The second destination was Tallinn – the place that was hardest to find good tickets to. I was already thinking about visiting it another time, combining it with a ferry to Finland. But luckily, tickets from Tallinn turned out too good to pass up, so I made another push and found a way to visit this gem.
Without Estonia, the Baltic trip wouldn’t have been complete. And despite all the days being rainy and almost always grey, it left an unforgettable impression on me – such a beautiful and atmospheric city, with a sharp contrast between its very modern and very medieval parts.
There are so many details in the old town. Every window, every door has something special about it.
The city wall, with towers in a classical castle color, makes you feel like the Old Town inside is quite tiny. It’s true that it’s not huge by area, but with so many tiny streets and paths in there, it’s actually easy to get lost – especially if you’re walking and looking at all those tiny details.
Maritime museum
A real, full-scale submarine in the museum! This is a must-visit in Tallinn! Yes, you can go inside the submarine and visit almost every corner of it! You can even walk underneath it (a terrifying experience for megalophobes!). And there are many more cool objects and stories in Tallinn’s Maritime Museum. Also, the lighting there is beautiful!
If you happen to have nice weather during your time in Tallinn, definitely try to walk around the port and water as much as you can – there you’ll feel another dimension of this place.
A walking path around the port gives you an arriving ship’s perspective on Tallinn, and the whole check-in and boarding area is clearly in sight. As a transportation fan, I could watch it for hours.
On the way back I noticed a huge, unusual-looking abandoned place. Turns out it used to be a concert hall. I like those places. Not completely abandoned, but it’s a ghost of what used to be a place with lots of people gathering for cultural evenings, performers rehearsing, and preserving the magic of separation between the dark, excited space and the stage, with air filled by warm light from projectors. Now the inside has gone quiet. But the outside still reminds you of this past life.
I always imagine, in places like that, what was the last moment of it? Who was the person who closed that door for the last time? How did it feel? Which door did this person take to exit this place forever? Was it this door – one of the public ones? Or was it a back door, the one he or she used to take to go to work every day? How did it feel for workers to come the next day to install these fences? The place must’ve still been “warm,” not completely abandoned, perhaps almost ready to host another concert or two. But the task of installing these fences meant cementing the fact that nothing would come back here again, and handing this place over to a new life. Plants, grass, maybe some tiny creatures inside. Maybe, occasionally, people – but not the people who bring art back to this place. More like people who make sure this place stays as it is. Who make sure the ghost of the past keeps its shape, and doesn’t turn the building into a ghost itself yet.
Baltic airports
Time flies, and it was already time to go to the next destination. I’d like to take a moment here to praise Baltic airports. Every one of them has modern CT scanners, and even on their websites there’s a guide on how to pass through such control: don’t take out electronics and laptops, keep liquids inside, and you can take up to 2 liters! Sounds a bit crazy after the 100ml rule. And if I’m not mistaken, I saw a sign that photo film should be taken out (CT scanners damage film, so it should be checked manually) – another point of respect for that.
Some more minutes to enjoy Air Baltic and their beautiful Airbus A220s with Bombardier soul.
Echo 