Finland Part 7: Estonia!

During the fall break, my friends and I decided to go to Tallin, Estonia. We took a bus from Tampere at about 3am to Helsinki.  We then took a cruise boat from Helsinki to Tallin, Estonia.

 

The city is small and very quaint and we all loved it!  When we first arrived, we went on a guided tour by a local college student.  It was insightful to learn a the history of the city and we admired the sites:

We stayed in Tallin for two night and one night.  It was plenty of time to see the entire city.  We ate at some of their well known restaurants that included dishes like fried dumplings and crepes.  Most of our time was spent walking around the city and visiting the small shops that had hand made gloves, scarfs, hats and souvenirs.  We met a girl at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences that was from Estonia.  She was even able to meet us in Tallin during the break.  She told us about more of Estonia's history and showed us around.  After just a first couple of hours of being in Estonia, we could pretty much navigate the city.

Alot of our time was also spent roaming around the outdoor markets.  There were ladies with handmade hats and scarfs and gloves.  I thought it was interesting that the older ladies that ran the markets could speak very good English, Finnish and Swedish.   While walking around the city there were alot of ladies dressed in traditional Estonian attire selling roasted almonds.  They frequently gave out samples. Some were salty and sweet. 

The hostel that we were staying in was only 6 euros for each of us and it was so cute!  The had a small kitchen in the hostel and hot water and tea!  This really came in handy!  It was so cold!  We had to ask the receptionist for two space heaters.  In our room there were four bunk beds so all of us (Me, Cayle, Cody, Hilary, Judit, Daniel and Anabelle) could stay in the same room.  The bathroom had 3 stales and 3 showers so everything worked out perfectly.  It was also convenient that a pizza place was not too far from the hostel.