A MYSTICAL JOURNEY TO THE MEDIEVAL: TALLINN, THE PEARL OF ESTONIA

Tallinn Travel Guide

Two months after our three-day trip, Tallinn is one of the rare cities that still has beautiful trails in our minds… This city is ready to conquer your heart with the charming streets, medieval structures, abundant green nature, natural food culture, handmade products, the peace of the countryside houses interpenetrated with the forest and the sea, sunny spring weather and extended days in July. We strongly recommend you to add Tallinn city to your route in summer times.

One of the interesting detail is that, Estonian, the native language of the country, comes from the root of Ural Altay and has a similar grammatical structure with Turkish and its history goes back to the Vikings. According to us, the more special thing about this trip is that, our 30-year-old friend has been living in Tallin for 2 years and provides us a professional guidance :).

History of Tallinn

Knowing the history and cultural structure of Estonia, before the details of what to do, what to eat, how to get there in Tallin will make it easier to perceive the differences. To give a brief summary; Although Estoniawas founded by Estonians in the 3000s BC, it was occupied by many countries starting with the Vikings in the 800s. These invasions took place in a cycle between the Germans, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Kingdom of Denmark and the Russians.

1920 is accepted the year of independence, but it was re-occupied by the Germans in World War II and gained full independence in 1991 with the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Also you can view the summary of the country’s history by years from here. Clickk

The city of Tallinn is reminiscent of the Middle Ages with buildings dating back to the 1200s and Viking motifs that still remain intact after all these invasions. It has also been included in the Unesco list as a medieval city.

Estonia joined the European Union in 2004. Since 2011 the currency is Euro and a Schengen visa is required for entry. Although not as rich as the other developed European countries because of the influence of the Soviets, it closes this gap with its unique, natural, unspoiled, mystical texture from the Middle Ages.

Tallinn City and Lifestyle

The city of Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, with a population of about 450,000 and almost one third of the country lives here. The summer months, which tourists prefer the most, are the most active. The Russians make up about 25% of the population. Estones and Russians show different characteristics, they are more distant and cold, they do not show their feelings. We already didn’t expect from the Estonian people, who were occupied for years and living in the North territories, to be very friendly :).

For example, when you talk with an attendant, you can get a louder and cold respond and these passive-aggressive situations are normal for them. We had a similar situation at the airport. Even though they are distant, they are very sensitive and reasonable people when you set up the friendship.

Female or Male?

The female population is considerably higher than the male population. After learning this valuable information, the number of people who want to visit the country may increase :). They are usually tall, blond and anatomically beautiful. They care about sports and there are fitness centers in many places. 

Religion

Although the religion of the country is Orthodox and Evangelical Lutherian, it is one of the most common places of paganism in Europe. The rate of religious commitment remains at 15-20%. The fact that the churches are empty is an advantage for those who want to worship and visit :).

Forest and Sea

Tallinn, which is full of green, is also the shore of the Baltic Sea, allowing you to enjoy the forest and sea air together. The flat structure of the non-mountainous city is an advantage in terms of transportation. Tourists generally prefer the Old Town because of its historical texture, while local people live near the seaside.

Local people living in the city mostly have country houses in the forest, 1,5 hours away from Tallinn, or they usually buy a land and build house for weekend breaks. Thanks to our friend, we will also give details about the 40-year-old private country house where we had the opportunity to visit. The country house in the forest was a beautiful experience with its large garden, the structure of the wooden houses and its own private beach with white sand just 200 meters away.

Tallinn Ghost Stories

Another city-specific point is that there are many ghost stories and people believe in them. Most probably, the siluet of the city, the stone structures, the medieval mystical texture and the relatively small number of living people compared to other places generated these stories. We explain the two leading stories under the headings ‘Rataskaevu Apartment’ and ‘Dannish Garden’.

