Estonian Manor Houses

Recently I went on a small trip out of Tallinn and visited two Manor Houses. Before the first world war Estonia was part of Tsarist Russia, though most of the landlords were actually of German origin. Though they pretty much all left in after the war and Estonian Independence.


Palmse Manor (left) is about 30 minutes east of Tallinn. It's a Baroque mansion built in the 18th century. The von der Pahlen family lived there from 1676 to 1919, though it's first mentioned in the history books in 1287, so I'm sure there has been plenty of interesting stuff happen here. Palmse was the first Estonian mansion to be renovated.



Sagadi Manor (left) was built in 1795 by the von Focks. It's also been restored, and has a few interesting displays inside. They had an old gun display with some great old shotguns and rifles. They also had a stack of old furniture waiting to be restored on the top floor. I'm sure that when restored, or perhaps even as they are, they would fetch a decent price in an antique store.




I've got a few more pictures up of both houses on my flickr page if you'd like to see more.

Re-Independence Day

Today is Re-Independence Day here is Estonia. It may seem like a funny name, but it commemorates the day Estonia announced independence form the Soviet Union. To Estonians they had been occupied since they first declared independence after beating the Russians in 1918.

It was interesting to see that every house or apartment building had the Estonian flag hanging out front today. In Australia we seem to have no pride at all in our flag. Whether that’s because we have a dirty great Union jack on our flag or because were just not patriotic is an interesting question!!

Paldiski

Yesterday I ventured to Paldiski, about 40 km west of Tallinn. During the Soviet Occupation of Estonia, Paldiski was a major military centre. In particular it was a nuclear submarine base, with its very own nuclear reactor. Once the were around 1600 people living in Paldiski. Now there are just over 4000. Since the Soviet military left in 1994 the town has been slowly falling apart.

Once upon a time the whole area was strictly off limits to foreigners, as well as most Estonians. The super secretive soviets left it out on maps. Thankfully it is now back on the maps, and is even something of a tourist attraction. For a "westerner" there is something oddly thrilling about being able to freely walk around the "Pentagon" (pictured), a former training centre for the nuclear sub-submariners.

For more pictures, go to my Flickr photo page.

Working Holiday Maker Visa

I have finally got my visa to Estonia, which will enable me to live and work here for the next 12 months. It took about two months, mainly because no one in Estonia, or any consulate or embassy had ever heard of the working holiday maker visa, despite the fact that the agreement was on the Foreign Ministries website. Eventually I was able to make contact with someone form the Helsinki Embassy, and after some research they agreed to give me the visa. Sirli and I traveled to Helsinki on the ferry. It took about five hours, but we were able to wander around Helsinki, which is a beautiful city. As far as I am aware, I am the first ever person the have a working holiday maker visa to Estonia!!