Helsinki was considered the city where "East meets west" than across the water in Tallinn, 'West meets east". This city is beautiful, but even the brief look we had strolling around this afternoon was a picture of communist recovery. A mass of contradictions even beyond the structural obviousness of the modern sky scraper next to the medieval fortress walls.

We arrived from Helsinki after lunch on the M/S Viking XPRS. Getting on was like a New Years sales rush of British tourist running for the limited number of window seats or tables on the sundeck smoking areas. "Run Hubert or we'll miss out on a 'cream brulay' for pudding" screamed Diedre struggling up the gang plank with her knock off Louis Vooton travel luggage set from Marks & Spencer.

Chris and I hung back. We were happy just to find a quiet table and grab some lunch. We had the views from a Baltic Ferry coming across from Stockholm. So we came on board last and did something only a gay man would do. We accidentally walked through a photo shoot of the 10 finalist in the Miss Finland pageant and didn't realise what all the blokes were looking at. Only gay back packers could walk past the 10 sexiest woman in Finland and not realise. Oh well, we got a shelf in the free luggage storeroom and made our way up stairs to a dining room. We missed out on Crème Brûlée.

The 2 hours across to Tallinn passed fairly uneventfully and we officially left Scandinavia and arrived in Europe for the second time this trip. Just don't tell the British that they were our first. We dodged the modern rickshaw taxis and walked up towards the old town to our hostel.

We knew we had booked into the old town and that our hostel was in an old building. However the 'old' does not refer to the building. We walked into a hostel decorated entirely with furniture left over from the Soviet oppression days of the 1960. I have always thought there is never enough faded green velour used on chairs these days. Not to mention overly ornate patterned wall paper and dark timber furniture. We were shown into our room and the first thing I noticed was no wardrobe. Nowhere to put your clothes out of your bag. Then there is the old singer sewing table in the corner under the early 90s wall mounted TV. I actually love the atmosphere of this place. But the town called so we were off to explore.

Tallinn has intentionally protected its old medieval town centre. To a point. There was a McDonalds. We walked around in awe of this beautiful city. Every building was a rich example of architecture dating back to the 1100s and earlier. We found our way into the city square and were guided into a bar by a young blond maitre d' with a tight yellow traditional shirt and well fitted jeans. He presented himself well so we followed him to a front table in the sun to watch the world go by. And that is exactly what we did. 22 degrees, shorts and T-shirt, drinking wine and beer nibbling on a cheese board and enjoying the beauty of Tallinn. This town square was everything out of the perfect travel world.

The square was fully cobbled stoned. All four sides had buildings that predated the Russian revolution of the 1700s. Each building with a cafe restaurant on the street with coloured market umbrellas each advertising a different beer. No cars in the square, just people walking, bicycles rattling past and couples posing kissing each other like try hard glamour models. It was a perfect introduction to out short stay in Tallinn. This will be a couple of days of food and drinks and relaxing.

Written by Rod