Looking Fabulous @ Fifty: TALLIN IN 2 DAYS

Greetings, my dear readers. Trust you are well.

Today we are in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, one of the Baltic republics of the former USSR. We arrived in the early afternoon by catching a ferry from Helsinki.

If you just joined us or just missed my previous posts about this Scandinavian Adventure, here is the link.

The ferry ride was very pleasant. The boat that belongs to Tallink Silja Line flotilla was extremely comfortable, clean and very spacious. It was divided into multiple sitting and entertaining areas with big comfortable chairs, tables, docks for your phones and laptops. There was plenty room for everyone so you don't feel claustrophobic or squashed. As we settled in into big comfortable chairs, my husband reached into his pocket to get his mobile phone to charge when he realised that he left behind it the hotel😰 and so it was left for me to bring it back.

For the next few hours, while other passengers were having a good time, enjoying their food, drinks and a view of the coast sailing by, I was on the phone with hotel's reception. I explained to them what had happened and asked them if they could go to our room and find it and I would call them back in 30 minutes. When I called them back, they said that couldn't find it. Turned out, he left it in the bathroom. After another 30 agonising minutes I called again and this time they had it. I then asked them to arrange a courier and send it to our next destination, ie Tallinn where we were going to stay for two days. Unfortunately, the hotel does not deal with the couriers and it was up to me to arrange the pick up and the delivery with the courier company.

By that time, we crossed the Gulf of Finland and were docking in Tallinn's harbour. Once we disembarked, we got a cab that took us to our hotel. The Nordic Visitor has booked us into Radisson Collection, a comfortable and very stylish hotel near Tallinn's charming Old Town.

We had a lovely room overlooking the city skyline. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to enjoy it as the minute we put down our suitcases, I went back to my phone frantically trying to book a courier in Helsinki that would pick up the phone from the hotel and deliver it to Tallinn tomorrow as we were leaving the day after to Oslo to continue our tour. I needed a break from it all so we decided to go out. Sadly, it was raining but we just borrowed the umbrella from the hotel's lobby.

The Radisson Collection is located right in the heart of the city centre and just steps away from the medieval Old Town.

After walking for a couple of blocks, the rain came down really hard so we gave up and returned to the hotel. We had an early dinner at one of the hotel's restaurants and retired to our room. But there was no rest for me yet. I still needed to book a courier and figure out where the phone should be delivered. There was not a single company that could do express delivery for tomorrow so it has to be Oslo.

While my husband was enjoying the view from our hotel window, I managed to book a courier who would pick up the phone from the hotel in Helsinki and will deliver it to the collection point that I found through Google that was close to our hotel in Oslo. All that was left for us to do is wait in hope that it will work 🙏. I can't imagine what an agony it was for my poor husband not to have his toy with him. It is not just that he aimlessly scrolls all the apps but most importantly, all our bookings, references and other important info regarding our tour were on his phone.

Anyhow, I did what I could so we decided to make the most of the time that is left and on this positive note we went to bed.

When we woke up the next morning, our second and the last day in Tallin, the skies were clear and after delicious breakfast, similar to one that we so enjoyed in Helsinki, we stepped outside. Once again, the first thing we did was to board Hop-On Hop -Off bus. We chose the Historic Centre and Old Town route.

The Old town looked like a picture from the history book with its traditional wooden houses, low wooden fences and subdued wall paint.

At some point of our journey we stopped at the site of the old prison that looked rather gloomy. It was only closed in 2002 and became abandoned but now some parts were restored and open to visitors. We were not too keen to visit it, naturally.

We then were driven through the modern part of the city built near the water. I was totally impressed how clean and modern the city looked.

We ended our tour in the Historic Centre were we alighted from the bus and went on foot to explore it.

After walking up and down narrow cobblestone streets of the Old Town and admiring the medieval architecture of the buildings, we found ourselves in Town Hall Square of the Old Town. Its streets were lined up with masterfully preserved and restored historical buildings with a wide array of bars, cafes and restaurants at the foot of them.

We felt quite hungry and tired so we took seats in the outside area of the pub called The Dubliner where we were served the biggest chicken schnitzel I've ever had. It was absolutely delicious, moist with the crunchy top and we washed it down with a couple of cocktails.

For coffee and desserts we went to Kehrwieder Saiakang Chocolaterie which is also situated in Town Hall Square just a couple of doors from the pub.

This place is well know for its hand crafted chocolates and delicious home-made ice-creams. And I have to attest to that because I can't recall when was the last time I had such heavenly rich, moist, light chocolate cake.

The cafe occupies a number of rooms, nooks and crannies, each uniquely decorated with antique chairs, tables and lamps, artworks, books etc.

The nooks were covered in soft furnishing and lamb skins, even a wide windowsill was turned into a seat. giving their patrons many options of where would you prefer to be. As much as it was tempting to climb onto the windowsill, we chose the most conventional options - two chairs around a wooden table.