Family weekend in Tallinn

Since 2004 when I left Estonia to live in Ireland I’ve visited my home country once or max twice a year but this year I’m just back from a record third time! In January I celebrated a late Christmas, in March I attended a movie premier – “Vehkleja” (“The Fencer“) that’s loosely based on my grandfather Endel Nelis and now, in August, I had the honour of celebrating my mum’s 60th jubilee with our closest family members.

Tallinn was beautifully warm and sunny for the whole weekend and on our first evening at Noa Restaurant we witnessed some amazing views of Tallinn City, the Old Town and a sunset. Back to that restaurant… amazing… It’s wonderfully located on the coast in Merivälja, about a 15-minute drive from the centre. Its current ranking is 30th out of 611 restaurants in Tallinn and features two separate dining areas – a trendy and more casual side and the Chef’s Hall for a more luxurious experience. We had a table outside as the evenings are still rather warm and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner with vegetarian, meat and seafood dishes. I kept freaking out my brother and sister with octopus pasta as they were utterly disgusted by the look of it :).

This restaurant is definitely more of a special occasion location as the price list wouldn’t allow you to dine there too regularly. But it was a special occasion – my sister’s and brother-in-law’s 6th wedding anniversary and my husband’s late birthday celebration.

Mum’s birthday lunch was at Seller. A cosy family restaurant with a small function room upstairs. Nice friendly service and good food but the venue was way too hot! There was no AC or there was one but the doors were kept open so it didn’t make much of a difference. Regardless, it was wonderful to see my uncles’ families and my great aunt. Mum is priceless… She had asked dad to create a 1.5 hour long playlist of her favourite songs, including Henri Laks, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Deep and Steve Hackett.

On our last day we paid a quick visit to Vääna-Jõesuu beach (featured image of this blog post) and I even went for a swim! 👣☀️👙 The temperature might have been around 18 but it was good enough for me.

I’m always a little nostalgic after spending time with my family and I miss them a lot. Especially my two adorable crazy nephews :). When thinking of home I always sing this song. It’s from a children’s movie. An Estonian classic “Nukitsamees”.

Mis on kodu? Kus on kodu? Kus on kodu koht?
(What is home? Where is home? Where is home’s place?)

Featured image credit: Marc Mordant Photography