Well. Not a lot. BUT that didn’t mean the experience was one for the books.
The Baltics were not countries I had considered visiting on this trip. After months of travel I had heard very little about these small countries, and I was becoming extremely curious about what they contained. If the travelers exploring Bulgaria and Serbia haven’t seen Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, what travelers are?
After meeting up with an American friend in Warsaw, Poland, we decided the next leg of the journey would be to visit his friends in Finland. The route from Poland to Finland hit all the Baltics perfectly, and we decided to choose just one in order to maximize our time in Finland.
After checking flights, we realized that our cheapest and most efficient option would be an 18 hour bus ride north to Tallinn, Estonia. I have discovered on this trip that the bus is almost always cheaper, and as a traveler with more time than money my choice is clear.
The bus ride was long, but not unbearable as we spent the majority of our time trying to sleep. (Varying success with that challenge)
Tallinn, as it turned out, is a small crisp city on the northern coast of Estonia. After a month in Spain and three months in the Balkans, I can say that Estonia was a culture shock for me that I did not expect.
All of the southeastern and Eastern European countries, though distinct, possess a familiar cultural vein. Estonia, on the other hand, has a strong Nordic influence that I had never previously seen in person.
We explored the old city, which turned out to be shockingly different than any old cities I have seen on my trip. (Which is saying something - after a couple of old cities I decided I had seen them all.)
The streets were clean, wide, and evenly paved, the buildings were freshly painted in cool tones, and tourist shops sold almost exclusively sweaters and mittens.
While there was not necessarily a lot to do in this city, the culture shock was refreshing. There were also a surprising number of tourists for this cold time of year, but they were primarily from the region. We climbed to explore the beautiful Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which shares the name of my favorite cathedral in Sofia, Bulgaria. The inside was exactly as gorgeous as I hoped an Eastern Orthodox Church would be.
Another landmark, Kiek in de Kök, is a15th century cannon tour that we found hilarious.
From Tallinn, we took a ferry to Helsinki, Finland to continue our journey north.
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