By Jessica Bohince
After I posted on Facebook that I would be visiting Tallinn, Estonia, most of my friend’s responses were, “Where is that?” To be honest with you, I really didn’t know where it was either before the trip. I knew it was south of Finland and that was pretty much it. Most Americans don’t think of Estonia when planning a vacation in Europe, but after two days of exploring the “Old Town”, I can now say I know where it’s located and that I would definitely recommend putting it on your places to travel list!
Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and is located along the Gulf of Finland and is roughly 50 miles south of Helsinki. A small group of students (some from George Mason University and San Jose State University) embarked on a whirlwind weekend trip to this forgotten city! We left campus by bus and headed over to the City Center, which is the main shopping area in Jyväskylä, for a quick bite to eat. Most of us ate at McDonalds; I know! I know! Out of all the places to choose, we chose McDonalds, but it tasted just like home! After lunch, we headed to the train station and departed to Helsinki. The train ride was about 3-4 hours. We kept ourselves occupied with laptops, iPods, iPads, and a hilarious game of “Finish the sentence.” Once we arrived in Helsinki, we headed to the ferry that would take us to Tallinn. Ok, when I heard “ferry” I thought of a medium size boat with maybe a snack bar, but the boat we took was no ferry, it was a cruise ship! There were multiple levels, shops, cafes, and even a dance floor. I was so excited! I had never been on a cruise ship before. We settled into our cabins and then headed to the deck to take photos of the beautiful scenery. The view we had was absolutely stunning! After we had taken about 100 pictures each, we went down to the lounge area to hang out. The group ended up sitting right next to the karaoke area and of course some of the group decided to participate. Daniel performed “Macho Man” and for not knowing most of the lyrics, he was pretty good! His dance moves really put the performance over the edge! 3 other girls and I performed “Tearin’ Up My Heart” by N'SYNC and we killed it! Way to go Brenda, Shell and Jessica! After we finished the song, it was getting pretty late and we decided to head to our cabins because we had an early morning ahead of us.
On Saturday, May 28th we left the ship, which was named the Viking Xprs, at 7am. The group headed to the Radisson Blu Hotel Olümpia via bus. We arrived at the hotel and ate breakfast and I must say it was so good! There were many different choices and I didn’t eat anything I didn’t like. After breakfast the group had a scheduled bus tour. We loaded on the bus and were off the explore Tallinn! Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable about the history of Tallinn and also where to take great photos. We visited a Russian Orthodox Church, a palace, the venue of Tallinn Song Festival, plus many more. Once the tour concluded we explored the Old Town on our own. Our tour guide recommended Peppersack for lunch so that’s where we went. It was a medieval restaurant and the food was amazing! It was a little bit pricey, but worth every cent. For the rest of the afternoon the group toured the city. We did some shopping and watched a few street performances. While we were in Tallinn, there was a Festival going on so we were able to experience the shows and see the handmade crafts.
The group decided to head back to the hotel after all of our feet started to hurt, plus the Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United would be coming on at 9:45pm. This football match is like the Super Bowl and the Europeans take their football very serious as I learned that at the Aston Villa Match. We deiced to watch the match in hotel Pub. There was a mixture of fans from both teams, but the Barcelona fans were more vocal. During the match, I realized once again that football is more technical than I thought. There is more to it than just trying to kick a ball into a net. Barcelona won the match which made most of group and bar extremely happy. After the match I headed upstairs to get some sleep because we had a long day of travel ahead of us.
On May 29th we left Tallinn, Estonia. We toured the city a little more and stopped at a local donut shop one our tutors recommended. I’m so glad we stopped there! It was a great way to end our trip. We headed to the Viking Xprs around 3pm and landed in Helsinki around 7pm then left on the train for Jyväskylä around 8pm. We arrived back to our dorms at 11:30pm. The weekend flew by and the Old Town is something I will always remember. The history of the city is very much alive and you experience it when you are there. So the next time you are thinking of planning a European adventure, do not forget about Tallinn!
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