Visit Tallinn - Done!

How did it go down?

I had an enjoyable long weekend exploring  beautiful Tallinn with an old college friend, Ally. We flew Wizzair from Luton to Tallinn and then took a cab to the city centre for a leisurely lunch in the main square washed down with local honey cider. Suitably refreshed we set off in search of our Air BnB apartment. Google Maps tooks us a rather creative route, which was not much fun carting our bags about! However we eventually located our beautiful digs. 

It turns out that a direct route from the apartmen to the city centre is actually a 5 minute stroll rather than a 30 minute epic! We enjoyed a delicious supper at another restaurant on the main square and then set off on foot to see the view from the city walls. It didn't disappoint. The next morning we followed the Lonely Planet Walking Tour to see the main sights of Tallinn's old town. The afternoon was spent at the KGB musuem on the 23rd floor of the Hotel Viru. The hotel was the only place for foreigners to stay in Tallinn during the communist era as the KGB routinely listened in to all guests! We enjoyed a superb supper of traditional game sausage at Peppersack restaurant. 

Our last full day and we took a tram out to Kadriorg park to see the presidential offices, Peter the Great's cottage and Kadriorg park. From here we took a bus towards Müürivahe which is home to the Estonian History Musuem. We missed the bus stop but stumbled across the Memorial to the Victims of Communism marking the 22,000 who were killed or worked to death during the communist rule of Estonia. From here we walked back to Müürivahe. The Müürivahe Palace hosts the main Estonian history exhibition covering Nazi ocupation and the soviet era right through to modern times. The stables host a temporary exhibition and this was dedicated to Popular music and Eurovision which provided some light relief. 

Returning to town we finished off with a visit to the former KGB Headquarters. This musuem is located in the cells of the HQ building and is a sobering experience of a regime that thrived on secrecy and fear.