Visiting the Economist's website for the previous post, I noticed a strange headline:
CITIES GUIDE: Moscow
Letter from Talinn
Where the future is wired
This heading was strange for two reasons: 1) Tallinn has less to do with Moscow nowadays than it does to do with, for instance, Helsinki; and 2) the misspelling of the city's name shook my faith in the Economist's usually sterling copy.
Regardless of the odd header, the brief guide to the city looks useful for those planning a visit of a couple days or more.
We spent only about 5 hours in the Estonian capital, so even if I'd had the Economist's list of recommended spots to visit at my disposal during our trip, it's doubtful we would have managed to hit any of them. We spent our time wandering the streets of the old city, amazed at its beauty and at the exorbitant, tourist-trap-like prices for souvenir refrigerator magnets. I tried Lorina's patience by tarrying in the chilly weather to take lots of photos. The fact is that Tallinn's old town is prettier, in addition to being bigger, than Riga's. We spent January 2 through 6 in Riga, and the trip to Tallinn was a day-trip taken (in a zippy Hyundai Getz rented from local firm BalticLines) on Jan 4. The trip involved a four-hour drive each way over slushy, mostly unlit roads, so it was exhausting for the driver (me), although the snow-laden trees along the way were visually stunning and almost made the trip worthwhile all by themselves.
In general, after this trip, I highly recommend these two Baltic capitals as destinations for trips of a few days from Moscow or Western Europe. There are cheap flights to Riga from points west, apparently popular among boys intent on behaving badly, if one can judge from the town's thriving night-club scene and the numerous ads for "escorts" in the free English-language events magazines. We made the journey by train from Moscow and found the Latvian-operated Express to be quite comfortable and convenient. It was the first time in Riga for both me and Lorina, and I had been to Tallinn long ago in the 1980's (my most powerful memory of that trip is getting stuck - briefly but unpleasantly - in a crowded elevator in the Hotel Olympia) and only very briefly in 1996. Both towns are tourist-friendly, and reports of hostility toward Russian-speaking visitorsare greatly exaggerated.
All of the photos above are of Tallinn - I may have some items to post from Riga, but this will probably be it for tonight - I have to do quite a few things to get back into the swing of things in my DC life. One last bit of Christmas cheer (after all, Russian Orthodox Christmas was just two days ago) - the photo below was taken at a Lukoil gas station along the road on our way back to Riga from Tallinn.
