Tallinn-

[lionheart]

Looking at Tallinn, I think I could see the entire "old area" and stop for lunch in 5 hours or less without rushing. Does that sound about right?

 

Thanks,

 

Kurt

[JodiBB]

Kurt...yes, if you stay in "Old" Tallinn, you can cover it in about 5 hours taking a leisurely pace.

[suron]

Tallin is very easy to do independently and you can get some good info from

www.inyourpocket.com on this city and several others. We followed the guide which we downloaded and it was very useful. Have just returned from Star Princess Baltic Sailing 13th August and have posted a review which can be found at

www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=12469 This has been written from an English passenger's viewpoint and obviously places we visited and excursions taken might not be everyone's choice. Another member of our Roll Call (SunPrincess) has also posted a review so these reports could give you an insight into the trip we took. We picked up lots of information on the Star itinerary from the Roll Call threads - it is just a matter of ploughing through.

 

If you are on the same itinerary as we took (Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallin, Gadnsk, Warnemunde (for Berlin) and Copenhagen you will love it. Be prepared for a very hectic schedule but it's worth every moment

 

From Suron (in Bristol, England)

[lionheart]

thank you for the links

[dileep]

The walking tour described in Rick Steve's Scandinavia book is a great guide.

[Baltic05]

Five hours are more than enough. This is a very nice, old, historic town. If you are into shooping this is the place!! Not as expensive as everywhere else. Enjoy...

[Willsot]

After looking back on the whole trip, our only regret is that we did not make a few more purchases in Tallinn. The people we met appear to cherish their independence, but the country seems to be struggling financially. There were a few shops in the old town area ("Amber Waves" I believe was the name of one) that were very nice and we wish we would have supported them a bit more instead of waiting to do more shopping in the marketplace area in St. Petersburg.

[elin]

If you are into shopping this is the place!! Not as expensive as everywhere else. Enjoy...

 

That is interesting to hear. Tallinn was our second last stop (to Stockholm). We found it to be more expensive. Faberge eggs that could be purchased in St. Petersburg for between $220 - $400 (flea market vs. Hermitage, some stores had them for $600) were being offered at the bargain price of $1,000. That's just one example, but we found many many things far more expensive in Tallinn. This is to the disappointment of many people who had been "holding off" making purchases as they had read that Tallinn was the cheapest port.

 

Elin

[sunprincess]

I enjoyed Tallin very much. It was as if you were walking back in time. Lovely.

 

As far as shopping, I much not have been in the right area ? As I did not find bargains. I did get 3 magnets, that were quite expensive.

 

I did purchase several pieces of amber in Gdynia. Right along the pier there are vendors lined up. Good prices, nice pieces.

Here's a link for some pictures :

http://community.webshots.com/user/sunprincess8

 

Enjoy ;)

[Begete]

We did almost all of our shopping in Tallin based on the messages posted here before we left.

 

First thing in the morning we did the City Tour (Hop on Hop off) from begining to end. Took about 1 1/2 hours excluding a trip back to the port (we got off before that loop). One thing about hop off hop on buses is that they do not seem to run very often. Be careful or you can get stuck somewhere much longer than you would wish. Then we walked around the old city and had lunch near Toompea at an outdoor cafe. Then we walked back thru the narrow streets to the shuttle. Had plenty of time.

 

Just beyond where the Celebrity shuttle lets you off but before the stop for the City Tour bus, there is an open air market. The market has very reasonably priced sweaters and linens as well as postcards, t -shirts, etc. This is outside the old city. The sweaters ran approx $45 for adult sizes. The same sweaters were sold in the stalls in the old city along the city wall for about $55. I do not know if they were hand made (doubt it) and they were not as nice as the very beautiful sweaters sold in some of the Scandinavian countries, or in the shops inside the old city in Tallin - those sweaters ran several hundred dollars - but they were "nice" (the $45s) and we bought several.

 

Definitely an example of "You get what you pay for."

[whenzuc]

Table lines, of all sorts, we not only "bargains" inTallin, but of really high quality. If I remembered the store where I had bought, I would have ordered more over the phone. Quality was great, price was great, and they washed beutifully. To me, that was the buy of the whole Baltic cruise.

[jimneycrkit]

Tallin had the best prices for sweaters made by the local women at the small market. This is the best made sweater I have ever seen and the women that made it had stitched her name in the back.I only paid 50.00US for it and here at home it would easily have sold for 150.00 or more.I got a lot of compliments on it wearing it on the cruise.

We found that what John Lawrence said to buy in each port was right on on the Star.We only took the shuttle in that was offered at the dock and walked around on our own. We wished we had more time so we could have eaten in one of the small bistros .We left at 1:00 so not really much time.

[dcl1710]

I was also on the August 13th Star. SAVE YOUR MONEY: do not book an excursion for Tallin. You will have a much better time on your own. The "tour" we took was dreadful. We would have had a better time looking at the shops independently. The sweaters are beautiful and the art work is good. We purchased amber in Tallin and Glydia - both places excellent quality. Compared to St. Petersburg, Tallin has the marketing/shopping down to a science. You will LOVE this cruise.

[SaylorGirl]

Tallin is a very easy city to see and 5 hours is plenty of time to see everything.

 

We also did not feel Tallin was the best city to shop in and we felt their prices were a little high.

[Alessandro]

Since Estonia and Poland joined EU the prices has gone up, to shop inexpensivly you should try a country outside EU.

[mare s.]

We enjoyed strolling around Tallinn (we did the bus tour with Begete...hey, how're you doing?) and managed to find a couple of bargains in the little "flea market" outside the old town. We also splurged and bought a beautiful sweater in a shop in old town. But a highlight was lunch at Olde Hansa restaurant. We just had cheese and bread and some wonderful soup and the best honey beer!!! Tallinn really was one of our favorite stops.