It's strange and slightly sad to be leaving Tallinn the day after we arrive, but that's how our itinerary fits in five cities in a fortnight. It's a small town, so we gave it less time, and to be fair, there's not much to do here. However, it's a nice place, and certainly easier to cope with than St Petersburg. In fact, we've relaxed dramatically and got used to it quickly - Russia will be a shock again next week.

I was awoken at 4.30am by someone incessantly ringing the doorbell (which is right by our room), followed by lots of conversation at reception. The doorbell and phone then frequently ring after 7.30am, but Iain sleeps through it all. We finally get up at 8.30am for breakfast.

[Gatehouse, facing downhill]

[Gatehouse over Pikk Jalg ("Long Leg")]

[Lai ("Wide") with the Niguliste kirik in the background]

["Fat Margaret" - part of the city walls]

Breakfast is great, much better than the usual hostel fodder. Reception told us that the guest-house rooms are the same price as for hostel beds, but I'm unconvinced. Breakfast is help yourself, with fresh filter coffee, fresh breads, cheeses, yogurts, cornflakes, milk, jam etc. It's excellent, all the more wonderful after St Petersburg's sour breakfast. We spend an hour indulging, and talking to an American, Italian and a Swede. Conversation comes around from travelling (the usual questions and answers) to politics. The American man travelled a lot around the USSR. He tells us a story of when he was pulled off a train at the Russian border in the 1980s after soldiers found a bible in his luggage when searching. He was told to sign a document stating that he hadn't known it was illegal, but the document was in Russian, so he refused. They eventually gave him an

[Roofs of Tallinn with the Pikk Jalg gatehouse]

[Toomkirik]

[Alexander Nevsky cathedral]

English copy, which he signed and was freed, to his relief. After deciding to go to Russia, I suddenly found that everyone I work with has horror stories about people they know who've travelled there (mainly USSR), and the Internet yields an alarming number of warnings - I gave up reading in the end.

We left breakfast at 9.30am reluctantly, but we only have half a day left before leaving Estonia. Iain does a very good tour of the old town, guided by the Lonely Planet book. We walk round and see the old churches, monuments, marketplace, city walls etc. There's a "Cat Well" where people used to throw cats to sacrifice to the "water spirit". Horrible. The town is initially quiet but then increasingly busy until the main streets are thronging with tourists - mainly Finnish and German.

[Luhike jalg ("Short Leg")]

[On Pikk Jalg]

[On Toompea, facing the Alexander Nevsky cathedral]

[Tallinn Street]

[Tallinn skyline]

It's sad to see women standing outside cathedrals silently holding out begging bowls. Hordes of tourists (including us) ignore them, many whilst eating lunch in innumerable cafes. I feel like a fat, rich, Western tourist. Russia was similar, but people actively asked for money rather than waiting silently. I give to a few people, but it's not a long-term fix. There are various recommendations depending on location as to whether it's helpful or harmful to give.

[Dragon on town hall]

[Town hall]

We pick up our bags from the excellent hostel and head for the tram stop. There's a tram every two minutes, which then takes 5-10 minutes to the bus station. We're taking Eurolines buses through the Baltics (Tallinn - Riga - Vilnius), as apparently the trains aren't up to much. The company seems to come highly recommended by all. Thankfully the Estonian for bus station looks enough like English that we spot it down the road, and the Eurolines logo confirms this. We have seats reserved via e-mail (in Lithuania, strangely enough) but no actual tickets - I hope the reservations are accepted!

[Bus station]

The staff at the ticket office speak English, as do most people under 40 here (less so the older generation). It's extremely efficient, they have our booking recorded, we pay for and get tickets for this journey and onwards to Vilnius. £30 all in - very good for two international coach journeys of 5+ hours each for two people, and much cheaper than trains.

We try to get lunch - Iain finds a burger but no veg food except feta salad - so little nutrient I can't be bothered. I look elsewhere, fail, and settle for crisps and a Kitkat - sugar if nothing else. We've still got about £2 of Estonian money left to use up. The coach station is just like a large UK one in layout, and whilst waiting by the stand for the bus to pull up, I see another burger place and go to investigate veggie food (why don't they sell chips?!) The woman speaks no English, so out comes the phrasebook and I think I've successfully communicated vegetarian when she digs a burger out of the freezer and triumphantly waves it at me! I get a fantastic looking burger with relish and salad for under a pound. Unfortunately, it turns out to be chicken, as the word I hoped conveyed not eating meat sadly turns out to specify red meat. Boh, am gutted. Iain is force-fed another burger but is full so unfortunately most of it is wasted. I try to surreptitiously bin the (rather large) remainder. An old man watches me. I wonder what he thinks.

The coach arrives fifteen minutes before departure. It's clean, nice, luggage is labelled for us and we're given a corresponding number to hand in when claiming, which is reassuring. The coach leaves on time, and is half full with a mixture of nationalities, though mainly Estonian. We see new Tallinn from the window - much greyer, just like a normal city, a bit run down. Old and new town are totally separate, and I suspect most tourists (like us) never venture into the new town. It seems to have a totally different atmosphere and character. We stop at the port for a pick up then head out into the countryside. Estonia is very flat and mostly covered in forest. The distance between Tallinn to Vilnius is similar to London - Edinburgh. The road we follow is one lane, mostly straight. The driver tailgates people then overtakes in worryingly small gaps. There's not much to see except trees. We drive through what I presume are the rich suburbs of Tallinn - detached houses, all individually designed and built (mostly wood), not like UK boxes. There isn't much traffic, nor farmland (the Russians didn't allow it), but the occasional village, field of hay, a few cows tethered here and there, the odd chicken, and some people milking by hand.

Two hours later I'm pretty bored! We arrive in Varnu, a seaside town. There's a nice view of the lakes, river, and harbour. We have a two minute stop (I buy a Coke) and then back on the bus.

We reach border control an hour later. There are kiosks in the road, the coach stops, everyone gets their passports out, A woman in uniform briefly checks them, takes a few away with her (not ours) and the coach pulls aside. She's back in two minutes, passports are okay (mainly Japanese) and we're away again.

Over the border, the houses more run down and cars a bit older (there's a huge difference between the quality of vehicles in the city to countryside, though less so than in Russia, where people use horses in many areas).

[In the middle of nowhere in Latvia]

We pull into some small "services" almost immediately. There are no cash facilities, and we have no currency. There's a cafe, waiting room and toilets. I decide to investigate the loos, having read in Lonely Planet that Latvian ones are manky, but Estonian fine. It's horrifying, the worst I've ever seen/smelt. A concrete floor and walls (no doors), a hole in ground (still concrete), no loo paper/sink etc, diarrhea all over the ground. I walk in and straight back out again, feeling slightly ill. Thankfully there's a toilet on the coach - not ideal but far better than the alternative!

Two and a half hours to go. We watch the film See Spot Run (with Estonian subtitles), it's a slight distraction but terrible film. Seems to be on for the benefit of the driver's young daughter on board, who enjoys it. It at least takes our minds off the boring journey, which has the same scenery, with no changes except occasional coastline and scenic lakes.

We arrive to the minute at 6.50pm as timetabled. I'm impressed. We've driven through suburbs (houses, flats, then commercial offices), but haven't seen much of the town yet. The bus station is central, but the guidebooks warn against spending time there, and we're a bit tense. We don't pick up any cash because we're worried about pickpockets. The hostel is five minutes walk through the central market, which has lots of fresh fruit and veg stalls and smells great. Posh Backpackers is next to the market.

The entrance is a bit dingy and discouraging. Posh is an Australian chain, and this hostel is run by an Australian, which is partly why I booked here, as my brother recommended the company.

Inside the hostel is fine, we've got our own room, although we have to walk through a dorm room to get to it. It's cozy, clean and basic; the window doesn't close, and the makeshift curtain doesn't cover it, but we're on the first floor, so it's okay. The woman at reception is friendly with minimal English, which is fun when we try to ask about a laundry. We need to clean some clothes, as we've run out (somehow badly miscalculated). Seems that the hostel will do it for almost nothing, excellent. It'll be 24 hours til it's done, though, so we'll have to smell for a bit - just need to shower more often. Good job we're not sharing a dorm.

We unpack and go out for food at 7.30pm. We're sometimes a bit nervous in a new location, and inexplicably Riga feels a bit threatening. We get money from an ATM and look for a café in Lonely Planet, but the café we want has closed down (our guidebook is from the library and printed in 1997). There are no other cafes close by. We see an Indian, but find that the restaurants are at UK prices. We find an Italian - boring but cheap, at £2-3 for a pizza. It's very good pizza actually, and my first proper meal for over 24 hours. I manage a huge pizza with mushrooms, asparagus and aubergine, fantastic. We sit outside in the warm evening, and relax. Most people around us are British/German. The whole bill, for two pizzas and 2 ½ litres of coke is £7. Bargain, less than half the price of the Indian restaurant opposite.

We walk back to the hostel at 7pm. The market has closed and the area is very empty. We're a bit concerned about safety. The hostel is quiet, we have showers (which are excellent), write the diary, read, and sleep at 11pm. Generally when we travel we tend not to stay out late as we get too tired.

[Graffiti]

I note the anti-American and anti-EU graffiti in a subway. It's stenciled on, and the same images repeated on different walls. Interesting to see an anti-American backlash in an area which is embracing Western consumerism at a pace.