Helsinki to Tallinn

The ferry to Tallinn wasn’t until 2:15pm so we had some time in the morning to visit Kiasma (Museum of Contemporary Art).

We got one last use of our Helsinki Card to enter Kiasma. We got our money’s worth for the card - it was 71 EUR for the ‘3 day adult city’, and we went to sites that would have cost 121 EUR if we paid individually. We should have just got the mobile version for 55 EUR which excludes travel cause we walked everywhere.

Anyways we both liked Kiasma.

Picked up our packs from our hotel and took a taxi to the Viking ferry. They told us to be there by 1:30pm when we bought the tickets, but it turns out they don’t let anyone board until 1:55pm.

There was a mad rush to board when the gates opened. The regulars all had their favourite seats / tables to get to, in particular those lining up for the all-you-can-eat buffets so they could maximize their eating time.

We grabbed a window table and then some food. After had a beer and caught up in my blog. Travel days like this are handy for blogging :)

The 2.5 hour ride went by very quickly. We followed the route in Google maps; it was raining / foggy most of the way and we couldn’t see anything.

It was about a 15 minute walk to get to the taxi stand, and then a flat rate 10 EUR taxi to our hotel, the Centennial, just outside the old city.

When we booked we weren’t able to get a standard double for all four nights, and had a superior double the first night. It didn’t have much feng shui. Judging by the emergency exit map, it’s just the standard double with the extra space behind the stairwell. It’s one of the few times that the superior room was a disappointment, usually there’s a huge step up. Anyways that’s for the tripadvisor review.

Our big thing today was dinner. We had booked into Restaurant Ö, one of the top restaurants in Estonia, for 8pm.

So cleaned up and walked over, about 15 minutes. We had trouble finding the place as the door isn’t clearly marked, unless you’re familiar with the restaurant logo.

It’s not a large restaurant at all, seating maybe 50. We were one of the last tables seated; most of the other groups were into their tasting menus.

There’s two options, either the 7-course tasting menu or the 11-course. The extras in the 11-course included eel, elk, and quail, and we were pretty hungry, so tried the 11-course.

Every course was amazing, definitely the best restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. My favourites included the elk, eel, and the breads, which were a course to themselves. The entire dinner took almost four hours! It was a splurge but well worth it.

We walked home, cutting through the old city. The old city has lots of character, we were looking forward to exploring it the next day.