travelogue: tallinn, estonia

it's been a week since we came back from tallinn.  from one of the smallest countries in europe with a teeny population of 1.3 citizens who sang their way to independence (the soviets just left in the 90s) and has since given us skype (free wi-fi everywhere), fantastic restaurants (all the ones we visited home-bake their own leib, a black bread that is soooo good), the cutest old town, the friendliest people, and a bar devoted solely to depeche mode.  tallinn is swoon-worthy!

saturday

after disembarking the ferry, we headed to our hotel to deposit our luggage and roam the old town.  our home base for the next few days was st. petersborough hotel.  it was lovely and perfectly situated in the old town - everything accessible by foot.  we were upgraded to a suite (that wood floor is dreamy), played pool (hilarious!), drank gorgeous gin and tonics (huge glasses!) in the bar, and ate spraat (little herring-like fish) on toast for breakfast.  it was the first time in a long time i would have been happy to stay put in a hotel for our vacation but tallinn was calling...

the old town is extraordinary.  the steeples, onion domes and towers give the whole town a fairy-tale feel.  we breakfasted at rustic revel cafe (porridge!) and then we began wandering the old town's cobblestone roads and alleyways.  the main square, raekoja plats, is picturesque (a bigger version of stockholm's old town).  off of vene street, some little passageways and courtyards are filled with craft shops and artist studios.  of note, masters' courtyard and katariina käik where i was tempted to buy a linen quilt, it was so pretty.  most streets are lined with souvenir shops selling amber and trinkets but despite this, the old town still feels special; it's cuteness is not lost.  

we made our way up the hill to toompea, the hill overlooking the old town.  there we found the onion domed st. alexander nevsky, an orthodox church crowning the top of the hill, the pale pink palace built by russia's catherine the great, and views!  

  

by viru gate, we accessed a section of the medieval wall that encircles the old town (once made up of 46 towers, 26 remain with large sections of the wall still intact).  clambering up a narrow, steep, dark spiral staircase of one of the towers you are walking along the wall with views of the old town.  kai was in his element. right along the wall shopping for knits and furs under red awnings is popular.  the vendors are there everyday no matter the weather. nearby, we received our caffeine-fix at epic coffee.  

dinner at farm was lovely.  i was skeptical at first since 99 percent of the menu was meat. but then i ate... first, when you walk in, you are greeted by a table all set up with a wild boar and wolf eating dinner and enjoying wine, they are surrounded by their friends the fox and raven.  the restaurant is decked out with bird cage chandeliers and rustic elements.  the open kitchen allows you to see the chefs at work; a couple of them were making goggling eyes at kai - very sweet.  on the way home, we stopped in at the dm baar, a shrine to depeche mode - how fabulous is that!  

sunday

pikk is a lovely stretch of road to stroll in the old town, lined with merchant houses, the oldest cafe maiasmokk, and a marzipan room (apparently, the estonians introduced us to marzipan).

 

 
in the rotermann neighbourhood, just outside the old town, we lunched at sfäär, a really cool restaurant with a shop selling men's and women's clothing (i wish i bought that denim dress!); stefan says the coffee here was the best.  the buildings were cool with gorgeous brick warehouses dominating the area and interesting architecture. 

the elevator in the sokos hotel viru doesn't go to the top floor, there is no elevator button for it. in the 1970s, the hotel housed the secret kgb office which is now a small museum.  we thought it would be fascinating to take the guided tour of the spy room on the 23rd floor. the sign on the door says, "there is nothing here."  when the hotel opened in 1972, it was the only place to stay in tallinn to keep tabs on the locals and tourists.  there were microphones in the hotel rooms, the phones, ashtrays and bread plates were bugged too.  some rooms had a pin prick hole in the wall with the kgb next door taking pictures and old women would sit on every floor taking notes of guests' comings and goings.  isn't it quite ludicrous?

surveillance was a way of life in this city... this is where four kgb officers would sit each day, intercepting radio waves from helsinki and sending cables to moscow. it was also where information from the 60 or so hotel rooms that were routinely bugged would be processed.

dinner at rataskaevu 16, across the street from the hotel, was amazing.  the atmosphere cozy, the service friendly, and the dishes, well, really tasty! it's a traditional eatery with estonian favourites such as fried baltic herring (i loved), their bread pudding dessert was delish and i ate way too much leib, the black bread served with lots of butter and salt. stefan ate elk!  

monday

after breakfast at the hotel - i had more spraat :) - we strolled around the old town, making our way to the the great guild hall; it was once a merchant's home and now converted into a branch of the estonian history museum - it's on pikk street.  we wanted to learn more about the estonians, it seemed incredible to us that they have only had independence since the 90s.  their history is amazing, all because of their strategic position between russia and the west.  you can't help but look at the estonians with pride for all they have been through.

  

at the coffee bar, yet another cozy place for great coffee although you'd never know from the outside, stefan once again found himself in a caffeine dream.  if you love coffee, head to tallinn! the peanut butter cookie and brownies were to die for.

we ended our stay in tallinn at restoran moon, a russian restaurant (the name means poppy) in the kalamaja neighbourhood just outside the old town. had i not read about it, we never would have found it, it's definitely a hidden gem.  informal with gorgeous wallpapered walls and the food was crazy good.

  

  

 

 

i love travel; the views, the food, the people - all of it, the experience, adventure and time spent with my two favourite boys. we are dreaming of returning to estonia to visit its fairy-tale wilderness, read this.  thanks for taking a peek :)