Suburban Slums of Tallinn

Please do yourself the favour of getting out of the Old Town! I recommend spending more time in the real Tallinn than the old world beauty. The funky bike tour leads you out into a bunch of Soviet influenced concrete apartments and run down timber houses. In reality this area is in transition, new Architecture is sprouting up everywhere & old houses are being converted. There is also a park located out there where beautiful trees cover the green grass beside a chapel. The unfortunate thing is no-one uses Kalamaja kalmistupark for anything! Probably because it used to be a cemetery until they removed all the tombstones and used them as wave breakers out off the port. What? Yes and it was not until a storm blew over a tree and a child was captured playing with human remains that the true reality set in of the decision. On a brighter note they plan to redo the park to make it more appealing…

The chapel in the park.Yes, there are countless amounts of bodies under the grassy areas, paths & trees.Stencil art is all over the suburbs...like everywhere these days.
On a brighter note the prison is located not too far from the site & its good to know it is now closed down. Patarei Prison was closed down due too bad health conditions of the prisoners only a few years ago. One look at the entry & road in and it looks like it has been empty for 20years, well at least it should have. This is one creepy place and it makes you wonder why it has a view to the sea, climbing the old watch tower is an experience. It was so creepy my camera packed it in after a few photos… Ironic that Patarei means battery in Estonian… Or stupid I forgot to pack my charger