We arrived the night before and ate dinner at V Vegan Restoran. Highly recommend. We loved the beet ravioli. The grilled tempeh with a coconut curry sauce and spicy tomato soup both were really good. I always like coconut curry. For dessert we devoured the strawberry mint “ice cream” and then sipped on a pot of Ayurvedic tea.

The next morning we enjoyed brunch at Kohvik August. Everything on the menu looked so good, it was hard to decide.

We eventually went with the spruce pesto pasta, a lentil salad and muesli with yogurt. The spruce pesto was not as good as we hopped. It seriously tasted like a Christmas tree. The lentil salad was surprisingly delicious. It was mixed with greens, grapes, cherry tomatoes and pomegranate. Such a creative combination, I didn’t expect it to be so good.

The yogurt was topped grilled nectarines and made for the perfect breakfast-y dessert.

Afterwards we walked to the tourist info center for a 3pm free walking tour. Just like in Riga, this was a great opportunity for acquainting ourselves with the Old City and putting some historical context to the sites.

We learned about the drama surrounding the Freedom Monument (the glass was supposed to survive a nuclear attack and yet cracked and crumbled under it’s first Estonian winter).

We saw the church funded by Moscow during Soviet rule to be built as a museum of atheism.

And we heard about the time the entire city gathered in homes with televisions to view a broadcast of some French soft core porn movie, which was apparently similar to something you’d see on www.porn-hd.xxx, broadcast from the radio towers over in Finland, because “Western” things were banned. There’s lots of kooky history in Tallinn.

We also got to see a few panoramic views of the Old City, surrounded by its city wall, and take in the colorful architecture. I really enjoyed our guide. He was entertaining, informative and funny.

After the tour we found a little vegan chocolate shop, Karu Talu Šokolaad. (I can’t believe how many vegan-friendly options we’ve discovered on this trip!) We ordered “nice cream,” their non-dairy ice cream, and enjoyed it in the sunshine of a nearby park space.

 

 

From there we took our guide’s (and the internet’s) advice and wandered towards Telliskivi street. There’s a section of old Soviet warehouses that have been converted into shops and restaurants. It’s the hipster area of Tallinn, and it has some wonderful food options.

We wandered a bit and then sat down at F-Hoone for dinner. Everything we had was delicious, and there were lots of vegan and vegetarian options (which seems to be the norm here).

When we walked back to the Old City, a concert was going on in Freedom Square to celebrate the Estonian presidency of the council of the EU. We sat down on an outer wall, and I swear it was some of the best people watching.

It’s supposed to be rainy the next two days in Tallinn but we are holding out hope for clouds instead, and even so this charming city should still be beautiful to wander in the rain.