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Traveling to Russia, Finland and Estonia? |
Travel Info I have a few questions about Russia, Finland and Estonia. I'm going there for 11 days this summer, and i would like to know how much a regular lunch normally costs, and if you can drink the tap water in all three countries. (the cities are, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Tallinn.) Serious answers only, please! also, feel free to add anything else about any of the 3 countries. Thanks a lot :) Travel Tips Tallinn is an awesome town and you'll have a great time there. Walking in the old town will make you feel like you're in the medieval times. There are a lot of great little shops, restaurants and bars in old town and it will be cheaper than in the US. I haven't been to Helsinki but I've heard that it's a beautiful town, the prices are probably more expensive there than in Tallinn. I have also not been to St. Petersburg but I know it has some amazing museums there. Have a great trip. PS: The water in Estonia is fine to drink Others I lived in Estonia for two years, and although it's changed a lot since I was there, my friends there tell me that it is getting more and more expensive but that it's still a great place to visit. But there will be a lot of tourists there in the summer. Prices are lower than the US or the UK. I wouldn't drink the tap water when I was there in 2001 and I wouldn't drink it there now. As for the other two cities, sorry, I never visited either one so I'll have to let someone else answer those portions of your question. Enjoy Tallinn as it's a fun place. I was in Helsinki in early May. It is a beautiful city. Lunch will probably cost you around $7 - $10. The water is safe to drink everywhere in Finland. The people are very friendly. Everyone I ever asked for help was very friendly and easy to understand. Lots of the signs are in english too. It was very easy to navigate around the city. Finland is the most expensive, St. Petersburg the cheapest -but St. Petersburg is huge, there are great variations. Helsinki water is safe to drink and so is Tallin's but DO NOT DRINK TAP WATER in St. Petersburg or eat fresh vegetables rinsed with that water (or wash your teeth with it) because they have Giardia. Giardia is a protozoa(=microscopic animal) that loves to colonise our gut and cause inflammation.It is not life threatening but very unpleasant. It does not make any difference where in St Petersburg you are as once Giardia is in the water pipe system it stays forever. You will have so much to see in all those places that I suggest you think through what are your priorities and look for those things.If you look for things on the internet you will find a lot.Particularly Finland and Estonia are very interenetized -and have net pages in English, too. Russian is much closer to English than either Finnish or Estonian -but they speak better English in these latter countries. If you take the trouble to learn the Russian , cyrillic , alphabet -which resembles in many parts the Greek, you will benefit greatly -as Russians have their Restorans, cafe's and what nots(footboll, universitet, rostbif etc ) which are almost the same than in English but just look different, if you can't read the aphabet.30 some letters are not that hard to learn! Internet has many pages for that. Tallinn has the largest old town in northern Europe, it is fantastic. In Helsinki, if you like outdoors and history both Suomenlinna fort on islands in southern Helsinki (you take the boat with your bus ticket) and Seurasaari, the outdoor museum with old farms from all over Finland -and nice cafe's and even folk dancing on some evenings -are very enjoyable just to roam around -if it is not pouring. The city tourist office in center of town in the corner of North Esplanade and Union street next to harbor and Havis Amanda (a statue of a pretty young woman -showing her rump towards the City hall as the sculpter thought they paid him too little)is usually helpful. In Tallinn,when you stand in the central square and look up at the gilded Vana Toomas (=old Thomas) who shows the wind up,up high.You can think that behind you is the pharmacy having been open since 14 hundred something. You can go to Hansa which is a medieval restaurant (very exotic but a lot of fat in medieval style) and find lovely coffee shops on side streets or walk up to Toompea hill and look over the lovely roofs and church spires. Is St. Petersburg -if you are interested of art, don't forget the museum of Russian art -the winter palace has almost no Russian artists . In St. Petersburg I do recommend a sight seeing tour as the city is huge. But walking by Neva and looking at the castles and palaces, you can remeber that they are some 300-500 years younger than in Tallinn -and a hundred or so older than in Helsinki -and walking along the Neva you can look at the stones on the streets that they come from Finland, where the granite is visible all over -and no limestone in contrary to Estonia, where limestone covers the granite which can't be seen nowhere. Whether you are interested of culture or history or..... you will find everything in those 3 cities. Have an interesting trip! lived in Helsinki, have visited all 3 the water is fine in all 3 places but if ur not sure drink bottled Finland has the best water I've ever had Helsinki is pretty expensive but cheaper than America its a really beautiful and clean city estonia however is kind of shady outside of Tallin so be careful! Estonia is also the very inexpensive I've never been to russia so I don't know |
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