Im Tallin ya - it will be fun!

Due to unforeseen circumstances the Bandit blog fell by the way side for a while but is now back!...(pause for raucous applause and wild cheering to die down)...We hope you enjoy and will try our best to keep you informed on our intrepid travels. Enjoy!

Tallin, Estonia & a little bit of Helsinki, Finland

It was May bank holiday and we were due a trip after all Hamish’s visa palaver so we decided on a long weekend to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia and oldest capital city in Northern Europe. We had Stacey and Toby tag along as well so our wolf pack was expanded to 4.

We had a stupidly early flight from Stanstead on the Friday morning so we made the call to get a cab from Clapham. We arrived in Tallinn at lunchtime so we found out way to the hotel and dumped our stuff before heading out to explore.

We very quickly came across Toompea Castle which is an ancient stronghold site in use since at least the 9th century, today houses the Parliament of Estonia. It was pretty cool with really thick stone walls and a proper castle feel to it. The most prominent bit is the Tall Hermann at 95 metres tall and dominates the castle skyline. The flag of Estonia is hoisted at the top of the tower every day at sunrise, to the sound of the national anthem, and lowered at sunrise.

We were staying about 10 mins away from the Old Town and we wandered around checking out the old school pubs and taverns that all seemed ridiculously cheap and found a place for lunch. We got given complimentary shots which were some sort of homemade liquor that makes an appearance a lot in Eastern Europe and had a really interesting traditional meal which included a lot of pickled vegetables and oily fish like mackerel and tuna.  
Next on our wanderings we found the Tallinn Town Hall. It is the only intact gothic style town hall in the Northern Europe and the oldest town hall in the whole of the Baltic and Scandinavia. The town hall tower was built along with the town hall in 1402–1404, and we thought it looked sturdy enough to climb for a better view of the city.

After we got down we headed to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral which is an orthodox cathedral in typical Russian Revival style between 1894 and 1900, during the period when the country was part of the Russian Empire. Now we have seen a lot of churches during our time in Europe but this was pretty special, there was so much gold everywhere! The cathedral was built during the period of late 19th century Russification and was so disliked by many Estonians as a symbol of oppression that the Estonian authorities scheduled the cathedral for demolition in 1924, but the decision was never implemented due to lack of funds and the building's massive construction. As the USSR was officially non-religious, many churches including this cathedral were left to decline. The church has been meticulously restored since Estonia regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. 

As the church was on top of a hill we followed the city walls around back to the newer part of the Old Town. The walls are about 1.5m thick in most places, the walls were enlarged in the fourteenth century, and citizens of Tallinn were required to turn out for guard duty, which meant to wear their armour and demonstrate their readiness to face off invaders.

The boys went back to the hotel so Toby could get some proper shoes (instead of jandals) so Stacey and Lou went to a traditional chocolate café for Vana Tallinn chocolates. This is a dark brown and robust rum-based liqueur produced by the Estonian company Liviko. The liqueur is sweet with a hint of Jamaican rum, flavoured by various natural spices, including citrus oil, cinnamon and vanilla. Delicious with chocolate!

Later on we ended up in an Oktoberfest themed pub off one of the old town side streets; they served beer in steins and hot pretzels which were amazing. We got pretty comfortable here so we decided to stay for dinner where we were soon entertained by the folk dancing right in the middle of the restaurant! And even cringeier was that they got Toby up to join in the fun. The food was great with pork knuckle, bratwurst and lots of beer. 

Saturday

Breakfast was included in the hotel cost so we took full advantage of the great buffet although the restaurant seemed to struggle with the number of visitors they had and it took some time to get a table.

We had planned to do the walking tour of the city this morning so we joined about 40 others and listened to our guide explain about the parts of the city that were bombed in the war and the struggle for national identity that Estonia has undergone since then. We had pretty much seen everything the guide was showing us the day before but the commentary was useful.

For example, in 1989, during the "Singing Revolution" a landmark demonstration for more independence, a human chain of more than two million people was formed, stretching through Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. All three nations had similar experiences of occupation and similar aspirations for regaining independence. In August 1991 an independent democratic Estonian state was re-established and a period of quick development to a modern European capital ensued. Tallinn became the capital of a de facto independent country once again on 20 August 1991. After having been under Nazi Germany occupation for a time in the war and then behind the Iron Curtain for years after that.

