Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached the last day and final blog post about the grand Scandinavian adventure my mom and I took last week.  On our last day in Helsinki, we took the ferry down to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, for the afternoon!

What we did: St. Olaf’s Church, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Old Town

Tallinn, is, admittedly, not the biggest tourist destination.  We added it to our itinerary because it’s only a two hour ferry ride from Helsinki and we weren’t sure the next time we’d be that far east!  And after an afternoon there, I can confidently say that everyone should go if you get the chance.  The place is straight out of a Disney set, I swear!  Photographic proof below.

We took the ferry with Tallink Lines and had a super pleasant experience.  We were on their newest ship, the Megastar, on the way to Tallinn, and one of their other ships, the Star, on the way back to Helsinki.  We had mapped a rough itinerary of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see while in Tallinn, and when all was said and done, after time spent boarding and disembarking, we had about two hours to explore the beautiful medieval streets of Tallinn’s Old Town!

Since we apparently can’t go anywhere without visiting at least two churches, we first stopped at St. Olaf’s Church.  Unfortunately, the tower was closed for the season (it’s almost like winter isn’t the most popular time to visit the Nordic countries?) but at least from the outside, the church was truly something out of a fairytale.

Next, we headed up Toompea Hill to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.  It’s a Russian Orthodox Cathedral and is so. dang. beautiful.!  It reminded me a lot of the Uspenski Cathedral in Finland.  Nearby, there’s a great overview of the center of Tallinn and the harbor as well!

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Old Town.  I swear, I half expected to turn the corner and see the opening scene of Beauty and the Beast coming to life (wrong country, but…details).  The pastel buildings, ornate architecture, and winding cobblestone streets make for an absolutely enchanting walk.  We ate lunch at a small café near Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and before we knew it, it was time to head back to Helsinki!

The sun set on our way back to Helsinki and we headed back for one more night at Hotel Fabian.  Saturday morning it off to the airport and back to sweet Copenhagen—still my favorite city of all 🙂

Thanks so much for following along with all of our adventures this week!  As always, let me know if you have any questions—about this trip or anything at all!

Read about the rest of our trip here: Overview | Stop #1: Aarhus | Stop #2: Bergen | Stop #3: Stockholm | Stop #4: Helsinki