Easily accessible from Old Town by tram or bus, Kadriorg is not only one of Tallinn’s wealthiest areas, but one of the most prosperous in all of Estonia.
One of the reasons I find Soviet history so fascinating is that it varies so greatly when told from different viewpoints. Estonians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Uzbeks and Tajiks (not to mention Russians) can tell wildly different tales about the events between 1917-1991 that marked the falls of both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.
Talllinn’s UNESCO-protected Old Town and Toompea areas are historic, beautifully maintained and frankly the least interesting parts of the Estonia’s capital city. (This speaks more to the overall high quality of things to do and see in Tallinn than a necessary slam against Vanalinn.
Keeping with my new tradition of ending each city’s posts with a photo spread, I present to you some impressions of Helsinki in picture form.
With a population of almost 300,000, Espoo is Finland’s largest city and acts western-lying suburb of the capital, having officially been been folded into the greater Helsinki metropolitan region. You can reach Espoo from downtown Helsinki either by Metro or local commuter trains; a new light rail line is set to open in 2024 and connect Espoo with Eastern Helsinki
Suomenlinna is an 18th-Century fortress and UNESCO World Heritage Site built on six of Helsinki’s 315 islands. Five of the six islands are interconnected by a footbridge, but Suomenlinna can only be reached from the mainland by ferry or water taxi.
Much like Reykjavík, Helsinki has a thriving, if under-publicized art scene. People travel to places like Iceland and Finland seeking natural beauty, but the work on display indoors rivals any forest or glacier out in the wild.
I began my Helsinki posts with an exploration of Seurasaari, one of the capital’s 315 islands, but now I want to put our feet back on solid ground and check out what the mainland has to offer.
Helsinki was not high on my list of must-visit capitals. I had recently returned from an amazing trip to The Caucasus where I absolutely fell in love with Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan.
Following in the vein of my Tbilisi in Photos post, I give you now Yerevan in Sight and Sound, an assortment of photos and videos that capture the city and feature my absolutely favorite thing about the capital: the singing fountains