Related Tallinn Favorites Tips

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Favorite thing: Tallinnn is the lovely capital of Estonia, a small city with a perfectly preserved medieval centre (it’s on the Unesco list of heritage sites), which is all traffic-free. It got its name from the ancient words taani linnus, which means Danish castle. The Danish Castle was the one built by King Waldemar of Denmark in the 13th century.

Fondest memory: I loved everything in Tallinn, though I must admit that in august it was full of tourists – in particular Italian. Every day there seem to be a handful of cruise ships in town, making it occasionally crammed. Still, I had a great time… I liked the glorious sights and the fact that, being all pedestrian-friendly, my baby could enjoy being pushed about in his stroller without having to breathe nasty fumes.

Favorite thing: Estonian is related to Finnish and that's about it, to the rest of the world this language is totally alien. I would like to learn it but that will remain a distant dream.

Anyway, whe it comes to foreign words Estonian is easy but you need some imagination. Spelling is the way these words are pronounced, so reading them aloud helps a lot. What is a "kauboi preerias", for example? - Yes. A cowboy in the prairies.

German speakers, especially German teachers at primary school level, will understand why I fell in love with that sign...

Favorite thing: Before coming to Tallinn I recommend to have a look at the following tourist webpage. It includes a virtual map with a lot of information. I think it is really well designed and makes a lot of fun...
---> Virtual Map of Tallinn

Fondest memory: Walking through the Old Town.

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Favorite thing: At one point I as eating lunch at McDonalds. And all of the sudden there was this noise from outside. The firefighter, police AND ambulance came along to go to a building pretty close from where I was sitting. Apperently there was a small fire in the building.

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Favorite thing: During my visit to Tallinn, there was a lot of construction in both the Old Town and other parts of the city. Now that Estonia has escaped from Communism, they have a lot of catching up to do with their Northern European neighbors!

Favorite thing: It is not so hard to find a phone box in Tallinn, however you have to be aware that you have to buy a phone card to use them. Those working with coins are very hard to find. Phone cards are already available for 50 EEK and can be purchased in many shops.

Favorite thing: We visited Tallinn in March, snow crunched underfoot, the weather was freezing and everywhere amazing clusters of icicles hung down from rooftops. It was cold but beautiful!

However, be careful, when the snow and ice becomes too heavy or starts to melt it can crash from rooftops with some force, making a tremendous noise and spreading out like splinters over the pavement and street. Every building had warning tape or temporary bollards stopping people from walking directly underneath the eaves of houses, and we saw quite a number of people leaning precariously out of upper story windows knocking the show and ice off roofs. Both very prudent and sensible measure because if these icicles hit you they could case some damage. It is unlikely but do be careful, if you see overhanging snow take heed of the warning tape, walk into the middle of the street and avoid it, just in case.

Favorite thing: In Tallinn there are a few embassies / consults. Here is a list fo countries which have one in this city:

Australia
Canada
Finland
France
Germany
Great Brittain
Ireland
Latvia
Lithuana
Russia
Sweden