After a quick lunch the girls took themselves off for a massage and a facial at one of the health spas in the city and the boys went to the firing range to shoot at stuff.

The massage was good and so cheap! We capped off our afternoon at a pub sitting in the sun with a glass of wine before Lou discovered this new pre mixed drink – gin and sparkling grape fruit juice, her new favourite! Originally from Finland, long drink (colloquially lonkero, tentacle) refers either to a mixed drink made from gin and, most commonly, grapefruit soda, or to a fermented drink that comes close to taste of gin and grapefruit juice.

Not keen on a massage the boys headed off to a shooting range. Some people said it used to be a former USSR KGB base, some people said it used to be a former nuclear facility and a place where experiments were undertaken to create a super solider, all we knew was it was awesome!! We jumped on a rickety old tram and headed out to the middle of nowhere. Along the way we were greeted with groups of mean drinking in the forest, wild dogs and gypsies. At the end of the line we wondered around and finally found a heavy metal door. The door opened as we were about to reach for the handle and a strapping 7 foot tall man steps out and it broken English says our names and they he’s been expecting us.

We nervously entered the bunker and heard the door bolt lock behind us. We were then escorted into another room with a table loaded with all manner of assault weapons you have only seen on the movies. We were then given 3-minute safety demo in a mixture of German, Estonian and English and then handed our first gun - a glock 17. This is perhaps the most widely used pistol for SWAT teams and police. Rather nervously Toby stepped up and with sweaty, shaky hands was handed a loaded gun. With a nervous glance back at Hamish he then opened fire. We then each worked our way through the arsenal of weapons from a 6 barrel .38 revolver, shot barrel pump action shotgun aka Mr Roomcleaner, the world famous AK-47, M4 rifle with holographic sight to the worlds most powerful pistol - the desert eagle point five-o. The desert eagle was a beast – very impractical, heavy, expensive but so so cool. The muzzle blast was more than 4 feet long!

We met up later for dinner at another old tavern, another trip advisor recommendation called Porgo which was the cellar of an old building; it was really good food and probably one of the most extensive beer menus we have seen. One thing we couldn’t get over was how light it was so late at night; it didn't start getting dark until well past 11pm.

Sunday

As we had exhausted Tallinn we thought we would take advantage of the proximity of Helsinki, Finland. We got the early ferry and sea conditions were not favourable, although it was a big ferry it was rocking around a lot and Lou wasn't feeling superb. The 2 hour journey took a long time but eventually we docked in Helsinki. With slightly wobbly legs we hopped off and set about exploring. We first found a market that had some really cool wolf pelts and we sampled some reindeer (sorry Santa). After that to be honest there wasn't a hell of a lot to do in the Finnish capital. It was obviously an extremely wealthy city and there were loads of nice shops and interesting restaurants around but everything was just so expensive, especially compared to Estonia.

 We found a café for lunch which looked nice but the whole menu was in Finnish so we played the roulette game of ordering a random selection to see what we got. We then continued on a wee tour until we got to the Helsinki Cathedral which is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki. The church was originally built from 1830-1852 as a tribute to the Grand Duke of Finland, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. It was also known as St Nicholas' Church until the independence of Finland in 1917.

The next stop on our list was Temppeliaukio Church also known as the Church of the Rock, because it is built inside a rock! The interior was excavated and built directly out of solid rock and is bathed in natural light which enters through the glazed dome. The church is used frequently as a concert venue due to its excellent acoustics but there are no bells at the church.

We kept walking outside the main city to the greener suburbs in search of the Sibelius Monument which is dedicated to the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It consists of series of more than 600 hollow steel pipes welded together in a wave-like pattern. The purpose of the artist was to capture the essence of the music of Sibelius. We then had a wee rest on the harbour side with a hot chocolate and some strudel.

By now it had started to rain but out ferry wasn't until later so we pressed on in seeing all the sights the city had to offer. We found a café that let us park up there for an hour or two while we waited for our ferry back to Tallinn. Luckily the journey back was completely different and no one got sick.

We stopped by the old town square for dinner at one of the touristy restaurants and had an OK meal and then headed back to our hotel room and had an early night.

The next day was pretty much spent travelling, we got to the airport with plenty of time and Hamish made the call to declare the bullet cases he had kept from the shooting range and was told that they were not allowed on the flight….worth a try but not a strip/cavity search. The flight home was uneventful and we took the cheaper but more painful option of the bus back from Stansted and our bank holiday weekend was complete.