Over the summer, in Estonia, I met up with a friend and some couchsurfers for a bit of adventuring.  We decided to go to a place called Rummu, just outside of Tallinn.  Luckily, my friend has an offroad capable car, so this journey was no problem for us.

I had heard of the place several times.   The hostel I was at had a day trip there, and it was really reasonably priced.  But I hadn’t tried actually going there yet, because I was a bit confused as to what it actually was.  Terms like, abandoned prison, moon-like, swimming, and communist were thrown around, but none of these things actually seemed to go together in a description. My confusion was quickly changed to understanding when we got there.

First, we piled into the car- and headed out to the lake.  When we got there it was gorgeous.

Like, really pretty and really peaceful.

But not “moon-like” or “communist” and definitely not an abandoned prison.  So we got back in and began driving around the lake.

And soon, we came to some abandoned buildings.  Much more what we were expecting, but still not “moon-like” or “swimming,” so we continued.

And then we finally came to the abandoned prison!

Because the prison is currently being used as by the Estonian military, we could not break in and do any urban exploring.  But it was definitely intense to look at.  Lotsssss of razorwire. 

We walked around the prison for a bit, and then realized we would need to get back in the car and drive further to get to the swimming.  At least we hoped.  Though, at this point, I think I would have considered the trip a success even if we hadn’t found what we were looking for.

And then all of a sudden it started to look a lot more moon-like! This huge other worldly hill (which is actually a water eroded limestone spoil tip) shoots up almost directly from the water. Now, to get to this point you have to be a little creative.  Because Rummu is technically private property, and they want to discourage people from jumping and diving there, you can’t just drive right up.  But we parked in an area with so many cars it looked like a parking lot, and found a spot where the rock wall had been knocked down. And we were able to walk right up to the water.

The area used to be a limestone quarry, but was abandoned and subsequently flooded with ground water in the 1990s. The water submerged several buildings, lots of machinery, and various other articles of construction.

We walked around the water to the beach area.  It was such a wonderful day.  Not too hot, but comfortable for swimming.  Sunny, but lots of pretty clouds.  A lot of people were swimming.  Some of them were jumping off the highest point of the building. Which is very dangerous.

The more reasonable people were jumping from the front area- which seemed like a much better option to me. But probably still dangerous- considering all the quarry like things that could be lurking under the water.  It was very deep though.  You could only walk in a few feet before it dropped off and became so deep.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing at Rummu and then hopped back in the car and headed back into the city.  Definitely a worth it day trip from Tallinn.  Not sure if you would be able to get out there with public transport/by yourself.  Probably better to go with a trip- or at least, hire a car.

Also.  Here is a video that I found on youtube.  I am in no way affiliated with the video, or the people that made it, or picked that music… But I think it’s awesome, and gives you a feel for what it looks like under the water.