While on the topic of abandoned buildings, I thought I'd post some photos from our trip to Estonia at Easter this year. We were lucky enough to enjoy unseasonal weather for our trip. It snowed! It was very exciting to be exploring a new city in the snow. Everything is so beautiful when covered in a blanket of white.

Only half an hour's drive away from the capital Tallinn is Paldiski. It was once the largest submarine training centre in the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the base was decommissioned and abandoned. Now Paldiski is a small village and a network of crumbling buildings.

On the road out to the peninsula, you drive past rows and rows of deteriorating buildings. These were army barracks which once housed soviet soldiers. Out on the peninsula there is a wrecked bunker of stone and twisted metal. There also used to be nuclear reactors but they were removed in 1995. Apparently, a civilian died in 1994 after being exposed to radioactive material from the disused base (allegedly stolen.)

We drove down a side road and stopped off at one of the old army barracks for a closer view. The buildings are in a complete state of disrepair and are slowly being reclaimed by nature. Roofs have caved in, trees are growing inside rooms and paint is peeling off the walls. In one building, the lino floor had come away, leaving a sea of curling lino tiles.

It was a lonely place to visit and the snow just emphasised the feeling of isolation. It's worth a visit before there is nothing left to see.



More photos on Flickr...