Tallinn, Estonia: A very Baltic Christmas
Snow is falling in Tallinn’s Town Hall Square and at its dinky Christmas market a blonde woman in furs sits beneath a food stand, tucking into black pudding and fried potatoes. Dean Martin’s White Christmas echoes over the wooden chalets, and at the grog hut there’s a queue for hot, rum-based Vana Tallinn liqueur.
Christmas market season is here, and for authenticity Tallinn pips its European rivals. Added to that, tourists are thin on the ground – though maybe not for long: Lonely Planet recently tipped Tallinn as the best-value destination for 2018. Then there’s the appeal of its impressive Christmas tree – a tradition that goes back to 1441 when the city’s was one of the first trees to be displayed in Europe. The setting is fabulous, too: a pastel-toned wrap-around of gabled houses dominated by an impressive town hall.
Tallinn is among the oldest capitals in northern Europe with one of the best-preserved medieval town centres in the world. Even the Town Hall pharmacy is wonderfully intact. Wood-beamed and low-ceilinged, it was opened in 1422 and is full of old-fashioned dispensary drawers and medicine bottles. In an adjoining room, bell jars chart the pharmacy’s history: a horror movie collection of preparations spanning woodlouse infusions and dried deer penises.
The city’s reputation for good value extends to boutique hotels and cocktails, too (in hip bars, they cost around €4), while in a clutch of great restaurants young chefs are producing innovative and surprisingly affordable menus. But right now, I’m after some unusual gifts, and reindeer jumpers don’t quite cut it. For Estonian stuff that reflects their Nordic eye for design, try Rode on Pikk Street, where you can find anything from bright, felted slippers and exquisite pine bowls to bow ties fashioned from leather.
The icon-stuffed cathedral is a blatantly blingy symbol of Russia’s stronghold over its tiny neighbour
Pikk, or “Long Leg”, Street runs downhill from Toompea castle, where guild houses with steep gables recall a miniature Stockholm – remnants, our guide explains, of Estonia’s time under Swedish rule. “Everyone’s invaded us,” she tells us. “Danes, Germans, Russians, the Soviets… It’s because we’re basically lazy. Even on Independence Day [which next year marks its centenary] it is too cold to turn out and watch soldiers parade.”
Past spindly St Olav’s gothic church is the Three Sisters hotel. It’s a gorgeously snug place with a strong medieval footprint, all thick wooden pillars and ancient stonework, and, for us, an A-frame timber-clad attic, located in one of the hotel’s gables.
Estonia promise: Alexander Nevsky cathedral at night. Photograph: Alamy
The hotel is perfectly placed for exploring this tiny old town. And it’s just 15 minutes away from Tallinn’s boho Kalamaja district. Here, reimagined Soviet-era factories now house the Telliskivi Creative City complex, where textile design studios mix with vintage stores. There’s a Russian flea market nearby where you can pick up portraits of Lenin, Soviet toys or a fur hat for €12, then lunch on burgers, soups or salads at neighbouring scruffy-chic F-Hoone.
We discover a completely different scene at Kadriorg, an upmarket residential district split in two by attractive parkland. Peter the Great set up a summer estate here after conquering Estonia, and the surrounding streets and villas evoke St Petersburg’s Italianate elegance. Yet equally appealing for us is the sleekly contemporary Finnish designed Kumu Art Museum whose excellent German Expressionists exhibition runs until 14 January.
On the edge of the Kadriorg Park we stop at Mon Repos for lunch, housed in a dainty 1920s summer villa. In its heyday, our waiter tells us, a bartender from London’s Savoy hotel served cocktails to raffish locals, while upstairs concealed moonshine production and illicit gambling.
Wall art: a mural in Telliskivi. Photograph: Alamy
Today, Mon Repos exudes pared-back calm, and chef Vladislav Djatsuk’s cooking is noteworthy. As with many of Tallinn’s talented chefs, he employs a lighter twist on Baltic favourites, all of which carry a reasonable price tag, with main courses from €13.
Foodies are spoilt for choice in Tallinn: roasted Atlantic cod with ash-baked potatoes, for instance, is perfect at Kaks Kokka just outside the city walls; while Noa offers stunning views over both the old town and the sea, with small plate dishes from €7, and plenty of vegetarian options.
There’s free stuff to enjoy as well. The guided walk offered daily by the tourist office, just north of Town Hall Square, gives a lively overview of the capital. Inspired by our walk, I return to the city walls mesmerised by the skyline: onion-domed churches and Soviet apartments with the steel-grey harbour beyond.
‘Gorgeously snug’: a room in the Three Sisters hotel. Photograph: Alamy
Icon-stuffed Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Toompea is worth a detour, if only to enjoy what is a blatantly blingy symbol of Russia’s stronghold over its tiny neighbour.
Or you could opt for an oddly relaxing hour-long session of marzipan painting at Maiasmokk – the town’s oldest café. Kick off with a hot chocolate in the glass-ceilinged café, then head next door for your lesson, which costs a modest €6.40 and is fun, too. My painted cat will definitely be in someone’s stocking this Christmas.
Essentials
Easyjet has flights from London to Tallinn from £147 return (easyjet.com). A double room at the Three Sisters hotel (3s.ee) starts at £139. For more information, go to visitestonia.com