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Exploring Estonia

November 8, 2022

I spent the weekend of Friday September 30th traveling with some friends to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia! Flights there from Stockholm were quite cheap and quite short, so we figured Why not??

We came into this weekend hoping to have fun, and I’d say it was an absolute success. After getting in late Friday night and getting McDonalds at 12:30 am, we relaxed at our AirBNB and planned for the coming days. We got an AirBNB in the old part of the city because it wound up being cheaper than a hostel, and it was actually located within (???) the Italian Embassy!!! So, in a way, we visited two countries that weekend instead of just one.

We spent the day on Saturday walking around the Old Town, as well as embarking on the single greatest walking tour I have ever been on (which was, in this case, free!). It was called Tales of Reval, which we found per a recommendation from some other friends at DIS who happened to have visited Tallinn the weekend prior. This tour was absolutely deserving of the “#1 of 180 tours in Tallinn” rating on Tripadvisor. It was led by this incredibly charismatic and entertaining man dressed as and in the character of a medieval peasant, guiding us through an interactive story of the history of the town. We spent much of the rest of the day walking around the old town, and come nightfall we set off for a true night on the town, beginning with giant mugs of cider and bear meat pies from a medieval restaurant and ending with a heartfelt rendition of Don’t Stop Believing by Journey at a karaoke bar to round out the night. Pictures below:

We spent Sunday exploring some other parts of the city that we didn’t get to see on Saturday, as well as eating some delicious food (which I was too hungover tired to enjoy). We got really lucky as it was the first Sunday of October, and apparently museums in the city are free on the first of each month so we were able to check out a couple without paying!

We primarily explored the remaining sections of the medieval wall surrounding the old town, as well as the tunnels beneath the city which have served a variety of uses over the years.

All in all, I absolutely loved Tallinn. It was a city rich in history and architecture, as well as a beautiful and inexpensive place for a weekend trip. I would happily return, though I’ve also heard many wonderful things about the other Baltic countries.