September was almost over and it was time to leave London and start heading back to Australia.
I had backed up my camping gear and some other stuff and took them and the ‘Badboy’ to my lockup.
Next morning, I headed out to Gatwick for my flight to Helsinki.
Flight to Helsinki
I flew on Norwegian Air, the same airline that I took from Orlando to London back in May. It is a budget airline but seems to have reasonable service albeit it crams its passengers into the planes.
I was seated in the front row. The person in the next seat was an extraordinary tall young woman. We exchanged pleasantries at the start of the flight, but she seemed rather aloof. During the course of the flight, the attendants came and spoke to the young woman and asked to have photos taken with her. I suspect she was a well-known sports star, albeit unknown to me.
It was raining when we landed. For some reason the plane parked away from the terminal. The walk down the steps to the waiting bus was decidedly chilly. Clearly, autumn had well and truly arrived in Finland.
Once through customs and immigration, I took the train into central Helsinki. The train was fast as I expected it would be.
From the train station, I took a tram towards the harbour and found my hostel.
Out to an Island
The next morning, I decided to go out to Suomenlinna which is an island, a short ferry ride from the city. It is UNESCO listed and has played a significant part in Finnish history. This included being a Russian naval base. You can read about it by following to link below.
Wind
Probably the most memorable experience on the island for me was the wind. It was incredible. Check out the Flickr link especially the photo of my hair being flattened and the video of the wind.
Salmon
The next day I went for a walk around the area close to the hostel. I had lunch on the harbour at one several stalls selling grilled salmon. It was amazing good. I also checked out the churches and other points of interest.
My overall all impression of the city was that its is very prosperous and clean.
Ferry to Tallinn
My next stop was to be Estonia.
The ferry to Tallinn was to leave at 8.30 a.m. When I arrived at the terminal here were a large number of people waiting to board the ferry. Most of the people were in the café/bar. Most these were drinking beer, not coffee.
We were all soon on board.
This was when the serious drinking started, seemingly everyone onboard was keen to have a drink. It was all quite bizarre.
The trip over to Tallinn only takes two hours.
As we left the ship I noticed a lot of the passengers were pulling ‘rolling suitcases’ that were obviously empty. A lot of these people didn’t walk far. Near to wharf there was a ‘supermarket’ selling mainly alcohol and some food. The passengers with the empty suitcases made ‘beeline’ for the supermarket.
I was to later learn that this a frequent occurrence. Alcohol is very expensive in Finland. Many people take the ferry across to Tallinn for the sole purpose of buying cheap grog. They stock up with the grog and head straight back home again.
Into the Old Town of Tallinn
It was a relatively short walk to my hostel which was on the edge of the ‘Old Town’.
After checking in, I went for a bit of an explore:
The Town area, is maze of cobblestone alleys, many church spires and well preserved fortresses and turrets.
The central point of the old town is Raekoja Plats and the 13th century Town Hall which has a tall spire that is topped with an iconic bronze statue of a young boy which guards the city and is known as Old Thomas.
High on hill above the Old town is Toompea Castle and the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which is an important Orthodox building.
On my walk I spotted a ‘gastropub’ type place. It looked like a good place for dinner. It took me ages to find it again. When I finally found it, my initial thoughts proved to be correct, it was very good.
Soviet Tallinn and the KGB Headquarters
The next morning, I went to the Tourist Information Centre and booked into a ‘Soviet Era Tour’. I have been on these in other cities, including Warsaw and Budapest. I find them fascinating.
The tour guide was a young student. Naturally, he has no memory of the Soviet occupation, but has a good of knowledge of the time. A lot of this is based on what his parents and grandparents told him.
The tour took us to various places in the Old Town which were signification during the Soviet area. These included areas that were bombed by the Soviets and buildings where they had offices and where key Russians and Estonia Communists lived.
The guide also described life under the Soviets, including food shortages and how luxuries such as cars and holidays were allocated to the people. Much of this information was based on what his family members had told him.
As we walked towards the harbour, the guide pointed out the location of the KGB Cells where dissidents were held and tortured.
The last stop on the tour was the ‘Tallinn Centre’ which was built for the 1980 Olympics. It is huge indoor arena. The place is derelict and you cannot go inside. It was really shoddily built.
After the tour, I continued on to the Hotel Viru.
“In Soviet times, any foreign dignitary or journalist arriving in Estonia would be whisked straight from the airport to Hotel Viru. Greeted by the furiously trained doormen and concierge staff, they would be shepherded into elevators and taken up to the top floor – the 22nd – where Tallinn’s finest restaurant resided” (refer to BBC Travel link below).
The Hotel Viru is particularly interesting in that it houses a KGB Museum. The Museum is on the top floor of the hotel. This is where the KGB used to run their operations to monitor the ‘guests of interest’. These were mainly foreign diplomats, business people and tourists. The rooms where they stayed were bugged for sound and there were holes in the walls through which could be used to photograph the guests. All telephone calls were intercepted and monitored.
On the tour of the museum you are shown the equipment that the KGB used. I was particularly interested in the cameras they used. Check out the photo on Flickr.
Experiencing KGB Hotels in 1984
The Hotel Viru was an ‘InTourist’ hotel that was run by the KGB. I have a particular interest in these hotels. I stayed in them in Moscow and East Berlin when I was working for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs in 1984.
See the links to posts on those experiences below.
KGB Cells
After leaving the Hotel Viru, I walked back into the Old Town and headed to the KGB Cells were dissidents were held and tortured. This is a particularly harrowing place. However, I do believe that places like these must be visited so atrocities like those committed in such places are never forgotten.
Train to Tartu
Next morning, I made my way the train station for the next leg of my journey. This time, heading west to Tartu.
About Suomenlinna
https://www.suomenlinna.fi/en/
KGB Headquarters in Tallinn and more
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20111208-tallinns-secret-history-of-espionage
Flickr Links
Helsinki
https://flic.kr/s/aHskFojGNV
Tallinn
https://flic.kr/s/aHskFyor3t
Soviet Tallinn
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmjtKcew
Post about Moscow
Post about East Berlin
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