Tallinn you, it’s got it all
ANDY GILPIN VISITS ESTONIA’S CLASSY CAPITAL CITY AND FINDS IT REBORN AS A BALTIC HOTSPOT OF CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
THE old Estonian adage “never reveal your best foraging spots” jars a little as you’re trying to describe Tallinn’s best bits. Luckily, there are quite a few.
Gone are the days of drunk Brits (and Finns) packing squares in the old town in search of cheap thrills and even cheaper beer.
It’s a thriving city of contrasts from the old town to hipster enclaves, via a bog in the middle of nowhere. And everything comes with cranberries. The capital marries the old and the new, with a mix of Soviet-style Eastern Bloc thrown in for good measure. Ultra cool, this is where David Beckham buys his saunas, you can drink cocktails in an old prison and fight cowboys in a shipyard...
BOG TREKKING WITH UNLIMITED FREE FOOD
For me, bog trekking usually consists of a frantic search for the toilet after a night in ’Spoons. In Estonia it’s a national pastime.
In fact, guide Signe told us Lahemaa National Park (wanderlust.ee/ en/) is where people used to go to escape viruses in the olden times – which is quite apt today. Deep in Lahemaa, a 40-minute drive from the centre of Tallinn, is the Viru bog – or borrgg – as Signe calls it. We popped on our specialised bogshoes and took our first squidgy steps.
The initial few were tentative, even laboured – but we soon got into it and stopped getting stuck.
A bog, it seems, has many hidden surprises. Formed over hundreds of years as lakes filled with peat, moss and plant debris, there are still pools, which Estonians love to swim in, but there’s another reason why they love them. Food. And free food at that.
Walking around, I saw Signe pick up cranberries, bog blueberries (they taste nicer than they sound), mushrooms and berries. She said she knew some very good spots to collect but, as noted, Estonians never reveal them...
After nearly an hour exploring the borrggs we climbed a viewing platform to take it all in with a picnic and herbal tea – all made from bog produce. I felt energised, refreshed, full of cranberries and with leg muscles like Mo Salah.
WHY HAVE A HOME, WHEN YOU CAN HAVE A MIRROR HOME?
When you’re full of this adventuring spirit, you may as well stay in a mirror house in the middle of nowhere. I saw it in my itinerary and couldn’t picture it. Jana, our guide, tried to describe it, as did the taxi driver.
I don’t know what the confusion was about. The mirror home was exactly what it said on the (reflective) tin – a cabin in the woods, covered in mirrors.
Impressive from the outside, it was functional on the inside with wall-towall windows.
And while showering naked to the world behind a wall-to-wall window was an experience, people probably couldn’t see in – although I did expect to see a bear wander across!
But the true winner was the sauna – mirrored of course.
Now, I’m no expert in firing up a sauna. There was seldom a need for them growing up in the badlands of Wrexham. But maybe there should be. After lighting a fire under the hot stones we waited – and waited. And waited. But finally it was hot enough and we could let the imperfections of the day sweat out of us while daring each other to pour more water on the hot rocks.
It became a battle of wills – all while keeping an eye out for bears.
OLD TOWN, NEW TRICKS
Tallinn old town is the best preserved medieval city in Northern Europe, with beautiful Gothic spires and fairy tale architecture. The history is complex – founded by Danes, owned by the Germans and dominated by Russians.
A hundred yards from the Town Hall Square, the former exchange station for the Estonian Telegraph company has been transformed into the five-star Hotel Telegraff, a perfect base to explore the area.
Want to see where a priest was beheaded for killing a serving maid who spilled his broth? Well, you have come to the right spot.
After a walking tour we went to one of the oldest pharmacies in the world, learnt about some literally bats**t remedies and made our own in a herb workshop.
We finished with a meal at Restaurant Lee, which boasts a bust of Sean Connery in the garden for some reason. The focus is always on local produce and you’d never say Dr No to braised beef cheek with fermented potato and cabbage pancakes. You may not notice it wandering around the cobbled streets during the day, but Botaanik is a speakeasy run by Andres – who trained at the Savoy and runs it under his own terms.
FIGHT A COWBOY IN A SHIPYARD
Investment is pouring into the country and they’re doing their best to marry old with new. Case in point, the old Noblessner Seafront Quarter, a reimagined shipyard brought into the 21st century.
Estonia is moving away from its Soviet
past but you can still see the remnants of it at the Seaplane Harbour museum.
We ate locally sourced food such as scallops and quail at Lore Bistro before wandering around the popup businesses from sauna workshop Iglupark, where David Beckham bought his no less, to Kai Art Centre. But for me the real star was the interactive Proto Invention Factory, taking an old naval building and turning it into a virtual reality lab. There we flew hot air balloons through labyrinths, had a shoot-out
cowboys on a moving train, before taking to the air and soaring over mountains. If the VR doesn’t have your head spinning – a trip to Pohjala Tap Room might with its wide selection of beers and porters.
BE A HIPSTER... TWICE
There are distinctive (hipster) places in Tallinn to visit. The most famous is Telliskivi Creative City near the Baltic Market.
A former industrial site, it has been revamped into creator studios selling clothes, furniture and even vintage video games. There are coffee shops and bars – but the centrepiece is Fotografiska.
Purpose-built, it is a Swedish concept ‘museum of photography’. The exhibits are cutting edge but it is designed as a full-day destination (we did it in three hours) with floors of different curations, plus a cafe, restaurant, fine-art shop and events centre.
It’s industrial – the old factories dominate everything – but it feels like they’ve got something going there. And that’s the mantra for Talwith linn as a whole. At the tip of the Baltic states looking enviously towards the Nordic countries, Estonia is changing at a rate of knots.
Yes it’s pricey and will only get more so as it aligns itself with Scandinavia. But after years of Soviet rule they’re now really out of their shadow.
On the way back to the airport we went to a great little cafe which served artisan bread, good coffee and local beers. I’d like to tell you where it was, but Estonians never reveal their best foraging spots.