Europe’s HIDDEN GEM! 🇪🇪 Day trip to Tallinn, ESTONIA from Helsinki

we have hopped on a plane from Southern Germany to Finland the next major destination on our winter European adventure and while we have two super fun weeks planned here we're starting our time in Finland by actually leaving Finland to head to what maybe Europe's best Hidden Gem for the day I love it here just a 2-hour oneway ferry from Helsinki lies Talon the capital of Estonia and with colorful buildings medieval walls cobblestone streets and unique experiences it is very Steep and narrow to get the rest of the it is said to be one of the most underrated cities in all of [Music] Europe there are a couple different Ferry Crossings you can take to Talon from Helsinki we decided to go with tallink because they offer the most Crossings per day they cost us78 total round trip for the two of us and since we only have one day in the city we're taking the earliest Crossing at 7:30 a.m. which should get us to town around 9:30 [Music] a.m. we have been on a lot of fairies and this is easily the nicest one we have been on there are multiple bars of coffee bar a bunch of restaurants including a Burger King casino games an arcade [Applause] room it is just so nice and so huge just the design aesthetic of this fairy is unlike any fairy that we've ever been on normally they're just kind of basic but this one is beautiful like I would have designed my house like this [Music] fairy the downside of taking a fairy this early this time of year is that it was dark basically the entire ride but it's getting lighter out and you still can't see anything because the city which is right back there is just completely engulfed in [Music] fog it's kind of crazy we left one new country this morning and now we're in another new country for us Europe is so crazy just how easily you can get between different countries since Finland and Estonia are part of the shinan area of Europe which is a group of 27 EU countries where you can freely go between the borders there's no Customs or immigration to go through once you get here so we are free to go explore it's around 9:40 a.m. and our fairy leaves at 7:30 p.m. so we have just under 10 hours here and lucky for us toal is very walkable so there's a lot that we can see and do on foot we found a shortcut we're walking through this big mall trying to retain any heat we can [Music] today for our first stop in town we came to Roy Bakery which they are known for having delicious cinnamon and cardamom buns and oh my gosh oh wow not only do they look absolutely delicious but they are super gorgeous they look like they're braided on the inside here and then kind of like a lattice kind of strips over the top so much sugar on there perfectly toasted they feel really delicate too oh my god dude that is like the ultimate cinnamon bun M better than cinnamon bun this is the cardamom bun and you can see just all the cardamom just nestled in all of the little crevices m m has a really good spicy flavor it is is so soft and moist on the inside and I love these little sections that just have like extra kind of like the filling or the cinnamon or the cardamom in there it's a little crunchy on the outside M yeah that the perfect texture good chew good crunch mhm I'm thinking we're going to need to grab a couple of these for the fairy ride back that is a great idea genius idea way to go good thinking Talon has a rich history that dates back over 5,000 years it was a vital trading center in medieval times due to its strategic location on the Baltic Sea and over the years it was conquered by many different people including the Danes swedes and Russians before Estonia gained independence for the first time in 1918 and then again in 1991 after the Soviet Union dissolved today Talon is known for having an extremely well preserved medieval Old Town which has been given the designation of a UNESCO world heritage [Music] site this place is straight out of a story book this is where Disney and all the theme parks need to come to do their research it seems like every building is hundreds of years old and just has so much character every time we come around a corner I'm just like wa look at that w wow so pretty so cool there are just so many side streets and Alleyways and Courtyards to wander through and all the buildings are just so colorful and there's all these really unique doors I love it here and since it's such a medieval city it's only fitting that we go eat a feast fit for proper Lords and [Music] Ladies [Music] we came to a restaurant called Old hanza for lunch and this place is a blast from the past the entire restaurant is Medieval themed from the tables and chairs to the murals on the wall to the weight staff dressed in medieval attire and the items on the menu which are cooked according to 700-year-old recipes and while this may seem Mega cheesy and touristy is just way too unique to pass up and we hear that the food is actually really good they try to provide an authentic experience so all the staff goes through extensive training and they even have a seamstress and tailor who researches all the clothing they wear to make sure it's accurate it's really dark in here and it's candle lit and I read that I think they burn through 18,000 candles a year oh you look cool with the candle don't blow it out that's our source we're starting off with some oven baked Herby cheese with some white bread with some nuts in there smells so good C yes so and do you need this important paper with you n get back on there oh that is so good yeah there's like so many herbs in that cheese wow it almost just tastes like a cheesy garlic bread So Soft it's billowy meat soup and then you also have some white breaded herbs and nuts and some cream cheese from the castle all right thank you the castle and tended deer FY so with the deer you have some parsy Fury you have a little saled her pastry then you have some London Merchant saffron pickles then you have some saffron Bel and then you have the deer with some mushrooms they're known for their game meats and so we got their hearty soup that has various Game Meats in it and then also a tender deer filet with some sides there is a lot of flavor in there I can taste so many spices I can't pick them out but I can definitely taste them and the meat I don't know what game meats they are but they are so tender this has definitely been cooking for a long time all right so I looked it up and their critical spices that they use are cinnamon cardamom Ginger black pepper saffron mackerel and cloves I feel like I've only ever had deer once before and it was in sausage form so this will be a new experience oh my goodness that is crazy tender that just tastes like a Super H quality steak oh W it doesn't cut like it's tender but once you bite into it I don't remember what any of these sides are but they look really good W wo it looks like it's mashed potatoes I think she said it's turnup it's sweet