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Published: July 20th 2011
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Prison doors, Museum of Occupations
From 3 prisons in Tallinn and Tartu Continuing from last blog:
Mon - got back to Tallinn from our short trip to Helsinki and did quite a long walk from the ferry to the hotel, LÉrmitage - this time we're just outside the old town and I think we were spoiled with the first hotel. The location is not as good, the atmosphere is therefore lacking - it's just OK really.
Walked into the old town and ate at the restaurant outside the Imperial hotel - possibly the slowest service I've ever witnessed!!!! We counted how long some tables waited to even be acknowledged by a waiter (and there were only 6 tables outside; inside only had 1 or 2 tables occupied) - some took almost 20 mins! The beer wasn't cold (but we were given a glass of ice cubes??!!??) and the food was mediocre. But the entertainment value was high - both the table next to us and us were asked what we'd had when it came to paying the bill as the waiters couldn't remember..........................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tues - hmm, we definitely chose a better hotel first time round: the shower kept switching from hot to cold of it's own free will, the breakfast
Suitcases belonging to Estonians
who were forced to leave Estonia during the occupied years, Museum of Occupations buffet choices were lacking and not so tasty and the dining room was poorly organised so people had to wait for or share tables, amongst other things - well, you can't have everything.
It was a damp and drizzly day but we were not going to be deterred! First stop was the Museum of Occupations, which covered the periods of Estonian history under occupation from Germany and Russia - very worthwhile to see. Then a quick tour of some of the shopping centres/stores: Solaris, Baltika Quarter, Stockmann and the Rotermann Quarter, a very pleasant area just outside the town walls, factories converted into galleries, cafes, shops and a cinema. Some great examples of regeneration.
Dinner was at Tommi Grill again - half the price and thrice the flavour of yesterday's meal, highly recommended. And great service too. And did I mention the cold beer?
Wed (today) - our last full day. No sign of rain, started the day with a tour of the Bastion passages, the underground tunnels that run below the city and date back to at least the 1500s. We had to book yesterday (you can't just turn up, you have to go underground with
Isolation room
or cupboard really, Museum of Occupations a guide in a group of max. 18 people) and it cost 5.75 euros each, well worth it. The tour lasted about 75 mins and included some short films/animations. The tunnels had various models and mocked up scenes in them to give an impression of how they've been used at different times in history. Blankets are available as it's around 5-10 degrees down there (which I found refreshing as it's been hot all the time we've been away).
Then we wandered through part of the old town again to get some final photos; we went past the Ukranian church and an amazing bakery that had rum truffles for just 40 cents!
The Contemporary Museum of Art was closed this week whilst exhibitions are being changed (unfortuneately for us) but we strolled along part of the cultural pathway near to the museum and stumbled across a stress station and I quote: "Stress stations- benevolent, anti-stress, grief-repellent devices - are spread all over Tallinn....from outside they remind us of the ordinary 'card-eaters'or other mechanical and automatic organisers such as parking and banking terminals, traffic lights, pay phones, loud speakers and mailboxes. But be alert .... these machines are here to
help you!" Sadly we don't speak or read Estonian but these fun machines dispense advice if you're feeling stressed! What a lovely and novel idea!
A highlight of today was, bizarrely, a trip around Patarei prison museum - unbelievably a working prison until 2005. It's now in a state of semi-ruin but (presumably!) safe enough in places to allow tourists in. You can see some pretty depressing and unusual, not to mention uncomfortable areas - cells, the hanging room, the watch towers, the operations room. Shock tourism at its best. And all for just 2 euros.
The prison complex was huge and in a pretty prime location I'd say in terms of real estate - not that far out of the old town and on the coast, so wonderful views for some inmates? Or would the sea view side be the staff quarters? I wonder if in years to come this may end up as luxury apartments? It would need a lot of money spending on it. But for now it's been a very atmospheric and unusual ending to our time in Tallinn.
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