Baltics24: Day 6 – Helsinki – Tallinn
Said farewell to Helsinki this morning as we boarded the Gabriella to Tallinn. As we’d heard, there were a number of passengers whose luggage consisted solely of fold-up trolleys, as their mission was to catch the ferry, head to nearest liquor shop in Tallinn, stock up and then catch the next ferry home, as apparently the price difference for booze is significant enough between Finland and Estonia to make these regular trips worthwhile. For added amusement, the soundtrack to our journey was provided by sensitive car alarms, the sort that go off when a car shakes, as can happen to ferries crossing the Baltic Sea.
Estonia! A small nation that has a long history, of which I am mostly ignorant of. A small nation with a strong cultural identity, of which I am mostly ignorant of. A small nation with beer, meat, and potatoes, so I’m looking forward to getting a bit more understanding of.
We’re staying on the edge of the old town in Tallinn, so we’ll probably be exposed more to “Ye Olde Estonie”, i.e. the cleaned up, sanitised, slightly dramaticised version, rather than any real exposure to how Estonians actually go about their daily stuff, but I could be wrong. From our stroll tonight it does at least seem that Tallinn locals do frequent the old town as much as tourists, as there appeared to be several celebrations going on, maybe a wedding or something. I don’t get the feeling that many actually live in the old town, it’s more where they come to work and possibly party.
And vandalise the Russian embassy, or at least hang posters and red paint smeared clothes on the short barricades that have been constructed in front of it. We stumbled across this in our wanderings, as we wondered why there was a police car parked, with officers who didn’t seem to be urgently or purposefully doing active police work. I’m thinking they are more there to provide a demonstrable presence, so the Russians can’t claim that Estonia is doing nothing, and at the same time be a deterrent to any more emotive displays (hmm, maybe put that half a housebrick down and grab a pen and write what you really think of Putin in 12 words or less on that sign, okay?). Suffice to say that there are certainly people who have concerns about the Ukraine war, and with Russia just the other side of a river, who can blame them.
The only things we destroyed on our foray into the old town were pancakes, legendary pancakes from Kompressor Pancake Pub. They came up as being gf-friendly in one of L’s searches, and looked like a good idea. They were certainly busy, we arrived a bit after 2.30pm and there was a queue for seating. Who queues for pancakes? Apparently we do. Running the floor were two women, possibly in their 30s or 40s, and they unhurriedly directed traffic. When our turn came, we got no more than a nod as one of the women stood next to the table. The menu is quite significant, stuffed savoury and sweet pancakes in a number of combinations. There’s no table service, it’s all order at the bar. I went for a beef, pickle and cream cheese filling, as that seemed quite Estonian to me, and a small glass of Karksi Must Nunn, a wonderful Estonian dark lager with a hint of fruit, a good malty backbone, and with subtle hopping. The pancake was very tasty, cooked just right and then folded full of rich pulled beef balanced with tangy pickles, and the cream cheese keeping it all together. L’s gf one was equally impressive. Legendary pancakes.
We checked out a few crafts and souvenir shops, Baltic amber is a big thing here, along with wooden things, knitted things, and weird felt hats.
Our dinner wandering took us to the Drink Bar and Grill, as it promised local beer and at least 1 gf option. From an afternoon skimming eating options, it does seem that there’s a bit of a lack of gf options in Tallinn’s more casual establishments, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m definitely aiming to try as many Estonian beers as I can remember. At Drink I started with the Pohjala lager, an easy drinking, well balanced beer that delivers a decent amount of malt and goes very well with deep fried cheese balls. It’s a beer that goes well with a range of bar snacks I think. I followed this up with Anderson’s Estoni Baltic Porter, the type of beer I’m really hoping to get to drink more of while I’m in the Baltics. Baltic Porter is not the same as other porters, it’s generally brewed more like a lager and with lager yeasts, and with malts not generally used in porters. I found that evident in the flavour of this one, it had a full roasted flavour, reminding me of various dark lagers but with a fuller body and lower level of carbonation. Well worth savouring.
Tomorrow’s plan is to hit some markets then we have a walking tour booked for the afternoon which may unlock more secrets of Tallinn.
Terviseks!