Friday May 29 2026 A Swift Departure
My latest weekend adventure began on a Friday evening with a late flight to Tallinn. I had a nice relaxing dinner at home before making my way to the airport, arriving around 8:00 PM. I experienced what must have been the fastest security check of my entire life, it took less than five minutes! With time to spare before boarding, I relaxed and reflected on the incredible experiences of the past few weeks, mentally preparing myself for my newest solo adventure. My flight departed punctually at 9:45 PM, soaring into the dark sky toward the Baltics.
Saturday May 30 2026 Medieval Marvels and Soviet Secrets
I landed in Tallinn at 1:35 AM. My SIM card stubbornly refused to work, but thankfully the airport had free WiFi. I connected, ordered a Bolt which cost around €11 for a 20 minute ride, and headed straight to my first accommodation, The Monk’s Bunk Hostel and Bar. By the time I finally crawled into bed, it was already 2:30 AM.
I slept in until about 10:10 AM and kicked off my day by joining a free city walking tour at 11:00 AM. Tallinn is an absolutely beautiful city with a rich, layered history. Walking through the cobbled streets, the guide showed us the stunning Town Hall Square, the heart of the old Hanseatic medieval city. We climbed up Toompea Hill to see the majestic Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a massive Russian Orthodox church built during the Russian Empire to assert dominance over the region. The viewing platforms at the top offered breathtaking panoramic views of the medieval defense walls, red terracotta roofs, and the modern skyline beyond. We learned how Estonia transitioned from centuries of Danish, Swedish, and Russian rule into a fiercely independent and highly advanced digital nation. The guide was quite engaging, even if some of her contemporary facts seemed a bit questionable. For example, she claimed that Estonia has three times as many women as men, and that everyone here is required to learn Estonian, English, Russian, and German. I later found out both of those claims were definitely not true! Still, it was a fantastic introduction to the Old Town.
After the tour, I initially planned to follow some artificial intelligence travel recommendations, but someone on the tour highly recommended the KGB Museum, so I booked a slot for 3:15 PM. Before that, I headed to the Solaris Mall for lunch at Lido. I paid about €9 for a simple menu, which was honestly a bit more expensive than I had anticipated. I also looked around for a quick haircut, but could not find anything cheaper than €32, so I decided to skip it and made my way to the lobby of the Hotel Viru for the KGB Museum tour.
During the Soviet era, Hotel Viru was the only hotel in the city fit for foreign tourists, making it the perfect surveillance trap. The tour lasted about an hour, taking us up to the hidden 23rd floor. The museum itself is not massive, just two rooms that used to be a secret radio center, but the guide was brilliant. He shared fascinating details about the intense espionage, the bugged rooms, and how the KGB monitored every single movement. The view of the city from the top of the building was spectacular.
Next up was the Seaplane Harbour Maritime Museum. I arrived around 5:30 PM, which was a bit late, but I went ahead and paid the €22 entry fee. The museum is housed in massive concrete seaplane hangars. If you do not stop to read every single plaque, an hour and a half is plenty of time. The absolute highlight was the EML Lembit, an authentic 1930s submarine suspended in the middle of the hall that you can actually go inside. They had a couple of historic ships docked outside in the harbor too, which were not quite as special to me, but overall it was a very cool experience.
Because everything in the city was fully booked this weekend, I had to change hostels. I ended up moving to the Zinc Hostel. The location was super central, but it was a complete disaster. Right as I walked into the building, there was literal human feces on the floor, and the smell was absolutely disgusting. The receptionist barely spoke any English and could not have cared less about the mess downstairs, which really annoyed me. I paid €33 for the night and just kept telling myself it was only for one night.
Around 9:00 PM, I headed back out into the bright evening and walked over to Telliskivi Creative City, an old industrial complex turned into a vibrant hipster hub. While looking for a restroom, I bumped into some locals, Christian, another Christian, and his wife. They were incredibly friendly, and we immediately hit it off. We ended up walking back toward the Old Town to grab some drinks. They had beers, I stuck to apple juice, and we talked for hours. It was fascinating to hear their perspective on local life. They told me about the mandatory eleven month military service, one of them was actually currently serving, and explained the complex social dynamics in the country. They mentioned the large Russian community here and admitted that there is a lot of tension and resentment, especially since a portion of that community remains pro Russian. At around 2:00 AM, we wrapped up the night by grabbing some food at a döner place right next to my hostel before finally saying our goodbyes.
Sunday May 31 2026 The Drowned Prison of Rummu
The following morning, I woke up around 9:00 AM and set off for Rummu, which is about an hour bus ride from Tallinn. The round trip bus ticket cost €8. Once there, I paid the €10 entrance fee to explore the quarry, the lake, and the Murru Prison museum.
The landscape was completely otherworldly. I started by exploring the massive ash hills. Interestingly, these hills are not made of real ash, but rather massive piles of limestone waste created by decades of mining operations. The Murru Prison opened in the late 1930s, and for over 70 years, it operated as a brutal labor camp where inmates were forced to mine Vasalemma marble, a type of local limestone.
I learned that originally, there was no lake here at all! It was a completely dry limestone quarry. To keep the inmates working, massive water pumps operated around the clock to pump the natural groundwater out of the massive pit. However, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Estonia regained independence in the early 1990s, the demand for the limestone plummeted and forced labor was abolished. Without the inmates to mine the stone, the operation shut down and they finally turned off the pumps. The groundwater rushed in so incredibly fast that they did not even have time to remove the heavy mining machinery. The water completely swallowed up the lower parts of the old prison buildings, the lighting masts, and the excavators, creating the crystal clear blue lake that exists today.
After climbing the waste hills for incredible views, I walked through the remaining abandoned prison camp on land. The complex was huge, and visitors are allowed to freely wander through the decaying buildings. It was incredibly eerie and a bit creepy to be completely alone in such a desolate place with such a dark history. It was like a maze, and at one point, I got so confused that I wandered around for 20 minutes just trying to find the exit! Right next to the prison is the famous quarry lake. I really regretted not bringing my swimwear, as I would have loved to swim around the submerged ruins.
After spending about three hours exploring, I caught the 2:00 PM bus back to Tallinn and checked into my third accommodation of the weekend, the 16eur Old Town Munkenhof hostel. It cost €19.80 for the night and was infinitely better and cleaner than the terrible hostel from the night before. I would highly recommend it! Later, I bought some postcards and stamps, though I was shocked to find out that a single stamp cost €3.90, even more expensive than in Switzerland! I grabbed some dinner, sat down to write my postcards, and then finally showered and got into bed around 9:00 PM. Knowing I had a brutally early morning ahead, I set my alarm for 2:40 AM and preordered a Bolt to the airport.
Monday June 1 2026 A Costly Deep Sleep
When I woke up and groggily reached for my phone, my heart instantly sank. The screen read 6:00 AM.
I had not heard my alarm at all, and my flight was already gone. It was an absolute disaster. I checked my smartwatch app, and it showed that I was in a completely deep sleep phase right at 2:40 AM. A quick internet search told me the alarm automatically shuts off after 10 minutes of ringing. I had to frantically scramble to rebook another flight, which cost me a painful 210 CHF. It was an incredibly expensive mistake, but trying to look on the bright side, at least there was another flight available that same morning.
I made my way to the airport, arriving around 7:00 AM. My new flight to Düsseldorf took off at 10:35 AM, and after a layover, I finally arrived back in Zürich at 3:00 PM. I returned home exhausted and a bit poorer, but filled with truly incredible memories from a very eventful and educational weekend.
