Hey Steemit!
Now to finally resolve the "cliffhanger" from the previous post as we head to Estonia! (Long post ahead!)
28 April 2018. Saturday.
We started the day with a yummy breakfast buffet courtesy of Clarion Hotel in Helsinki. 😋
After a very filling breakfast, we took a 15 min walk towards the Port of Helsinki because if you remember from the previous post, Estonia is just a short ferry ride away:
Entering the port terminal
We were still a little early but tbh there's not much to do in the actual port itself, except grab a bite or smt
I guess the Port of Helsinki is #1 in...something.?
While waiting we saw these 2 guys in very interesting suits! They were so colourful and I think a friend of their joined them with a Pacman suit and it was so cool! They really stood out in the crowd with their colourful outfits. 😄
I didn't manage to get a proper pic of the ship unfortunately, but it looked something like this:
Anyway it was time to board the ship! Full steam ahead! (wait that's for trains isn't it 🤔)
We were kinda tired so decided to just find a nice spot to relax and chill since it was surprisingly crowded that day. The first place we entered into on the ship was this lounge area and it was pretty comfy so we made sure to secure a good spot.
I was taking a nap when suddenly there was loud music playing and turns out there's a live band performing on the ship itself! How cool is that! 😲 I've taken a cruise before and we didn't even have that back then.
The ferry was about 2 hours and after my nap we didn't have much time to explore the ship before we arrived so we just took a quick gander around. Here's the view from the ship! I'm so glad we were blessed with good weather that day. 😌
Lovin that azure blue sky ☺
Turns out the ship has a ton of facilities!
A mini arcade!
And Burger King! It really is everywhere around this region huh
We're here!
So the specific area we travelled to in Estonia is Tallinn, the capital, and it's known for having an Old Town, also called Vanalinn. The Old Town is divided into two areas (yes, it's really called Old Town) – the lower town and the upper town (also called Toompea). Those two towns were once separated by gates, almost like two different cities. Nowadays, the combination of the upper town on the high limestone hill and the lower town at its foot form an expressive skyline that is visible from a great distance both from land and sea. The lower town (all-linn) is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe, also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
So that's where we were heading to today!
Thank God for the glorious weather so I can take such nice landscape shots 😊
We didn't know how to walk to the Old Town exactly, but once we came upon this cobblestone structure we knew we were on the right path. 😅
At the entrance to Old Town!
Walking into Old Town felt like we just travelled back in time; the infrastructure was so different to our modernised roads and buildings! I can almost hear the clip-clop of horses' hooves just looking at the cobblestone roads.
We happened upon this church since it was the tallest building around (and probably in all of Old Town tbh). It's actually called St. Olaf's Church, and looks like this from a bit further back:
We went inside to take a look; luckily there was no service going on.
The interior was pretty well maintained, and pretty grand when you're inside it since the ceiling went up veryyyy high.
After visiting the church, we walked around admiring the scenery and old architecture. It was pretty quiet too, and we felt so peaceful just taking a walk through the town.
We came across a park clearing after that and took some nice nature shots! I like how trees always make for good photos; even without the colour of their leaves they're still beautiful.
I'm not sure what this was exactly, but it looks like some kind of turret but I dont think we could enter it
This looks like it could be from a movie set in the 1800s or something! I wouldn't be surprised if some movies were filmed here.
We found a circle of rocks on the ground that reminded me of korok seeds in Breath of the Wild 😄
We went onwards through this archway and found a train!
It reminded me of a toy train I used to have and it was so cute! The speed was pretty slow though, I pity the cars stuck driving behind the train. 😅
At a crossroads that both lead to the same place...kinda like life huh. #deep
And the place was the Town Square (aka Raekoja plats)! It's a large open area surrounded by shops, restaurants and bars, and this big building with the tall pointy spire is the Tallinn Town Hall! The Town Square is often used for small festivals and concerts but there was none that day. 😕
We did, however see a street performer/acrobat doing a dance routine to some nice tranquil music though! So that's something.
I believe this is another church but it's smaller compared to St. Olaf's.
Here's a map of Tallinn we found! There are quite a lot of landmarks situated in this whole cluster which was good since we wanted to see as much as we could in the day.
We were getting kinda hungry so we decided to consult Google's cheap eats to find a restaurant nearby we could try, and we found a place called PORGU!
It was a pretty unique restaurant since it was underground and there were quite steep stone steps going down.
The restaurant was actually really nice and cozy! We ordered some jalapeno poppers and a chicken chop to share.
The food was delicious! And it wasn't too expensive either, so yay! 😋
Anyway, this post is getting really long so I think that's all for now. Tune in next time for Part 2 of our Estonia adventure!
Thanks for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://tacocat.vornix.blog/2019/01/13/tacocats-travels-finland-17-traveling-back-in-time-to-old-town/
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