From: keg@strathspey.llnl.gov (Keith Grant)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: Tallin info needed
Date: 18 Aug 92 23:09:36 GMT
Distribution: rec.travel
Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Originator: keg@strathspey.llnl.gov


I just returned from a conference in Tallin 2-8 August.  In general,
its pretty easy to survive there.  From Helsinki, you have the choice
of airplane, slow ferry, or hydrofoil to get to Tallinn.  I went from
Helsinki to Tallinn on the hydrofoil (90 minutes) and returned on the
slow ferry (4 hours).  I can't say much about the airplane route except
that several colleagues flew and didn't have any trouble.

Round trip on the hydrofoil with the New Estonia Line runs 210 FM.  You
have to be a little careful in planning, because they don't run the 
hydrofoils on windy days.  I returned on a windy day, but had no problem
converting my return ticket to the slow ferry run by New Estonia.  Since 
the hydrofoil ticket was more expensive, they tossed a free breakfast into
the conversion.  In addition to the New Estonia Line, the Tallink line
also runs ferries between Helsinki and Tallinn.  The ferry harbor is about
a 15 minute walk SE from the railway station.  There's also a very helpful
office of the Finn Tourist bureau nearby.

Since the end of June, the only currency accepted by Estonian shops is the
Estee Kroon.  The exchange rate is about 3 Krooni = 1 FM.  Exchange your
Krooni back to FM before you leave Estonia.  I reached the ferry back to
Finland to late to exchange my Krooni in Estonia and discovered they aren't
yet being exchanged in Finland (as of 9 Aug).  Krooni are supposed to be
a hard currency (fixed at 8 Krooni = 1 DM) so I still have some hope of
eventually being able to trade them in.  There are exhange offices at the
harbor and airports as well as at some hotels and in the shopping areas.

A number of us stayed at the Olympia Hotel (***).  Several people at the
conference started the week at the Palace (****), decided they didn't 
really want to pay almost twice as much, and moved to the Olympia. 
The Olympia gets its name from the 1980 Olympics, during which Tallinn
was the sailing venue.  Accommadations at the Olympia were comfortable
but not extragavant.  My room included a bathroom with tub, shower
attachment, and hot running water.  The included buffet breakfasts were
ample although rather high-fat by California standards.  They included
rolls, coffee or tea, eggs, cold-cuts, cheese, hot cereal, several kinds
of fish, bread, oranges, bananas, milk, and yogurt.  The hotel had safe-
deposit boxes available for valuables and several attendent-security types
at the door.  It accepted american express, visa, ..., and had a currency
exchange office.  The room also had a copy a Tallinn This Week.  This is
a very helpful tourist guide to Tallinn, written with a witty tongue-in-
cheek acceptance of Estonias current problems and shortcomings.  It includes
some tourist cautions on page 13.  The hotel guide listed Sauna services
on floor 25, but the interiors of floors 21-27 were torn up for renovation.

Popular places to visit are the medieval oldtown (up on the hill) and the
old town central square and shopping area below it.  Restaurants are
plentiful but the advice is to pre-book if you want to insure a space.
This is as likely due to careful pre-buying of food as to lack of space.

The Estonians are catching on quickly to the demands of a tourist economy.
There are numerous people hawking postcards, picture books, and paintings
of old Tallinn to the foreign tourists.  The prices tend to be reasonable 
and probably go a long way towards making ends meet for the sellers.

Prices in the shops are extremely reasonable, although most of the
merchandise is not particulary exceptional.  A shop named Linda, just off
the main square had some nice leather goods.  A shop one street off the
square (to the north I think), had a women's traditional costume in the
window priced about 1200 Krooni.

There's an outdoor historical park about 20 minutes drive outside of Tallinn.
We were bussed there for a tour and traditional folk-dance performance.  I'm
not sure of the directions.

The local guide book advises not to go stumbling around by yourself in
dark alleys carrying lots of video equiptment.  The central square area
tended to have enough people moving around before dark (10:00 pm) that
this wasn't much of a practical limitation.  It appeared to me that 
reasonable precautions, as required in almost any city, are sufficient.
There appears to be a lot of Finnish and german, and ??? tourist traffic.
While I was there, NATA manuvers were going on and about five ships had
sailors roaming central Tallinn.  Hard to find an alley to yourself.  I
suspect less traveled areas of town could be somewhat iffy after dark,
however.

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  +-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
  I                         I                                               I
  I Keith Eric Grant        I The interesting thing about a waltzing bear   I
  I keg@strathspey.llnl.gov I           is not how well it dances!          I
  I                         I                                               I
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  I                                                                         I
  I For certain it is, that any ideas expressed above are of my own humble  I
  I opinion and bear nary a relation to the policies or positions of LLNL   I
  I or of any agency or contractor of the U.S. Government.                  I
  I                                                                         I
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