World Estonia Tallinn

Where's Malcolm?

Tallinn, Estonia May 4, 2007

I've booked myself in Tallinn Backpackers, an apartment in Tallin which has been converted into a backpackers hostel. Tallinn is a compact city which unfortunately has seen some rioting in the days before my arrival, due to the Estonian government removing a statue placed during the Soviet occupation after WW II. As I understand it, to the majority Estonian-speaking population this statue represents a reminder of Soviet occupation and repression between the end of WW II and Estionia independence in the early 1990's, whilst the 30% minority Soviet speaking population see it as commemorating the Soviet lives lost during the the last war. Obviously moving this little statue is very contentious, so the some Soviet speaking locals decided to riot a week or so prior to my arrival, and these events even draw Russia's president Vladimir Putin and Angela Murkel on behalf of the EU to trade public exchanges over the issue. The larger than normal police presence underlines the current tension in the city at the moment. After a wander around the old town on my first day (certainly the best preserved old town of the Baltic capitals), I meet another English guy in the hostel who has been given a recomendation for an excellent small local restaurant in the old town, and thankfully this restaurant located at the rear of a small theatre certainly lives up to its hype, and we both have outstanding meals. There are a number of travellers coming and going at Tallinn backpackers, and its the nature of travelling that you can spend an entire evening talking to other travellers from the hostel without remembering their names. This certainly seems to be the case here, as the turnover of travellers seems to be high. Nevertheless the evenings are spent celibrating one thing or another, and the late nights continue.

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