Closing a Baltic chapter

Finally a day when I am not rushing around catching a bus or train, lazing around in bed till 9 in the morning. Chatted with the friendly Irish gal in charge of Viru Backpackers as she was telling me about her Trans-Siberian trip last February, where she then stayed on 2 months in China and made her way down to Laos, Cambodia before ending up in Thailand. Managed to pick up a few useful tips on Do's and Dont's for myself on my way back home. She even passed me her "Southeast Asia on a shoestring" book! My bag is not getting any lighter...

Tallinn is quite small, especially if you only consider the interesting old town, but very medieval. What's good about this town is that you can enjoy most of the sights as much without a handbook as there is a useful acrylic plaque on the wall of the building of interest describing it's history in Estonian and English. Many probably remember this city/country made famous by Kazaa or Skype, a city that is perpetually enveloped by free WiFi completely - which obviously is useful for travellers like myself. Cafes are also very common amongst the locals and you can always find a little cosy looking one around the corner of the streets somehow. It's probably quite a refreshing change to walk on cobbled streets again after a week of fjords, snow and mountains. To be honest, one really just need a day to cover this city and probably best to move on or head out for day trips. Will be ideal to combine it with other Baltic states as well since it is so easy to get around. For me, it's really to close out the "unfinished business"from my last trip, where I started off in Latvia before heading down south.

Whilst here, remember to try out the pancakes (serves both sweet and savoury) at Kompressor, and coffee at Kehrwieder, which will be my recommendations. Also head over to the Museum of Occupation if you are interested to learn more about the years before Independence, where it was subjected to USSR, then Germany, and again USSR's control before it finally got it's independence in 1991 together with the other Baltic states. The city seem to be pretty big on Jazz and music festivals too, and I think there are plenty coming up over Spring and Summer. Did not take many pictures, but as usual, you can find a few on my Flickr.

Heading off to the bus station to catch the overnight Eurolines coach to St Petersburg, but first I have to find a pub to catch the big match. Might be mission impossible, but never say never...