12 September
Check out and walk 5 minutes to
the ferry terminal where I exchange my ticket for a boarding card which opens
the turnstile to get into the departure lounge. It seems quiet; maybe I will
have the ferry to myself ? But as I wait, the departure lounge fills up until it
is standing room only by 1050. It's a Friday so maybe lots of people are having
a long weekend in Tallinn? The ship is the Viking XPRS. It looks big!
Just after 1110 they open the
doors for boarding and I am staggered by the number of people, it's like Oxford Circus at rush hour. There is a
travelator up to deck 7 where there is a luggage room where I leave my bags.
Outside, on deck 10 there are relatively few people. All the tables have
upturned flower pots which I realise function as ashtrays for the smokers. Stay
up on deck as the ship turns, almost on its axis, and moves off through a
series of narrow channels towards the open sea. The islands we pass between
look far smaller than the ship. Think I would be quite nervous on the island
looking up at this huge ship bearing down on me. We pass very close to Sveaborg/Suomenlidden and get a great view of it from high up.
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| Ferry Terminal at Helsinki. Red Arrow points to Grand Marina Hotel |
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| Outlying parts of Helsinki |
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| The Island looks smaller then the Ship |
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| Blunt End of the Ship |
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| Little Room for Error |
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| The King's Gate on Sveaborg/Suomenlidden |
When we reach open water, the
weather is misty, so the grey sea merges with grey sky at an almost invisible
horizon. The sea is amazingly flat; not many millponds look this calm. Only the
vibration of the engines tells you we are moving. I explore the other decks
down below which are more crowded. There are a couple of restaurants and cafes
which are packed and unappealing; it's not long since my big buffet breakfast
so I am not hungry. There are two bars
both, with live music, one Country and Western and the other might be Finnish
rock. Both bars are dark, which would be fine in the evening, but not at midday
and one has a definite whiff of stale beer. There is an area of slot machines
and, of course, a big shop. The next deck down is filled with cabins, which
seem a bit pointless on this short trip, but I think the ship does overnight sailings
too.
Spend most of the voyage on the
open deck stopping off in the cafe for a coffee. Very impressive how these huge
ships can be manoeuvred into port so quickly. It seems to be moving pretty fast
right up the last few minutes when it slows down and docks without the hint
of bump. Tallinn port looks very well set up for
handling large numbers of passengers but still it takes us over half an hour to
get from ship to proper land. No passport control since both Finland and Estonia are in Schengen but as we reach the arrival hall, after a
slow shuffle along the walk way, there are four police looking at us intently.
Takes me a bit longer to find the hotel than I expected but check in with no
problem.
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| Arrival in Tallinn |
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| The Ferry, Viking XPRS, docked in Tallinn |
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