848. Tallinn Part 3 | Medieval Restaurants

The old town in Tallinn has a lot of medieval style buildings and restaurants. We visited three of them. The main one is Olde Hansa which is one of my favourite restaurants here. We came here for the first time on our first day in Tallinn then several times after. It's a huge space, with 3 (or 4) floors. The staff are dressed in medieval garb and even speak the part (and they reuse the same jokes). Sometimes they have live music playing themed music. Inside it's quite dark and only lit with candles. Even though it's a touristy place, the food is really good. The photo above shows their entrance, where they have a stand selling freshly roasted honey-coated almonds.

An array of menus in many different languages

I always get the sausages dish which are a mix of bear, wild boar and elk meat. Along with a honey beer.

This baked apple dessert is also delicious

Another place we went is Ill Draakon. I really loved it here too. It's a tiny tavern style place inside the town hall building. The photo above shows the entrance. Their menu is extremely limited but everything is delicious and very cheap.

The elk meat soup here was probably one of the best soups I've ever had. It's really really good.

Lastly we also went to Peppersack. I liked it here as well but the experience in the other two restaurants are a lot more authentic. Here I had moose meat.



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847. Helsinki, Finland + thoughts on the war

As I make this post, we are still in Tallinn. I can't believe this has been our home for about 5 months already. Time flew by fast but I also feel like we have been here forever, and that it has been winter forever. Last year at this time we were in Thailand which is quite the difference in temperature. I miss the warmer weather (and sun, which we don't get much of here).

We will finally leave before the end of this month and will head west to the Americas (I will reveal the destination later on). I'm looking forward to it but not for the long arduous journey of ~50 hours in transit. To be honest I've been nervous these weeks being in the Baltics with the Russia-Ukraine war going on. I know the chances of us being affected is low (as Estonia is under the protection of NATO) and Russia is kept busy with Ukraine for now. However this is a former country of USSR and we are in close proximity. If anything happens here it would likely mean world war 3. I really hope it will not escalate into that. I can't believe war is still a possibility now. It has always been something we learn about in history class; a thing of the past. I read before that world wars happen after those who have lived through it/with first hand accounts of it it have died, which would be true in this case as all WWII veterans are passing away. I know that throughout the years there have been smaller scale wars as well, in other parts of the world. I guess since it's happening in Europe now everyone is getting more worried and paying more attention. I am lucky to have been born in Canada and grew up in a country without the fear of war (or actual fear of anything really). I never had to worry about becoming a refugee or even large scale terrorist attacks there. I never even kept up with world news in the past which I feel is a privilege. Sometimes I miss being a kid and being ignorant to these things.

I feel very sad for the people in Ukraine who have been affected by this (also the Russians who are suddenly cut off from the world). It's crazy to think that a few weeks ago they were living their normal lives and then everything changes literally overnight. Families being torn apart, people having to escape and start new lives with only a small suitcase of possessions (and those are considered the lucky ones). While those stuck there live in fear of being killed any day with dwindling supplies of food and other necessities.

Pandemics usually occur before or after wars as well for some reason. It's interesting now covid seems to have suddenly disappeared overnight (except in Asia) as people move onto the next world issue. Maybe we heading into a tough decade of depression again.

Anyways, during our last weeks in Tallinn I will try to catch up as much as I can with my posts. I still have posts from Thailand that I still need to make =\ Here are some photos from a weekend trip to Helsinki. It was my 2nd time visiting this city. I first visited when I was 15 years old on a trip around Scandinavia and Russia. I've always wanted to visit Russia again since I really loved it back then. But I guess that trip will have to wait a little longer now..

It was in December, before Christmas, when we visited Helsinki..here is the Christmas Market

Trying reindeer meat. It was really good. I think this restaurant specialized in it as almost everyone ordered this lol.

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