at one point and later on the next day we bumped into the Swedish Foreign Minister also.

Pretty much every city in Europe has an old town and they all spend a lot of time, effort and money in keeping them looking beautiful for the tourists – it works and they are all very charming, Tallinn not excluded. So we were kept very busy for our four days there and this was without even hitting the nightlife which is what Tallinn is quite well known for.

We headed to Hotel Viru whose 23^rd floor was used as KGB head quarters in Tallinn in the Soviet time to spy on hotel guests and staff. We learned about what life was like in the hotel during those times (only the best of everything), how microphones were placed pretty much everywhere so that private conversations could be listened in on (for what reason, we're still not sure, paranoia perhaps) and the lies and corruption that went on even though everyone knew about it (e.g. everyone knew that Hotel Viru was 23 floors but it was only ever referred to as having 22 floors – turning a blind eye type thing really). We had a quick peek inside a couple of churches and then got pointed in the direction of a restaurant for dinner – which was scrumptious as always.

Day two saw us head out in search of the Russian Markets which you could buy absolutely anything at, including memorabilia from the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow that were boycotted hence memrobilia still for sale now... While getting caught in the rain we inadvertently walked a large part of the Culture Kilometer while searching for the prison. The Culture Kilometer is actually 2.2km long and pretty much just follows the coastline and a bunch of dilapidated buildings. Finally we found Patarei Prison, now abandoned, but used right up until 2005 – hanging rooms and shooting rooms included.

Lunch was needed by this time and we'd been locally advised to mission it to a place called F-Hoone's located in the heart of the industrial zone in an old factory. No comment required here for you to know that it was amazing – spicy coconut soup with salmon and a meat platter for me, also cheap as chips. Back to the Russian Markets to purchase ingredients for dinner – first time cooking in 8 weeks! That afternoon we signed up to biking tour and explored outside of the Old City – presidential palace, gardens, song festival grounds, various monuments and other parks, beaches, and back to town along the scenic coastline.

We are still looking like we are never going to be finished being busy in Tallinn so we sign up for another night and plan the next day's schedule. It was all centered around our 2pm appointment to head to the shooting range... first up a 60m climb up stairs to the viewing platform of St Olive's church for panoramic views of the city. Our sick sides came out as we reveled in the Torture Museum and all the devices they had on display there. Lunch was Elk Soup and Mushroom Pies at a medieval themed restaurant on the Old Town Square – the staff are all dressed up in traditional garb and get right into character, this includes getting people to sing for their spoons, too scared to ask and put everyone to shame with my fantastic singing voice I decided we could forgo spoons for today. The Elk Soup is out of this world delish, and due to no spoon I have had a burnt tongue since then, too eager.

2pm was approaching and we were needed at the shooting range as a selection of guns ready to be shot were awaiting us. After a brief introduction of what not to do with a gun (it's common sense really isn't it?) we were straight into it. We had about seventy shots from a Rugar Pistol, two Glock 17s, a Desert Eagle .50, a Mosin-Nagant, an AK-47, and rounded things off with a Shotgun. Copious amounts of fun was had even though I was not the victor and managed only to stun my target with the Desert Eagle. Better luck next time. To wind things up for the day we escaped the rain by grabbing a cinnamon beer and heading to a place called Kiek in de Kok – which means Peek in the Kitchen but is funny to say anyway – for a tour of the tunnels that snake their way under the present day city. We thought we probably deserved a night out on the town and did so before begrudgingly leaving to head to Riga in Latvia.

KGB Headquarters - Hotel Viru