TALLINN

2nd Oct 2016

Tallinn Old Town from the spire of St Olaf's Church

After a pretty grim night spent at Stansted, the early morning flight left and arrived on time at Tallinn. At least I got a couple of hours kip on the plane albeit resulting in a painfully stiff neck.

I must say the cheapo EasyJet and Ryanair flights out of Stansted attract a seething crowd of the 'great unwashed' (I suppose I'm one of them). Overnight the airport had the appearance of a refugee camp or a serious massacre with bodies slumped and lying in all available space. Even at 4.00am, when I thought  I would get to 'bag drop' early, I was at the end of a series of long queues of remarkably unattractive members of the human race; most bleary-eyed sporting 'cargo pants' revealing hairy legs tattoed with daggers, fat, pot-bellied, bull-necked, baseball capped, unshaven, pierced faces, slack-jawed with pendulous lower lips....and that was just the women. Give Stansted it's due, this mob of bovine humanity was herded through security and passport control with remarkable efficiency and good humour. I expect they have had a lot of practice.

Tallinn airport was uncrowded, efficient and really quite attractive (but then most airports would seem so after Stansted). I had a reviving cup of coffee there in the pleasant little café (left) before a 10 minute taxi ride to my hotel; the Schnelli, beside the railway station and convenient to the Old Town. No traffic hold-ups and the city appeared, at first glance, clean and well ordered.

After a much needed kip, I took a wander downtown (the Old Town). All very pleasant; relatively quiet, lots of picturesque cafés, bars and cobbly streets. I had supper at  the quaintly named 'Hell Hunt' on Pikk St. which boasted an impressive array of beers and the menu looked pretty decent. I just ate a modest Shepherd's pie which was perfectly acceptable. Also bought a pub polo shirt because I liked the logo, and it had things written in Estonian on the back....probably 'gullible foreign tourist' or similar.

It was getting towards dusk and a short wander took me to the Town Hall Square. A large square with the Town Hall (left) on one side (the only surviving Gothic town hall in northern Europe, completed in 1404, I was informed). The other sides are bordered by pastel coloured old buildings and restaurants. 

Right: Restaurants surrounding the Town Hall Square which, despite the slight chill in the air, had lots of (heated) outside seating.

......and of course boasting an Oirish bar, Mad Murphy's (left).

Right: The side entrance to Mad Murphy's. It was here that I witnessed a group of well-oiled Brits (a stag party?) accosting one of the small 'pedicab' taxis. They were asking the poor 'pedaller' for a lift and how many could he fit into his pedicab. The driver said "three". They said "there are 14 of us; can we see how many we can get in". "I'll call for more cabs" said the (as of now) good humoured driver. "No", replied the well-oiled ones, "Let's see how many of us can get in this one...ha ha ha"..... I left them to their negotiations.

Left: Inside Mad Murphy's where I was introduced to a local drink called 'Vana Tallina'. I don't think I will be introducing it to any of my friends.

English Premier League football was being shown on the TV screens (as it was in Hell Hunt). Ars v Bur as it happens. Ars scored the winner in extra time. Note the West Ham United scarf pinned on the wall. As I think I've mentioned previously, the only three things for which Britain is noted abroad are; The Royal Family, Premier League football....and Mr Bean.

Right: The Estonian flag. Not a good pic colourwise..supposed to be blue, black and white. They hang everywhere. I think the Estonians are still immensely proud that they finally escaped foreign domination (other than by the EU) and gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1992.

That was my introduction to the city of Tallinn. So far so good. Off on a good walk around town tomorrow.