After eating breakfast in our hotel, we caught a trolley bus out to Kopli Bay, a 30 minute ride away to the home of the Estonian Open Air Museum. It’s located overlooking the bay and occupying a large site providing an insight into old Estonian life. A rural village has been re-constructed within a forest park, 12 farms, a school house, fire station, windmills, a watermill and church can be visited. On our visit, the weather was perfect and local dance troupes were performing, adding to the charm.
Sitting on a bench, we watched the dancers perform in their national costumes before being persuaded to join in! Somehow, I managed to dance the Polka, instructed by an Estonian dancer, and although initially reluctant to do so, enjoyed the experience tremendously! Before leaving the museum, we sampled traditional Estonian thick pea soup served with spelt bread and herb butter in the museum cafe, delicious and very reasonably priced.
Returning to the city centre we decided to explore Tallinn’s new town and its Viru shopping centre. We didn’t linger very long there as it could be a shopping centre anywhere, functional but nothing special. The real charm of Tallinn, as with so many cities, lies in the old town.
As it was such a lovely, warm, sunny afternoon we took a short tram ride to Kadriorg Park, an urban park and also the home of the Kadriog Palace, built by Peter the Great and now housing the Estonian Art Museum. We sat and rested awhile under the shade of some lilac trees admiring the small, wooden houses on the edge of the park with their pretty, pastel coloured walls.
Feeling hungry, we headed back to the Old Town for dinner, dining at ‘Hell Hunt’ a gastro-pub that we have dined at on previous visits. As it was still quite warm, we ate out on the terrace with drinks from their own micro brewery.
Before taking the Linda Line high speed ferry back to Helsinki we stocked up on wine and beer from one of the cash and carry stores near the ferry terminal as the prices there are considerably lower than in Finland. Back on the ferry, we soon took a short nap before disembarking in our beloved Helsinki.
To summarise, Tallinn makes a delightful short city break with its medieval architecture, inviting restaurants and low prices, it’s quite compact so two or three days should suffice. Come and enjoy!
If you have enjoyed reading this series of posts on Tallinn you may also like:
Wroclaw, Poland – a short break
Love Travelling Blog 
It is good to see some local culture, if it is truly representative. The old town looks nice Marion. Allan
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Thanks Allan, Tallinn old town is really beautiful.
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I am originally from Estonia and Tallinn, so I was very pleased to read that you enjoyed your visit! I definitely recommend also checking out Saaremaa island, it´s a bit of a drive away (4 hrs by car or bus), but totally worth it!
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Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I’ve taken a note of your suggestion and when we return again with a hire car we will try and fit in a visit there. It’s good to hear recommendations from other bloggers.
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Hi, thanks for the like, means a lot when you’re a newbie blogger.
I love that you also research all the travel destinations by yourself, I had to do that this summer and although there was a lot of time spent googling, managed to have a great time and save money (Some tour companies have extortionate charges).
Hoping to visit Helsinki and Tallin next year! So nice to see your photos of Tallin
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Thank you! Welcome to the world of blogging, it’s good fun and helps everyone learn about new places to visit. Do try and visit Helsinki and Tallinn as they are both beautiful, yet different destinations!
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Thanks for the warm welcome. Please try and visit Sri lanka, where I live. I think you’d really enjoy it !
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Yes, of course – I’d love to visit Sri Lanka, hopefully one day!!
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Your pictures are amazing! I had never seen any of specifically Estonia. Now, I want to go!
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Hi CassieRae – Estonia is really lovely, especially Tallinn. It’s not huge but would make a lovely weekend city break!
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Great post. You were very near to Finland. Did You visit Finland?
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Yes, we are lucky to visit Finland for a month every summer. It’s my favourite country, I just love being so close to nature and still having delightful Helsinki on my doorstep. We have friends who live in Tapiola so we are fortunate to be able to stay there and also spend a few days at their cottage near Savonlinna. Whereabouts in Finland are you based?
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Very nice to read Your answer. Well, now we live in Mikkeli and we have leisure home in Oulu. Next autumn we will move to Helsinki.
Thank You answering. Happy new week.
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It looks beautiful, you must have had a great time! 🙂
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