I had always been quite fascinated by the Soviet history. I couldn’t even really explain why, its not like I grew up being surrounded with Soviet influence or spent my travels discovering Soviet secrets. I guess it grew on me when I had done some travelling south, west, and north, and felt it was time for some more eastern-Europe. That is what brought me to Tallinn, just a small 2 hour by massive skyscraper-of-a-boat trip from Helsinki. I had honestly no idea what to expect of Estonia as I simply hadn’t prepared for it as the control freak in me would normally do. Sure, I had booked the boat way in advance, booked myself a tour for tomorrow and researched some of Tallinn to do’s, but that’s nothing yet compared to how I prepared my travels years ago. I would know more than those little Marco Polo pocket books. Now, entering the harbor of Tallinn, I just let it all happen. Modern buildings, I noted. Interesting, for some reason I expected to just bump into the medieval city walls of the old center. Instead, being the big pyramid we were the ship slowly hit land, and it was a modern, thriving harbor area with trucks driving around, busses riding up and down, and glass malls rising up to the thick grey sky. In a far corner I could see the silhouette of trees covered in a silver snowy layer shaping the many islands around Estonia. The rest was still a gift to unwrap. Staying at Airbnbs can turn out to be better than 5star hotels. Our Airbnb was central, very clean, very modern, and located in one of the fancier buildings in the street. The street we were located in, gave me a Soviet vibe straight away.
Large, concrete monsters of buildings by the road, unraveling exactly zero secrets about what was hiding inside. A very wide sidewalk and road where cars drove disturbingly fast, and a lot of posters and billboard signs decorating the walls, sometimes left for grey and sometimes painted pastel. Russian bakeries and a large amount of Russian voices and those warm Russian hats. However then there was also this very eastern-European vibe by the many churches built from brick, with funny looking towers on top. There were anyways a lot of towers coming our way from the far end of the incredibly long, straight street. It was noisy, it was crowded, it was alive. Another, possibly Nordic or western influence, were the large glass skyscrapers and a Have it all Mall anywhere you could look. It was a very interesting threesome, and I struggled to find the true identity of Estonia thus far. Well, that was not a problem considering id only seen this one big street. Following it down to the old town at the end, was almost like entering a theme park. The largest skyscrapers of the city, a little group of 5, collapsed with a low lying gathering of colorful brick buildings in a cobble stone street, the only border in between being a wide and busy road. Now it became clear what the hidden gem and main tourism hotspot of the country must be, its old town. Many cities have an old town, especially in the east; however none of them are preserved as greatly as Tallinn, being one of the best medieval villages in the world that still thrive. The ancle breaking cobblestone street was accompanied by many pastel colored buildings with too many chimneys and unavoidable, overly decorated dormers. Small side streets curled their way into the city like secret passages, and small shops and cafes hid in the small cellars below.
It truly was amazingly surprising how preserved the medieval treasures of Tallinn were. Old, crumbly city walls, scarred towers, medieval styled dining cellars, buildings that looked like you could just push them over, pastel walls and chimneys and dormers. Cobble stone roads, extra slippery in wintertime. It was overwhelming how many restaurants were present in the small alleys or larger squares, they definitely wanted to ensure for each dining style there were minimum 5 options. The city was quite hilly, too, and it led to a proud fortress one had to beat with slippery stairs, to find the most treasured souvenir shop on top, filled with hand painted city artefacts and wooden handcraft. The view was also pretty perfect, covering the rooftops of Tallinn and all its many towers in a snow blanket, big cruises behind on the dark ocean creating a fascinating contrast. It was so quiet in February, hiding beneath gloomy skies, unpredictable. Many shops were closed but those that were open sold a surprisingly big amount of amber stone, obviously souvenirs, and even some fancy modern day clothing – which did not fit in this image. For me the city looked a bit like a small Prague, with beautiful castle towers and many churches in various styles, yet felt more medieval as it was so quiet and no cars were to be seen. Yet it had its hip western vibes with vegan restaurants and famous companies hiding in their skyscrapers lurking around the medieval walls of the old town, Nordic vibe with Finnish karaoke bars and Swedish shops, and Russian vibes with the bakeries and surprisingly large amount of native Russian speakers, or probably just pure Russians, in general. Plus some Soviet vibes with the big brick secretive buildings and large streets full of racing cars, that were anywhere around the old town, that really felt so extra precious due to its small but pure heart. Especially in the evening with the orange lights glowing from the thick buildings bending over the cobble roads and the snow sliding off the high chimneys, dripping down peacefully.
The day after our visit we were so lucky to enjoy a private tour, passing the northern-Estonian highlights. Because tourism was quiet in February, we could have the gloomy snowy countryside all to ourselves. It was a lot like Finland; long, quiet roads, curvy, surrounded by the quiet pine trees in their snow blanket, on their snow carpets. Small, frozen rivers, that despite the singing birds didn’t seem to feel spring quite yet. A large difference with Finland was that, besides the obviously feeling that this country was smaller, we followed a bunch of very scary looking cliffs that, with the snow covering Estonia, couldn’t clearly show how far you could walk. The waters below these fragile limestone cliffs weren’t only deathly cold, being the Baltic sea; they were beautiful. They had a sense of emerald over them and as if that wasn’t enough, groups of swans were ruling the coast line, or hiding on its small beaches by the pine trees. Very fascinating contrasts of landscapes, extra gloomy under thick grey skies and the sensible emptiness of the area. Large plains of nothing but white and some lost farms here and there, that unlike my expectations weren’t wooden like in Finland, but concrete. They looked a little sad and lonely, however not as much as the large concrete, Soviet apartments in the tiny towns of Estonia. After all, Estonia only has 1.4 million residents, maybe that is why people do not know too much about this mysterious country; there really aren’t too many Estonians walking our planet. What we also don’t know is how rich Estonia is in historical highlights, untouched nature, and cultural influences that lean into the most opposite directions you can imagine. Besides passing lonely red lighthouses leaning on the fragile, white, limestone cliffs, holding on for dear life knowing they would, in several years, collapse into the ocean with the fragile rocks, we passed the absolute Soviet village of Paldiski, with a surprisingly high amount of well-dressed grandmas walking around, no grandpas to be found.
The town was filled with high apartment buildings, concrete. It was an atmosphere I could never get quite comfortable with, yet be incredibly fascinated about at the same time. When entering a bakery in an absolute 60s style with smiling faces all around, I realized how lovely the Estonians are, careful, but kind. Continuing the abandoned landscapes, covered in snow, we made a final stop at a very special, well preserved place; Rummu quarry. You probably never heard of it, neither did I and you wont even read about it if you google Estonian highlights. I have no idea why, because this place is one of the most fascinating and incredibly haunting places ever. A drowned prison, drowned for unknown reasons, in a quarry hidden by moon-alike limestone mountains, in azure blue waters showing all the drowned history beneath it. However as we visited in winter time, there was just a snow carpet, no azure blueness. In summer time you could kayak or scuba dive around to see the drowned trees and remains of a once cruel, deathly prison with about 1 on a 100 violent prisoners, who basically ruled the place, killed the weak. Insane how a place that dark turned into a summer hotspot for swimming and sunning. Not now though, as the snow again ensured us with a private experience, making the torn down prison buildings and walls all the more sad. History was present here for all the human senses. Estonia was incredibly surprising, growing fast to become more Nordic, or western perhaps, but still acknowledging its eastern vibes, presenting all of these on a silver platter. I understand why not many people know about its identity, it is not given away easily; you have to enjoy true discovery to really meet the authenticity and humbleness of Estonia.
- Its an amazing life
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