Drink, food and incidentals

Good news for visitors is that the Worldwide recession seems to have forced down prices even in the heavily-touristed Old Town. No shortage of bars providing pints or half-liters for about €2 - €3 (cheaper away from the center as you might expect). Usual unhealthy pub grub available all day. You could try:

Nimeta ('Bar with no name'), five minutes from Old Town Square. Although do beware of the men's toilets, they actually smelt better after someone boked in one of the urinals

Hell Hunt (actually 'Wolf's Lair', I'm assured), on Pikk, the pedestrianised main street running down from the square to the port. Not to be confused with Hitler's Russian Front HQ during World War Two; that's near Gdansk. You'll have to wait for a future friendly trip to Poland...

Generic Oirish Place, west side of Old Town Square. You could take them a spare tricolor, apparently the last one went missing in September?

Depeche Mode (on an alley just around corner from the Square). No trip to Tallinn is complete without a visit. Full of pissed Swedes in string vests and bondage trousers when I was in.

Top tip before planning a holiday spending spree: be carefully using local cash machines. Most of them give you the money instantly but then retain the card for up to 30 seconds. Luckily the woman just behind in the queue stopped me walking off without it...

Assuming most of you won't be too bothered about the standard Euro breakfast available in hotels (toast, cold meats, cheeses, jam, maybe a boiled egg). The locals also like porridge, black pudding and rye bread. The expensive liqueur Vana ('old') Tallinn tastes like cough medicine with a Buckfast afterglow. The Old Hansa restaurant with staff in medieval fancy dress (they do a re-enactment of the last NI qualification) is funny, but full of German pensioner tour groups.

Snack stands offering burgers, hot dogs etc. are everywhere but for food and any other non-tat shopping your best bet is the Viru centre just outside the Old Town where the road to St Petersburg starts. It also has a bus station and internet cafe in the basement.