After making a new friend from Estonia over the course of the last
year, some friends and I from Lausanne decided to take a trip to
Estonia!
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| The view of Tallinn |
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| Our medieval feast! |
We left Geneva on a Friday and took the plane
to Helsinki, via Copenhagen. Then we took the Ferry from Helsinki to
arrive in Tallin, Estonia. We stayed in an apartment in the old town,
and spent Saturday exploring Tallin - we went on a guided tour of the
old town in the morning, ate lunch at a local eatery, explored the city
some more, stopped for coffee, went to the beach (yes, the beach!) and
then ate dinner at a place called Old Hansa. Old Hansa is a medieval
restaurant through and through - from the food, to the setting (no
electricity), to the music, to the staff appropriately attired in
medieval clothing, this was a completely unique experience! We ate a
medieval feast - starters of oven roasted cheese, fresh bread, onion
jam, berries, pickles, chicken pâté (and probably some other things I am
forgetting), a main course of salmon in a nut sauce, barley, turnips,
game sausages, roast beef in a fig sauce, and lentils, and then dessert
of baked apples with pastry and a honey and nut sauce. We indulged and
it was delicious.
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| Olde Hansa medieval restaurant! |
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| Tallinn's old town square on a sunny day! |
On Sunday morning we drove two hours to Tartu to attend church with
our Estonian friend Lena and to have lunch with her family and meet some
of her friends. It was great to be able to meet them all and we had a
special afternoon together. In the afternoon we explored the city of
Tartu which is known for being a student town with a University with a
good reputation.
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| The cutest little café |
On Monday, we drove back to Tallin to
bid farewell to two of our travelling companions, and the rest of us
enjoyed some more good food for lunch before I made myself comfortable
in a cave-like coffee shop with a good book and a cup of tea and chocolate
cake. I was quite happy :)
In the early evening we caught the overnight
cruise liner to Stockholm, the Baltic Queen and I had my first taste of
the cruise liner experience! We enjoyed the view from the windy deck of
the boat before finding some dinner and planning our agenda for our
next day in Stockholm. By the time we were ready to sleep I could feel
that we were on a boat, the sensation of the motion was quite strange
actually. But we all slept well thankfully!
We arrived in Stockholm on Tuesday morning and spent some time exploring
the old city, which coincided with the opening of Parliament, so we saw
the Swedish Royal family which was an unexpected bonus! After a tasty
lunch, we went to the Vasa Museum, which has an old boat that was
recovered from the ocean floor after 333 years of being submerged. She
sunk in the 1600's on her maiden voyage due to a design fault. The boat
was salvaged and has been restored and is more than 90% original. It was
amazing to see something historical. After this we stopped for coffee
and cake and I had a marshmellow chocolate brownie which was out of this
world! And then it was time for dinner, sleep, and to catch the plane
home!
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| The royal residence in Stockholm |
We arrived in Stockholm on Tuesday morning and spent some time exploring
the old city, which coincided with the opening of Parliament, so we saw
the Swedish Royal family which was an unexpected bonus! After a tasty
lunch, we went to the Vasa Museum, which has an old boat that was
recovered from the ocean floor after 333 years of being submerged. She
sunk in the 1600's on her maiden voyage due to a design fault. The boat
was salvaged and has been restored and is more than 90% original. It was
amazing to see something historical. After this we stopped for coffee
and cake and I had a marshmellow chocolate brownie which was out of this
world! And then it was time for dinner, sleep, and to catch the plane
home!
