Estonia, Part 1 of 2
A shaky start upon arrival in Tallinn from Helsinki
Monday: arrival from Helsinki to Tallinn
The trip to the ferry and the crossing were just fine. It was a huge ship, with 2,060 passengers! We had left Helsinki at 10:30 and arrived in Tallinn in two hours.
Upon disembarking, there was no procedure for checking passports. I imagine that all of the entry requirements were handled when I showed my passport upon getting the boarding pass.
Once I arrived in Tallinn, though, it was clear that I had left the Nordic efficiency of Finland and had arrived in a place where all did not function quite as smoothly.
I stumbled upon one difficulty after another.
There was no presence at the port to greet the thousands of tourists arriving daily on the ferries from Helsinki, Stockholm, and St. Petersburg: no maps, information about tours, and or agents to help newcomers move about.
I couldn’t find a way to buy a SIM card for my phone or a local transport card.
Amazingly, there were no buses serving the area of the port where passengers got off the boats!
I walked a few blocks in front of the port and saw a parking lot where there were several buses. I told one…