wow I've never tasted anything like that before that is it's really good it's just so different the person waiting our table said that if anything's bad the chef will lose his head I think his head is safe today it's definitely not a cheap meal but the experience is more than worth it not even just the experience of the like atmosphere here with like the darkness and the lights and all the medieval Vibes but just the food it's so different than anything we've ever had I love this but we're not leaving the Medieval Times just yet we're off to walk some of the city's medieval [Music] walls the old town of Talon is surrounded by medieval walls which were crucial during medieval times at its height in the 16th century the wall was 2.4 km long and there were a total of 46 Towers today almost 2 km of the wall and 26 Towers remain and there are a handful of spots around town where you can pay to go up into a tower and walk the [Music] walls [Music] oh wow this is cool W it is very Steep and narrow to get the rest of the oh my [Music] gosh this ceiling is so tall wow I think with the wall section that we chose we get to go in three different towers and this is the first one and normally on a clear day you'd have really nice views out the window but the windows have lots of condensation and rain on them right now so you can't totally see the views but along the wall we should be able to see some nice views of the [Music] city you have to crawl almost this is so fun because you're kind of crawling and climbing it just feels like a medieval jungle JY and this one doesn't have any windows so you can see the views and what's really neat about this view is that you can see the more modern part of the city behind the old town so it's a very interesting contrast with all these red orange roofs and then behind it these taller much more modern buildings [Music] besides walking the walls there's also a couple free viewing platforms that Overlook the city so with our very small amount of daylight left we're going to try to go check them [Music] [Music] out As Americans I feel like we never really hear much about Estonia I can think of maybe three people I know who have ever been here but man these underrated cities are always my favorite to explore because you don't really know exactly what you're getting yourself into and this city has just completely blown us away [Music] it's December 29th so Christmas has come and gone but the festivities here in Talon are still continuing While most Christmas markets in Europe end right before Christmas the one here in Talon ends in early January we hear it's one of the best ones in Europe so we had to check it [Music] out [Music] this is a really nice Market they of course have lots of drink stands hot food stands dessert stands ornaments scarves and hats and what makes this one unique compared to the ones we went to in Germany is they have some small carnival rides unfortunately I think they're only for children I don't think I think we're too big for them but they look really fun and they have live entertainment going on tonight and it all centers around this beautiful Christmas tree right behind me which is extra special because Talon first put up a Chistmas tree in their Town Hall Square back in 1441 making it one of the oldest Christmas tree traditions in [Applause] Europe our first dish we're trying at the market is VOR which is the national dish of Estonia which is blood sausage with meat blood barley onions and spices like all spice and margarum and served on a bed of potatoes and sauerkraut and then we asked the lady how you would traditionally eat it and we topped it with some jam and then this is some pumpkin so we've tried blood sausage before on a traditional English breakfast in Scotland and London but first one in Estonia i d that's really good too wo very meaty kind of creamy in there yeah sounds gross but it's creamy sausage it kind of is you can taste the spices in there and there's just like I don't know it has a really good sausage flavor and then the jam on there adds a little bit of sweetness to it I kind of think I chickened out on trying this in the UK cuz the blood thing kind of weirds me out a little bit but here we go oh yeah I see what you mean by creamy sausage sounds weird but it's true that's really good it almost has like a coarseness to it as well it's like creamy but also coarse one thing we like about the European Christmas markets is that they use a lot of reusable plates and cups which cuts down on a lot of waste so when you get your food you pay a deposit and then when you're done you take it back get your deposit back thank you thank [Music] you one food item that we read we had to try here at the Christmas Market is gingerbread Talon actually has an annual event called gingerbread Mania which is an art exhibition and the Only Rule is that everything must be made out of gingerbread there are around a 100 artists that participate so clearly gingerbread is a big part of Christmas here and we actually got these gingerbread cookies that I had read about online that are made according to a medieval recipe a bunch of other stands had gingerbread cookies with like frosting and stuff on them but I don't know it sounded really interesting so we're going to try these ones instead they have like a nice little coating of maybe spices and sugar on them and they're just kind of plain and shaped like moons M gingerbread cookies aren't necessarily my favorite cookie but these are really good I thought they were going to be really really crunchy but they're actually a little bit softer than I thought they would be and they have just really strong Ginger flavor M those are really good gingerbread cookies and to wash down our gingerbread cookies we got this black currant alcohol-free hot juice ooh oh that's really good it's very different than the alcohol-free like Kinder punches that we had in Germany oh that's delicious and just like that our time and talent has come to an end it's time to head back to the ferry feels like there are a thousand more people with them this morning oh my [Music] gosh [Music] the time has come thank you past me they're cold they're still so dang [Music] good we made it back to Helsinki and it's SN going I'm so excited but we had such an amazing day trip to Talon if you have a free day while here in Helsinki we highly recommend it but tomorrow we're going to begin exploring Helsinki in Finland for the first time ever woohoo it's going to be cold someone left a fully loaded Arsenal here oh my gosh I can be like that that that elf I guess on Elf or or no it's elf all all the snow oh my gosh how funny is that awesome we haven't gotten much sleep this trip it's starting to take its toll my hot hands are working great except they only keep my Palms warm so what I'm doing is I'm balling my hands in my gloves so that I just have floppy fingers thank you thank you you made money grandma [Music] [Music] n