'See you later' Barcelona, Hello Estonia

November 20, 2023

I was very pleased to cook some Mayfield Ave dinners (10 pm ish) before leaving our dear friends. They enjoyed Remy's favourite Ya Ya dinner of Miso chicken & beans; Ottelenghi's lamb patties (made with pork & beef after trying six butchers for lamb mince) and his mint rice with olive & pomegranate salsa; and a mild chicken & chard curry.

And time to say 'see you later' as we have agreed not to say Goodbye 😢. What a wonderful experience we've had thanks to these beautiful people. We can't wait to return 😊

Last sight of Barcelona from Aerobus.

First sight of Finland, followed by six+ hr layover in Helsinki, then a 20 min flight to Tallinn with Nordic Air. I've never seen so many beautiful women in a small plane! Blue mark below is Tallinn.

Had to check the forecast. It was pretty accurate.

A slightly weary Mary met Peter at our Tallinn accommodation, Nunne Boutique Hotel. Highly recommend. We stayed an extra night as we were enjoying Tallinn and hotel so much.

4.30 pm in downtown Tallinn.

Walking back to hotel with my gelato I realised it was getting harder - a first. It was still yummy though.

We went on an excellent two-hour walking tour on Saturday morning. Although it was cold, the sun was out. Another first - although I had a scarf on, I found I had difficulty speaking clearly and realised my lips were going numb (similar to after the visit to the dentist).

Icicles

Russian Orthodox Church (Estonia only became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991).

A few other Estonian facts:

First country to adopt on-line voting (2005)
It is 171 times smaller than Australia
Total country population is 1.3 million
It is constitutionally enshrined that free access to wifi is a basic human right!!!

The tour guide, Katharine, was fantastic. Although Estonian, she had a great sense of humour. She told the story of her grandmother being sent to Siberia for a number of years, simply because of her family name, not because she actually did anything wrong. After doing her 'time', she returned to Estonia and never speaks of it.

On Katharine's advice we walked to the new marketplace. Here, in a tiny, cabin-like cafe, within the complex we found Paul, who was serving cuisine inspired by his hometown of Capetown. I had the yummiest seafood soup and Peter a beef pie. We got talking, as we do. He told us he prepares his meat stock from the bones of the Iberian ham which his friend from Seville (another cafe proprietor) supplies him once he has finished with them.

Next thing you know, his Spanish friend walks in with a ham bone. Next 20 mins we're all telling stories, including the quiet young Estonian couple at the other table.

Paul also recommended we try a Dagastan restaurant, The Kurze for dinner.