Tallinn Old Town view
Lifestyle

Tallinn Diaries: First Impressions

July 16, 2021 /

The first thought that came to my mind emerged when I was on the journey from the airport. I noticed how many green areas were around the city. 

Despite having a huge number of gardens, you don’t need to leave your street to be able to see some pieces of nature. Every street is decorated with emerald green trees and some of the buildings own a private backyard. 

My Airbnb is located in Telliskivi, a  popular area located in the west of Tallinn. It’s a great neighbourhood if you want to enjoy the quietness of the outskirts, alongside having access to a huge amount of stylish international restaurants. It’s also the main centre of street art in Tallinn.

Transport

 

The streets feel safe and quiet. And if you need to walk long distances, Bolt scooters are one of the best ways to move around the city. Most of them cost around 12 cents per minute and, to my surprise, you can ride them on the pavement. Learning how to use them is easy and, if you drive them safely, they are very fun! 

You just need to create an account with Bolt and use the QR code every time you want to unlock a scooter (they are all over the city). After finishing your ride, you can park them almost everywhere, respecting the red spaces marked on the app’s map.

 

 

 

That said, if you don’t want to use public transport, you can walk almost everywhere. The streets around this city are very calm and the weather this summer couldn’t be better.

On the other side, Tallinn offers free buses and trams for residents. Not being a resident, I decided to buy tickets and try the tram experience. I did my research and downloaded the app Pilet.ee, which I used to buy a couple of tickets. After you pay for them, you get a QR code that you need to scan as soon as you hop on the tram. The machines are supposed to have a light system that detects the code and verifies the ride.

Seems simple, right?

Well, it’s not. The light wasn’t working with my code and I walked all over the wagon trying to scan it in the different machines without any success. I hopped off the tram and got inside a kiosk to check if I was doing something wrong.

To my surprise, the lady at the kiosk told me she had never seen the app before. She showed me the physical card for tourists that I could use instead. At this point, I am not sure if I was doing something wrong or the scanners in that wagon weren’t working properly, but my advice is to get the physical card to save some time and money. 

I decided to buy the tourist card and forgot about the app.

Green public transport card from Tallinn

 

Food

 

There are berries everywhere!

There is a beautiful market in “Valti Jaama Turg”. The entrance of the building hosts a vivid fruit market that’s flooded with every type of strawberry you can think of. Most of the stands also sell watermelons, grapes, blueberries and cherries. I decided to get some strawberries and they were some of the best I have eaten in a very long time. 

Checking the local supermarkets is one of my favourite activities every time I visit a new country. Rimi and Selvert are the most common stores around the city.

Some say there is a Constitutional Law that forces Estonian supermarkets to dedicate 1/3 of their physical space to ice creams.

 

Pistachio ice cream

And I support it.

Something that I loved was the wide variety of “1-time” ice creams (single ice creams that don’t come in a pack). A big part of the freezer area is dedicated to ice creams. Many of them are individually packed ice cream cones. This is extraordinarily convenient if you want a one time treat, or if you feel like trying almost every flavour but don’t want to squeeze entire pints of ice cream in your tiny Airbnb freezer. 

 

Culture

 

I am not one to visit every single Cathedral and Museum when I travel, but there was one I definitely wanted to see.

Kiek in de Kök Museum and Bastion Tunnels

This museum gives you the option to buy a ticket for the museum only or one that includes the Bastion Passages. My boyfriend visited me for a few days and I took him to visit the full place. I also took advantage of the situation and made him take a couple of videos. The Stables Tower offers amazing views of the old town and an interesting insight into the past of the country whilst The Bastion Passages are cold and creepy, with noises that resemble the explosion of bombs and people crying. It is an intense experience that’s totally worth the price.

 

 

Weather

 

Tallinn temperatures can get as cold as -8°C during the winter. That is way cooler than London throughout the same months. Currently, summer in London only exists once a week. Temperatures have been around 17 degrees in July and the sun doesn’t show up as often as the previous years. Because of that, my expectations for Estonian weather weren’t great. 

I was completely wrong…with 20°C – 24°C temperatures and a suitcase full of winter clothes, I had to buy a few shirts and dresses after arriving in order to survive the heat. 

Even as a winter lover, I am starting to appreciate some sunlight and warmth, particularly during the summer. This weather is the cherry on top of the cake for a Work From Abroad experience. 

 

Have you ever been to Tallinn? Do you have any recommendations of places I should visit?

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