Edd's Travels: Tallinn, Estonia

Sea travel hasn't featured much in this blog over the years, apart from some minor excursions here & there, and a quick return trip across the River Plate from Buenos Aires to Uruguay in 2012. The ferry across the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki to Tallinn was about 50 miles, and as such it was the longest sea journey I've ever made. (At £20 or so, it beats the Shields Ferry on a cost-per-mile basis by a factor of about six.) You can't see Tallinn from Helsinki, or vice versa obviously, but you can see both places from halfway across.

There are many interesting snippets of Soviet history here in Tallinn, most notably the Linnahall, a vast pile of concrete put up as an athletics venue for the Summer Olympics in 1980. On a sunny day it looks like something out of 'Star Wars' and at night it looks like something out of 'Blade Runner'. Nowadays it stands empty, because nobody really knows what to do with it. But it is at least a handy place to sit and watch the sun go down, across the harbour to the west.

I had a vague idea that Tallinn was an up-and-coming stag/hen destination, a sort of Prague in the making, but in truth I didn't see any drunken idiots the whole time I was here. Even on a sunny day in the heart of the Old Town, things aren't too crowded. It's much cheaper than Finland, without being noticeably less pleasant. There is good coffee and good food available everywhere you look. And a full 5-day bus & tram pass is literally just €6, plus €2 for the rechargable card. In summary, Tallinn is a splendid place which I recommend to everybody.

Also I have an exciting food update. There's a Finnish burger chain called Hesburger. I didn't get round to checking it out while I was in Helsinki, but they're heavily present elsewhere in the region - indeed they have more outlets in the Baltic states than McDonalds do. Anyway they do a Halloumi Burger and it is the absolute bomb. Grilled halloumi, caramelised red onion, lettuce, tomato, and sweet pepper mayo. In a bun. Which you can buy as a stand-alone item for just €1.70. Hesburger need to expand into the UK as soon as possible and I shall be emailing Ursula von der Leyen to this effect forthwith.