Tallinn – Estonia, Never thought I would have come all the way here …. & my first Royal Flush !!!

Back in the first RTW trip in 2011 I met Aliy in Florence Italy in a hostel with Scruffy & Puppy Eyes which I have since visited them in their hometown. Estonia was the last off the list and after making all the way up to Helsinki there was no chance in hell I would miss Tallinn.

Tallinn was really surprising. Although Aliy was in Amsterdam when I arrived so I did not get to meet her. The city or old town or rather Medieval Old town was really well preserved and although we were in summer reign now which was well and nice and lovely, I could totally picture the image of this medieval old town during winter which would have been 10 times more charming but miserable in terms of coldness.

Red Tops of Tallinn

City Walls of Medieval Tallinn

I ended up spending an extra day in Tallinn due to various reasons. In short I spent my days in Tallinn walking around, sleeping, joined the walking tour of course, explore every nook and corner but most of all … gambling.

Gambling in Tallinn …..

I was gambling in Tallinn every day for at least 2 hours a day and sometimes till 4 hours as well. What happen was that on the first day that I found the casino or rather I knew there was casino in Tallinn due to the nice pamphlet in the cruise from Helsinki and due to that, I was able to resist gambling on the boat with the lousy odds.

Tallinn Casino - Where I won my Royal Flush

Hands were itchy I guess and once the time was right on the first day about 5pm, I seek out the first casino or rather the only casino I could find in Tallinn in the four days I was there. They had 10 cents roulette on those machine spins. How wonderful I could spend forever in this casino just wasting time. Not too long after an hour of hard work I manage to increase my capital to 70 euro. BY some chance I manage to win back all the capital till I got a nett 20 euro earnings.

Then I went table hopping. It was late enough for it … around 7pm but no one was there. It was a really small casino. I tried the Texas poker table … the one that had two circles on the table and one had to play ante = blind. Second or third hand as when I was about to give up …. I got a miraculously royal flush. 1.:500. The three euro minimum blind gave me 1500. Hence I now had money to gamble throughout the Baltics. 

Exploring Tallinn

With easy money means easy spending. I was eating everything I could find in Tallinn instead of counting my pennies. Good food good beer and then since I had money I booked the sightseeing tour bus from Tallinn to Riga. This

Traditional Baltic Grub

one instead of just bringing you to Riga, they stop by places and show you a little bit of the rural countryside of Estonia and Riga that tourist ignore. It was an alternative tour which was great.

Fancy Restaurant at Centre of the Medieval Tallinn

Selling in Medieval Costume - Bread Vendor

Partially the reason I stayed there an extra day was because the tour only goes on certain days so with it booked and confirmed I was stuck in Tallinn an extra day. Still I love the old medieval feel to Tallinn.

 

I also decided that I must get a glance on Aliy’s painting. A message on facebook to find out where her painting was came back with a barrage of information and also a barrage of recommendation for Tallinn which by some luck I had done most of those list especially the food list by accident.

It's a Boy - It's a Girl !!!

I don’t know what it is with Girls and their Boyfriend.
Quote : I am not around but my boyfriend can bring you around !!

When Linds first quote me that I thought she must be joking and declined it but when a few months later Aliy quoted the same thing I guess it must be a norm. Funnily I have never heard a guy volunteering his GF to bring another person around especially a person they have never met.

After a lot of convincing by Aliy I decided meeting up can’t be that bad …. To be honest … it was awkward …. Her BF was an artist and also a traveller whom had hitchhiked from Estonia all the way to Portugal. Cool …. But somehow the conversation always dies out …. You just don’t meet a second hand friend …. It’s really weird … like a blind date …. You’ll like him she said ….. I could only roll my eyes when I saw that comment with the imaginary big sweat drops from my forehead.

The art district of Tallinn

Still by meeting Aliy BF – Alex …. I was able to explore an unexpected area outside of Tallinn. The artist district. This was also where her artworks was displayed on one of the café’s. I was glad for that for it was interesting. Arts and culture has a different vibe in the Baltics like it was an unleashed potential with infinite possibility. It was also rough and ragged like the works of a blue collar. Arts in Malaysia or SEA for that matter was always for the privilege, hence always felt like a collared and cage feeling to the art.