Tallinn - Harbour and around Travel Guides | Tallinn | Sub Regions | Tallinn - Harbour and around

The bustling harbour has a buzzing border feel. Like a Calais of the north, it is awash with supermarkets and tacky shops selling everything from fake-looking Soviet memorabilia to off-the-peg wedding dresses. The reason the Finns flock here, however, is that they can stock up on cheap alcohol. The Rotermann Quarter, located between the Old Town and the harbour, is an old industrial neighbourhood of limestone and brick buildings; in the 1980s, it was frequented by Finnish architecture students, thanks to its cult status as the setting of Tarkovsky’s film Stalker. In the 1990s, there was much debate about how to develop this area: in the absence of a clear plan, however, money talked, leading to the rapid erection of architectural eyesores. The demolition of the industrial ruins where Stalker was filmed made way for the Metropole Hotel. Fortunately, this trend was nipped in the bud and today the area is prime real estate, with fashionable restaurants and clubs appearing alongside the booze shops and casinos on Mere puiestee.

Sights

Eesti Arhitektuurimuuseum (Museum of Estonian Architecture)

Rotermann Salt Storage, Ahtri 2, T 625 7006/7000, http://www.arhitektuurimuuseum.ee. Wed-Fri 1200-2000, Sat and Sun 1100-1800. Closed Mon-Tue. 20 EEK, free with Tallinn Card.

Appropriately enough, the city’s most hotly contested architectural battleground is now home to the city’s Museum of Architecture. This handsome triangular-roofed limestone storage depot was built in 1908 for Christian Barthold Rotermann, an Estonian industrialist, who made a fortune out of a distillery, sugar mill and food production. Today, the building hosts intelligently presented art and architecture exhibitions and is also used for happening house parties and ambassadorial farewells.

Church of St Simeon and the Prophetess Hanna

Ahtri 5, T 644 5744/050 93607, http://www.eoc.ee. Services Sat 1700 and Sun 1000.

With a glistening copper onion dome and lace wood trimming, this beautiful little church seems entirely out of place in the blighted industrial wasteland that surrounds it. Built in the mid-18th century to serve Russian seamen, it was then so close to the sea that flotsam and jetsam from shipwrecks was reputedly used to reinforce the foundations.

Russian Cultural Centre

Mere puiestee 5.

Formerly the Grand Marina Cinema, built in 1912 to entertain the large community of Tsarist troops in Tallinn, this was the largest cinema in the Tsarist empire. Destroyed during the 2nd World War, it was rebuilt in self-important Stalinist style in the 1950s, when it acquired its cream-and-orange neoclassical façade, complete with hammer and sickle. A recreational club for Soviet naval officers, it was given to the Russian-speaking community after the restoration of independence. After a dodgy start – the administration had Russian mafia links and was the subject of scandal and disappearing funds (one of its directors resigned and was then shot, along with his son) – things have calmed down. The centre has a new director, who hopes to stage more intellectually stimulating cultural events than Slavic folk-dancing. In St Canute’s Garden, next to the northern wing of the centre, there is a bust of Dostoevsky, who visited Tallinn when his brother was serving in the Tsarist Army here.

Across the street stands Rotermann’s distillery building, now home to the Scotland Yard bar. At the end of the 19th century, this was the first factory building in Estonia to install electricity. Rotermann’s Market Centre, established by the tycoon’s father, now houses food and clothes shops, as well as 24-hour off-licences.

Viru väljak

Once the tallest building in the land, the Viru Hotel (1972) was built by Finns with Finnish materials, as an Intourist hotel. It is hard to imagine that this lumpy brown-and-white high-rise was once a symbol of luxury, that microphones were hidden in the rooms and that Tallinners were not allowed inside in case they mixed with the supposedly dangerous westerners. Now owned by a Finnish group, it’s a favourite stopover for the cousins from across the water.

Tammsaare Park

Between Pärnu maantee and Estonia puiestee.

West of Viru lies a park established in 1948 on a former bombsite, and used by many Tallinners to go in and out of the Old Town. It was originally called Stalin Square, then, after his death, 16th October Park, but after the monument to the novelist Anton Tammsaare was erected in 1978 (see Kadriorg, below), it unofficially acquired his name. Locals say Tammsaare’s expression, a combination of reflectiveness, scepticism and resignation, is deeply Estonian.

Travel Guides | Tallinn | Sub Regions | Tallinn - Harbour and around
		Flights Cheap flights to any destination worldwide click here		Car Rental Compare prices for worldwide car rental click here		Hotels Lowest prices on over 60,000 hotels worldwide click here		Travel Insurance Compare Travel Insurance prices click here