With a 10am arrival in the Estonian port of Tallinn, certainly no need for an alarm clock. Once again, lukewarm food in the buffet but this time, it even extended to the hot (sic) water for my coffee bag coffee. What a waste of a coffee bag…
The ship berthed on the port side.
The Ho-Ho buses were virtually dockside.
Although advised to carry passports or ID, they weren’t actually needed.
We ambled off, with zero formalities, and straight out the port gate, passing the ‘street’ of craft souvenir stalls on the way. It was a 15 minute walk to the beginning of the walled city and as we hadn’t done it last time, a new experience for us. Cobbled streets, old building and dozens of places to have a drink in the sunshine – and too much graffiti.
One of the first places we passed, specialised in marzipan (which was invented here) but we didn’t stop. We strolled around the town and the central market, just enjoying the sunshine. There were loads of Belgian soccer supporters around too, so there must have been an international match on. Coffee time by the time we walked back and we called into that ‘marzipan’ shop. Pity.
The marzipan Danish pastry was dry, with not much filling and the coffee was also lukewarm. Yeuk! Pet hates are lukewarm coffee, cold food that should be hot and hot food served on cold plates. So much for global warming. Downstairs was a ’Marzipan Museum’ so the last pic is from there.
We ambled back and had to put our jackets back on, as it was distinctly chillier outside the wall than inside, despite the sun. The craft street of shops was good to browse, though much of the merchandise was similar. We added to our collection of travel souvenirs with a pot stand made from cuts of juniper wood.
Another queue to get back on board (thank goodness we haven’t been caught in any rain) and straight to the International Café. Even my ham and cheese croissant only had the outer part warm, the ham being stone cold. It wasn’t my day for hot food.
A bit of a blog catch up then afternoon trivia, with our normal team and a slight lift in scores to 15/20. Not enough to win.
Another excellent dining room meal, with a creamy mushroom tart (on a hot plate) followed by a hot soup and a double portion of chicken tikka masala, also served on a hot plate. I couldn’t resist the black forest gateaux either.
We skipped the show. A violinist - but not Chris Watkins.
Instead, we stayed with Alan and Sheila and played the ‘Where In The World Am I’, picture quiz. We scored 25 points from 25 questions. Brilliant. But did we win? No. Several questions were for two points and even one with 3...
We all needed a fairly early night as we have an early start tomorrow, with a 7am meet for St Petersburg. Alan and Sheila have a long day as thy are doing a Princess train trip to Moscow. We have an overnight stop in St Petersburg.
Passport face to face on shore in the terminal building tomorrow, unlike Vladivostok, which was on board and very quick. Always interesting when different ports in the same country have different systems.
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