Estonia
If you're looking for a cheap holiday somewhere, definetely check out Tallinn. Flights can be as little as £80! Definitley worth a look at for those more budget conscious travellers.
The Starbucks of the Baltics, this cafe is so much more. For those travelling on a shoe string this place provides great tasting food for very little money. The coffee itself comes in every form, either the typical black coffee or even turkish coffee. The milkshakes are great and they even give you the pot in which it was made so you end up with a double portion. Great for the greedy tourist.
For people who dare to leave the main tourist areas, this cafe is at least a comforting landmark to regain your bearings, and if you can't find a place to eat, a guaranteed bargain.
I highly recommend doing a bicycle tour. We went in April and had the guide to ourselves. It was great to get an overview of the city and the coast. Very easy cycling and the guide was fantastic.
The tour operates out of a new hostel, based in the Old Town;
City Bike tel: 511 18 19;
email: mail@citybike.ee;
www.citybike.ee
Built by Peter the Great for his wife Catherine, this palace provides an opulent backdrop to much of Estonia’s foreign art collection.
The galleries contain paintings, prints and sculpture by mainly Flemish, Dutch and Russians artists of the 16th -19th century and include works by Breughel the Younger and Cranach. There are some excellent portraits by Anton Graff and an interesting room dedicated to 19th century views of Tallinn. As the information plaques explained these were produced almost as equivalents to today’s postcards, souvenirs for the more well-heeled visitor.
Also impressive are the Russian realist pictures - such as "A Soldier’s Tale" by Ilja Repin and Ivor Shisnkin's "The Pine Forest" - which have a very earthy, tactile feel to them.
There was also a small but interesting temporary exhibition about copies of masterpieces - not fakes but copies made, again, as a kind of souvenir or as a tribute to the original artist, or as practise for an apprentice painter.
Information plaques, in Estonian and English, are found in each room and the exhibits themselves are well labelled.
The Palace is open 10.00am-5.00pm closed Mondays May-September and both Monday and Tuesday October-April.
Weizenbergi 37/Valge 1;
Take Tram No. 3 to Kadriog, then it is a short and rather pleasant walk;
www.ekm.ee/kadriorg
Send your feedback or queries to been.there@guardian.co.uk
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