The Best Time To Visit Tallinn

In Tallin, just below Finland, the weather is generally cool and the winters are very cold. Winter season is long and hard, -20 degrees are seen. Local people define the 18-degree sunny July weather as summer and can even swim at this temperature. They even say 25 degrees are very hot for them.

The city is famous for its colorful christmast market established at New Year, those who love to travel in the cold can visit this city in December. But we do not recommend you to go to Tallin in winter times. Seven years ago we had a business trip to Tallinn in November and we did not have good memories due to the darkness, fog, haze and cold weather.

Winter or Summer?

The days are very short in winter and very long in summer. For example, in November, the day is brightened like 11.00 a.m. and darkens at 16.00 p.m.. In July, the day is brightened like 6.00 a.m. and darkens at 24.00 p.m.. In June, it gets dark even at 3.00 p.m..

The city is often frequented by tourists during the summer months. The number of daily tourists arriving by Cruise tours is quite high in the summer period. During this period, you may find it difficult to take pictures at certain points, especially in the old city in the afternoon due to the crowds of people and the narrow space. In summer, the air temperature is between 15-22 degrees and is suitable for sightseeing.

In summary, the answer of the question ’When to go to Tallinn? is the June-September period. Time zone similarity with Turkey in summer times is an also advantage.

Transportation to Tallinn from Turkey

Turkish airlines have been providing direct flight from Istanbul to Tallinn Lennart Meri airport for about 6 years. Since there are 1 or 2 flights per day, airline tickets are a bit more expensive. I can recommend you to buy your ticket about 1 month in advance for a more reasonable price. Other airlines do not provide direct flights from Turkey. Although seven years ago we reached the city via Riga flight connection takes approximately 6 hours, this time we had a comfortable journey takes only 2 hours and 40 minutes direct flight.

Transportation in Tallinn

Tallinn airport is very close to the city center. It takes 6-7 minutes by car from Tallinn airport to the old town. There are 4 tram lines in the city and 1 of them provides transportation from the airport to the city, but it takes 15-20 minutes to reach the city. One way ticket is 2 euros and you can buy inside.

It makes more sense to go by taxi if you are 2 people and more. There are more than one taxi company and some companies can cheat tourists. For taxi, we recommend Taxify, that is, BOLT as it is now called. On the other hand, we recommend you to use Uber because it is also the most comfortable, similarly priced one. We used taxi to go to city center, and used Uber to go to airport and paid similarly 6-7 euro.

Tallinn is not a very big city and you can explore city by foot. You need to use public transport, if you want to visit the places outside the old town like TV tower or Tallinn Open Air Museum. There is 1,2 and 3 day Tallinn card options incluiding all public transports and many museums free entry. Price starts from 26 euro. If you are planning to go to many museums, it is advantageous to buy these cards, you can buy them online from the link I left here and use them with your phone via mobile application. We didn’t need this card because we preferred to go to just one museum we chose in the old city and to go around calmly. On the third day, we reached the country house with our friend’s car.

Accomodation in Tallinn

The most reasonable place to stay as a tourist in Tallinn is the hotels around the old city. You should prefer the hotel instead of renting a house. Modern houses are not attractive because they cost the same price as the hotel, including breakfast for 2 people. On the other hand, low-priced houses also have poor interior design. It is not meaningful to rent a house unless 6 people are traveling together. For this reason, we have not preferred to rent a house. If you don’t want to think about where to make breakfast when you wake up in the morning and your comfort is important, we suggest you to stay at the hotel :). 

There are quite a lot of hotel alternatives, if your budget is not very limited, you can stay at Swiss Hotel or Raddisson Blue Hotel, which is 10 minutes walking distance to the old city, and you can enjoy the view of the city without going to the TV tower. Even if you do not stay in these hotels, we recommend that you at least take a drink break on the roof of the Swiss hotel.

Let’s start the journey and find the details about Tallin in below links; 👇🏻👇🏻

Tallinn City Guide

The Best Restaurants in Tallinn

Country House Visit in Tallinn

One Response

  1. sbo Mart 5, 2021

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