TALLIN February 2, 2007

The view from our bedroom

We were in bed by about 19h30 last night (18h30 Swedish time!) and slept like logs on the very comfortable beds. Perhaps that Estonian beer was stronger than we thought? I also bought a miniature bottle of Vana Tallinn – a local spirit made from a secret recipe. It is very tasty I must say but it could not have influenced our sleep as we only had a sip. (What I didn’t realise until we made a second visit to Tallinn in 2011 was that there are three strengths of Vana Tallinn – the strongest of which is 45% proof – so maybe that was our nightcap!)

Breakfast view

Everything looks very reasonably priced here despite the fact that Vladimir, the taxi driver, said that everything in the Old Town cost two or four times what it could cost elsewhere. The exchange rate is 10:1 so dividing all prices by ten certainly makes for bargains. Vladimir also said the average wage is the equivalent of A$1,000 per month and the pension is about A$300 per person. A husband and wife can barely exist, so he says. One of the issues facing the country is the population drain since joining the EU two tears ago. He said the population of Tallinn had dropped by about 50,000 – a pretty substantial change in a population of about 400,000.

The taxi fare was EEK128 (A$12.80) so that was pretty reasonable and we also bought some delicious roasted sugared almonds last night for about A$3.50, so we didn’t spend much yesterday.

Later: A day of mixed fortunes.

We started off well enough. Walked through the snowy park – there had been a light fall during the night – to Balti Jaan, the rail terminus, to catch a tram to the bus station or, as we now know it, Autobusjaan. We had thought of going by taxi but decided instead to be more adventurous. So we bought a Tallinn card – A$40 each, valid for 48 hours – which provides us with free transport among other benefits. We went a ittle astray initially but eventually found the tram stop and were soon on our way.

Half way through the journey a gang of inspectors boarded the tram – eight of them, almost as many as the number of passengers.  They took one man off and put him in their van, presumably to be charged and to have to pay a fine of EEK600. We were OK of course. We duly got to the bus terminus and booked our seats for the 10h00 departure to Riga on Sunday. We thought it would be a good way to see a bit of the countryside since it is only a five hour trip – and so cheap too at A$46 (two thirds of our taxi fare from our house in Australia to the airport).

Rab at the Russian wool market

On our way back to the tram, we spotted an Internet café an for A$2 we had a half hour to pick up mail and send some to the family. We didn’t have to wait for a tram and were soon on our way to catch the bus for a city tour. We just missed the noon departure but filled in our time while waiting for the next one by browsing through the famed “wool market” set up just outside the city walls. It seems to be manned by very large women and even on a day like today there were a dozen or so stalls filled with knitwear of all sorts, most of it very nice indeed. But what a job, standing in the freezing cold waiting to  fleece the very small flock of tourists at this time of the year.

Rab bought a couple of lovely little hats for the girls – pink with cats (and ears!) for A$28 and I got myself a pullover and scarf with a reindeer motif for A$46 and A$14 respectively. I don’t really need either but I’m a sucker for souvenirs. In the midst of our putative bargaining – 10% discount was the best we could  do – the bus arrived so we boarded that for the city tour, usually A$30 each but free with our Tallinn card. It was an interesting drive with a good, clear recorded commentary. Since we had no idea of the history of Tallinn it was quite a surprise initially to find that it had changed hands so often and at one time was THE holiday resort for the Russians to whom it belonged.

Once the tour was over, we headed for the nearby mall at Vira. The day had warmed up a little while we were on the bus, rising to a summery +2C and causing all the snow to start melting but as we walked to the mall there were freezing gusts and my feet felt as if I was walking on ice cubes instead of the usual pebbles. There were sales in many of the shops in the mall and Rab was fascinated by the enormous variety of very reasonably priced boots, some very exotic indeed. I dropped all the pics we have taken to date onto a CD so at least we can’t lose those now. I asked the girl at the camera shop if she could open the damaged stick. She couldn’t but said she thought someone with the right tools might be able to. Hope she is right. (She wasn’t.)

We had a snack (cheese roll – again!) and a coffee and then came back to the hotel for a bit of R & R before dinner. On the way we picked up a couple of cakes and a Nestea Green Tea. This seems to have disagreed with Rab because she felt pretty grim when she woke up from her nap. We went out for a walk to see if she would feel any better but she didn’t so she had dry toast and Vegemite for dinner while I had a goulash in a bread bowl from room service – and very nice it was too.