Hi, I'm Eric.

I’m an avid world traveler, photographer, software developer, and digital storyteller.

I help implement the Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe.

ericscouten.com

Subscribe / Follow · Now

ericscouten.com

Subscribe / Follow · Now

Search Results

Europe Day 29: A New City Crush

23 July 2017 • 96 km / 60 mi (map)

  • First published on ericscouten.com
  • Added to Eric Scouten :: Travel on 25 August 2023
  • Estonia 2

Today I took a ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia.

Rather than use a taxi, I walked the 20-30 minutes from the ferry terminal to my hotel and … my, oh my … swoon … I love Tallinn’s historic old city.

This makes three European cities that I have full-on crushes on … the other two being Amsterdam (see you soon!) and Barcelona. Tallinn goes high on my must-revisit list.

My hotel is right in the heart of the old town, which made it easy for me to go out for a photo walk. Here are some of my favorite sights:

A pale yellow Gothic Revival church with a tall tower topped by a dark spire and cross, photographed from below against a clear deep blue sky. The facade features pointed-arch windows, a round rose window, and wooden double doors, with a paved plaza in the foreground.
Street-level storefront of a pizza restaurant called Pizza Americana in Tallinn, with large windows decorated in red, white, and blue star-spangled graphics and the slogan “Parim pizza linnas.” Diners are visible seated inside through the right window, and a glass door with a red-and-white striped awning stands between the two windows of the yellow and grey building.
A cobblestone street in Tallinn’s old town leads toward a cream-colored building with a red tiled roof housing the restaurant Grillhaus Daube, with an outdoor terrace trimmed with blue and yellow flowers. A round medieval stone tower with a conical tiled roof rises behind it under a clear blue sky, while pedestrians walk along the street.
A medieval stone church with a tall white tower topped by a dark green spire and weathervane, alongside a red-tiled roof and pointed Gothic windows, set against a clear deep blue sky with leafy green trees and a hedge in the foreground.
A cobblestone pathway in Tallinn, Estonia, flanked by old stone walls topped with dense green ivy and hedges, leading up a slight incline toward a stone archway and steps. Tall leafy trees and a tapering blue-green conifer rise above the walls, with a church spire visible against a clear blue sky in the upper left.
A stone monument engraved with the name Eduard Vilde stands beside concrete planters overflowing with pink and purple flowers in a sunlit Tallinn square, with a historic yellow building and leafy green trees under a clear blue sky behind it.
A cobblestone square in Tallinn’s old town on a sunny day, with a family of three walking in the foreground and scattered pedestrians across the plaza. Ornate pastel-colored historic buildings with gabled roofs and a tall spired tower line the square under a clear blue sky, framed by a large green tree on the left.
A busy open-air market in Tallinn’s Old Town square, with white and pastel-colored medieval merchant houses and a church spire behind rows of vendor stalls, umbrellas, and tents selling clothing, crafts, and goods under a clear blue sky.
A pale green metal double door with embossed diamond panels and a padlock, set into a rough honey-colored stone wall, covered in black and white graffiti tags including names like “John Smith” and a small photo sticker. A paved sidewalk runs along the base of the wall.
The yellow facade of the Hell Hunt pub in Tallinn, featuring an ornate painted sign with a winged wolf between the words “Hell” and “Hunt,” with white-framed windows, flower boxes of pink blooms, and a cobblestone street in the foreground.
View through a vaulted stone archway with pale plastered walls opening onto a sunlit cobblestone square in Tallinn’s Old Town, where people stroll and sit at outdoor cafes shaded by umbrellas amid historic buildings and flower-filled planters.
A weathered double wooden door with peeling whitish paint arranged in a chevron pattern, secured with a padlock and wooden bar, set into a yellow plaster wall. Above the door hangs a rusty metal sign cut out to read “JARDIN”.
A sunlit cobblestone square in Tallinn’s old town lined with tall whitewashed medieval gabled buildings, including the Peppersack restaurant, under a clear blue sky, with pedestrians strolling and Italian and European Union flags hanging in the foreground.
Ironic, since I was just in Helsinki …
8pm on a Sunday in Tallinn …
A medieval stone city gate with a large arched passageway and a round tower topped with a red-tiled conical roof, viewed from a wide cobblestone street. Through the arch, a few pedestrians walk along a narrow old-town street lined with pale historic buildings in warm evening light.

One of the things that fascinates me about Tallinn is the extent to which any traces of the Soviet era have been eliminated. (Estonia was occupied by the USSR from 1944 to 1991.)

Very little is printed in Russian, even though it is only a 2.5 hour drive to the Russian border from here. (To be clear, unlike most borders, that border is not tempting to me right now). Little is evident of the infamously austere Soviet architecture.

By contrast, much remains of 18th-century architecture (and probably before that, even). The city center is heavily focused on being walkable. Today’s weather is highly conducive to that (sunny at 72°F / 22°C) and lots of people were out and about.

Helsinki, Finland, to Tallinn, Estonia · 96 km / 60 mi
(Mouse over or tap on the markers to see the photos there. Use the button to adjust the map’s position and zoom.)

If you’ve enjoyed this …

Subscribe to my free and occasional (never more than weekly) e-mail newsletter with my latest travel and other stories:

Or follow me on one or more of the socials: