“Finnish-built Hotel Viru and Olümpia located near the old town. Those traveling with a group tend to have hotel rooms and meals booked in advance. If you travel on your own, then it could be more complicated. A list of hotels and restaurants in Tallinn, their addresses and phones are available at the back of this book. The hotels have TV in the room and most of the appliances are working properly. The broken appliances could be replaced by the hotel staff… if they want to. In that case, you can see Swedish television news each evening. Tallinn is near Helsinki, so you can get both Finnish and Finland-Swedish TV programs. One can also get National Swedish news, if you are lucky or visiting someone with strong and upright antenna.
Anyone who lives in a hotel usually also eats there. There are set times for breakfast, lunch and dinner – and it rarely pays off to try to eat before or after those times. But if you are famished and ready to pay under the table, most of it is possible to arrange. Credit cards are accepted by most hotels, restaurants and some shops. Let them know in advance if you wish to pay by card. A growing number of hotel and restaurant employees known some Swedish. Russian is also possible. Bring wet wipes from Sweden. Then take them with you, or some toilet paper when you go out on town. Public toilets lack both soap and paper, so a good advice is always visit the bathroom before you leave your hotel room.”
– A. Küng, Tallinn – En personlig vägvisare, Sellin & Blomquist AB Stockholm, 1990
