Our travel highlights for 2015

Following our career break in 2014, when we spent 7 months travelling around South America, 2015 was always going to be a little less travel-ey. However, we still managed to get in some great trips. 

Here are our highlights:

Drinking craft beer in Tallinn

The craft beer scene in Tallinn is alive, well and worth a sample!

The most obvious place to try out Estonian beers and to sample beers from around the world is in Pudel Baar in the Telliskivi Creative City, in the Kalamaja area of the city.

This laid back, relaxing small bar has a great range of different beers and a good method for choosing your perfect beer - a flowchart on the wall leads you through to a beer choice, based on musical and film preferences. I went for light IPA, while James as ever went for something a bit darker.

KGB museum in Tallinn: A short review

Looking out to the port from the balcony of the Viru hotel

The Viru Hotel - a conspicuous high rise overlooking Tallinn's old town, just outside the city walls - has a secret.

The Viru hotel - how many floors does it have?

It has a hidden 23rd floor. 

Introducing Tallinn

Medieval Tallinn

I (Sarah) had had the pretty Estonian capital of Tallinn on my wish list for a number of years after a former housemate had headed off to the Baltic state for a short break. I had looked at photos of the walled and turreted old town and my wanderlust was ignited! 

St Catherine's passage

As the 2015 long Easter weekend approached, I was searching for cheap flights for a short break and Tallinn kept coming up. So now was the time!

Being vegetarian in Tallinn

Sitting on the plane on the way to Tallinn, reading my guide book, my heart started to sink. 

"The idea of anyone willingly giving up meat is fairly baffling to the porkchop-loving Estonians", it declared. Those vegetarian dishes that do exist "range from fairly uninspired concoctions of stir fried veggies or grilled cauliflower", read the next sentence.

There was also a warning that any soups or salad that may appear meat-free by reading the menu were likely to include bits of ham. Hmmm ... I thought.

Fortunately, either the guide book writer did not look in the right places or a lot has changed in the two years since the book was written.

When we arrived, our Air BnB host talked us through her recommendations of where to go and one of her top tips was to go to the vegan restaurant. "It is vegan, but the food is still very good", she told us. And away from the vegan restaurant, we found some very good veggie options. 

Here are our recommendations for eating well in Tallinn as a vegetarian: