From Tallinn to the world

Living in Tallinn is amazing. You can enjoy doing different activities everyday of the year, not only in summer time but during the winter time too. The city is really pleasant, divided by the old town and the modern part. It is full of gardens surrounding it, so in summer you can go to Pirita´s beach and in winter you can go to Tallinn Song Festival Arena and make angels and jump in the snow.

But having an Erasmus in Tallinn offers you more posibilities.

Estonia has an strategical position in Europe´s map, it is close to Finland, Latvia, Sweden and Russia, so once you are there it is easy to travel and to have many experiences abroad.

Estonia

Estonia is not only Tallinn. Although is it the capital, there are other interesting cities around the country, such as Tartu or Parnu, between others, and it is also interesting to visit the islands. Travelling through the country it is easy if you do it by car or by bus.

This is the Tallinn Bus Station website: http://www.bussijaam.ee/eng, here you can find all the information needed for making a trip: timetable, tariffs... The landscape from the window of the bus is really nice not only in summer, when you can see the green, but also in winter, when you can see an amazing snowed landscape.

Finland

Going to Finland is really easy. By taking a ferry you can reach Helsinki in 90 minutes.

In the port´s website (http://www.portoftallinn.com/) you can find all the necessary information.

Once you arrive to Finland it is nice to visit Helsinki, to get lost in any of its karaokes and to visit the city. It is not so difficult to visit most of their important monuments because the city itself is not really big.

A part of visiting the capital, it is nice to go to the north of Finland too. Rovaniemi is a good option, not only to visit the village itself but to go to make a wish to Santa´s house. Santa Claus´ village is close to Rovaniemi, and it opens its door at the end of November with an interesting musical spectacle. Once you are in the village you can get lost across the different stores and you can also go to see Santa.

However, if you are a heavy metal fan, in this country you can have more entertainment than visiting Santa. Finland is the country of the metal, you can feel the importance of this music in any bar you visit. As an example for understanding its importance, I should mention that in Rovaniemi the main squared is called Lordi, in honour of the Eurovision´s winners whose singer was born in the city.

Russia

If you take a bus you can arrive from Tallinn to St. Petersburg in six hours. The boring part of the trip is the border´s stop, because it takes some time to cross it, but a part from that travelling by bus helps you to discover an amazing landscape.

Travelling by train is another option. There is a night train that leaves Tallinn at 17. 30 and arrives in Moscow the next morning (http://www.evr.ee/).

Russia is a country with a very different culture, when I went to St. Petersburg I realized it was difficult to comunicate with the population, but being nice and patient helps to understand each other. If you visiting Russia I would recommend you to go with a guide, however, if you want more adventure you can go alone or with a group of people non guided and you can have lot of fun.

Due to the coin value, Russia is a cheap country and having lunch or buying things is really easy, but you have to be careful and check the exports limits of the border.

Sweden

Going to Stockholm from Tallinn is easy and fun. You can take the night ferry that leaves at 18. 00, more or less, and it arrives at nine in the morning. From Stockholm´s port to the dowtown you have to take the subway, it is fast and modern, so you will understand it perfectly.

Stockholm is a huge city, so depending on the days you want to spend there you will have to plan what to visit. The city is nice and people speak good English.

For coming back you can also take the night ferry. It is big and it provides you nice shared and individual rooms. It has many activities such as ballet, disco, different restaurants, piano bar… And the views from the ferry are spectacular, not only in summer but also in winter, when you can see how the ferry is breaking the ice while it sails.

Latvia

I could not go to Riga, but people told me that arriving there takes five hours by bus. It is cheap to go and to stay in a hostel there. The city is really nice. I saw that in Christmas time they decorated the city hall with a lights and music´s spectacle representing how Santa arrives to the city.

There are young hostels that provide the visitor a nice time with music, party and lot of information of the city.

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