2017-08-01 Tallinn by train from Vanamõsia Campsite

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Visiting Tallin by rail from Vanamoisa campsite

We wake here at Vanamoisa campsite to a blue-sky day, warm and sunny and feel better for a good night’s sleep and the thought that there is no more dancing to prepare for!

Today we are visiting Tallinn and doing tourist things. My research about Tallinn and camping car aires around Tallinn suggested that staying in the city itself was a bad idea. There were many reports of motorhomes being damaged, tyres slashed, theft of contents and even break-ins while the motorhome owners were asleep in their vehicle. The other problem with city visits is finding a parking place, that’s never easy.

We have come across this scenario many times and have a standard way of dealing with it, we look along the railway line from the city and find a campsite or aire that is within walking distance of a station. That’s why we are at Vanamoisa campsite; Vanamõisa campsiten is 15 minutes walk from a station.

Vanamoisa campsite is super, new WC and shower blocks (2) with kitchens, all hard standings, each with hook-up… but Mr C. has forgotten the adapter for eastern Europe! No hook-up electricity for us. We breakfast, make packed lunches and set off for the train station to Tallinn. We walk to Saue station (pronounced Sow-way), about a 15-minute walk and wait for the train. It leaves on time at 11.16 and costs us (as OAPs) €1.30 each (single) for the 27 minutes to get to Tallinn, less than the cost of that cucumber!!

There are toilets in the station at Tallin, a female attendant charged us €0.40 each to use the toilet.

We walk across the road and have lunch by the moat below the old town of Tallinn which is like a fortified town on top of the (man-made) hill. Passing the Nun’s Gate (no longer accessible as an entrance) we enter the old town of Tallinn by the lower gate or Long Leg gate to the Toompea. This is a very long and steep road known as Pikk Jaig that used to be the link between the harbour at Tallinn and the Toompea Hill suitable for horses and horse and carriage. The stone gate tower here dates from 1380, when it was built to replace a wooden structure. The shorter and much steeper entrance, was known as the Short Leg gate, was a short cut and only suitable for common people or pedestrians! It was locked at night to keep the common people out as it is next to the Danish King’s garden, why Danish was unclear but possibly denotes the home of nobility. Here is the ghostly apparition (statue) of the black-cloaked monk who has been seen haunting the square outside the maiden tower, aptly named as the prison for prostitutes in bygone times.

At the top of the Long Leg entrance is the Lutheran church reminiscent of the ornate cupola churches seen in Russia, very picturesque and packed with tourists. Once at the top of the hill and in the Toompea, the old town is based around the market square. Colourful buildings of ornate design are mostly embassies and government buildings. The views from the ramparts are quite something across Tallinn city, to the harbour. It is hot and sunny and packed with tourists, but it does not really spoil our experience of wandering around the ancient town… perhaps only our photographs as pesky tourists keep getting in the way!

We wander back through the town of Tallinn, colourful squares full of tourists having lunch, coffee or beer on the open-air patios and enjoying the sunshine. Anyone who is anyone was here today. We call at the indoor market on the way back to the station. It is amazing, raw meat and cooked meat stalls, cheese stalls, many fruit and vegetable stalls fresh from the farms prices are mixed, some things expensive to our eyes, others cheap. Behind the food market I found a small electrical items shops selling all kinds of plugs, wire, brackets and other hardware, I purchased a plug for €1.30 to make an adaptor so we could use the electric hook-up at the campsite, fortunately I always carry a small toolkit in the motorhome.

We buy strawberries, blueberries, cherries, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, chanterelle mushrooms by the bagful. There are raspberries, black and redcurrants, bilberries, green and pink gooseberries, peaches galore. Cheese and cooked meats at a fraction of the supermarket! When we can’t carry any more we cross the road to the station and take the 15.09 train from Tallinn to Saue. Back at the campsite we sit out and drink good German wine and cook stir-fry with the fresh produce for tea plus a huge bowl of strawberries… reminiscent of the glut time when growing our allotment.

We really enjoyed our day in Tallinn, an interesting historic city. We felt that Tallin was completely ruined by allowing traffic to use the narrow cobbled streets, we were hassled and harassed by taxis, delivery vans and private cars the whole time that we were walking around. Another source of irritation was large groups of tourists from cruise ships being escorted around by tour guides who used loud hailers to deliver a barrage of information to their charges. Tallinn would be much more attractive if it banned traffic during the day.

The weather is good all evening but a wind gets up with the promise of rain on its way so we go to bed about 10.30pm, it is still light.

Visiting Tallin by train from Vanamoisa campsite photos

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Motorhome return tour from Turku in Finland to the UK via the Baltic States

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