Day 56: Helsinki to Tallinn Estonia

August 26, 2024

Ferry Across the Gulf of Finland

“I’m 22, I just had a birthday 4 days ago,” Julian says as we continue talking on the Ferry after first meeting waiting to board the ferry. “Me too,” Rachel says, “August 22”. We have the same birthday!

We check out of our hostel room around 9am and ride the very short distance to the ferry terminal. Patrick finds out that we load where the cars are loaded. At the ticket office we are instructed to go to lane 1. And we wait. First, a Swiss couple stops to ask about our travels. They have a little dog that looks like a small version of our neighbor’s dog. Rachel asks what her name, and it’s Stella! The same name as our neighbor’s dog. Then, another cyclist arrives. He is Julian from France.

Julian and Rachel have the same birthday, August 22nd

The ferry crossing is 2 ½ hours, and not too rough, though the water has waves. As we wait to leave the ferry we go to our bikes parked in the bowels of the ship where the trucks go and talk with a Swiss couple on their first bike tour from Northcape to Morocco. There are two other cyclists and we all cycle out together away from the dock on a bike path and then find separate routes into the old town centre. We catch up with Julian and he rides with us to the city center now on the medieval cobblestones. We invite him to have lunch with us at the Tex-Mex Restaurant. He has not had Mexican food before and we buy his lunch to celebrate his birthday.

Then we made our way to St. Olav Hotel just around the corner and in the heart of Old Town Tallinn. This seems to continue our theme as we followed the StOlavleden trail in Sweden. The hotel is an interesting place. It is huge and sprawls over at least five timber framed floors. The stairs are winding and narrow and every riser is different and none of the treads level. The corridors are not straight and the floors have waves in them. We have a nice room on the third floor. Carrying our gear up takes some work, but the bikes can to simply in and enclosed courtyard downstairs.

After settling into the room, we take a walk about of the town. First we head up a hill, to the orthodox cathedral, then we circle the rock for several view points over the city. We take a long series of stairs back down and walk around the old town some more. The streets are cobblestoned and narrow. The buildings look very well maintained. There are lots of tourists, but except for when you get mingled up in a cruise ship tour group there are no crowds. Old town Tallinn is very nice, with many buildings dating back to the Middle Ages. We go back to our room with the intent of heading out again in the evening, but at six neither of us is hungry yet so we decide to save our night-on-the town for tomorrow.

Just across the street from our hotel....a shop full of Belgium beer

Today's ride: 4 km (2 miles)
Total: 2,707 km (1,681 miles)

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