It is not a secret that the capital of Estonia is located on the winding shore of the Gulf of Finland. There are many islands and peninsulas nearby. Once there were many fishing villages. More recently, during the Soviet era, most of these territories served as a closed border zone. Now things have changed and many of these places have become areas with super expensive real estate.

Viimsi Peninsula is now built up with expensive houses, prestigious villas and respectable spa hotels. Although geographically it is not Tallinn, it's within a stone's throw of this place. You can still find here one old fishing village, or rather a farm, entirely transformed into an open air museum.

This place looks now defiantly being surrounded by modern private houses. Nevertheless, it's worth a visit - to see alternative Tallinn and to travel back a couple of centuries ago. 

It is amazing that our acquaintance with the Estonian capital began from here. Calm Viimsi became a mild curtain-raiser to the eventful tour of Tallinn.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of ethnographic open air museums, which are also called Skansen and which are very popular nowadays. It seems to me that there is nothing more boring than walking around a place like this and looking at houses and details of everyday life of distant years. Nevertheless, I liked this farm.

Because of two reasons. Firstly, this farm is located near the sea and the presence of high water together with views of the Tallinn's Old Town roofs is very calming. Secondly, this museum is very tiny and you don't have time to get tired of it. Well, of course, the company is also important. 

In fact, this museum is a branch of the large Estonian Skansen located in the district with an unexpected Italian name - Rocca al Mare. Entrance to the large museum is 8 Euro, and to its branch in Viimsi - only 3 Euro. You can visit both of them for free with the TalllinnVisa card.

Here's a little lifehack - you can get in the museum for free even without this card. To do this, you just have to go to a nearby restaurant called "Raat" and get to the museum along the rocky shore from there.

By the way, this restaurant is special. It is built in the form of a large boat turned upside-down. This is how the local fishermen used to keep their boats on the shore.

In this museum you can see in detail a simple fisherman's life.

There are several traditional houses of the last century, a large barn, sheds, a lot of winches and anchors, as well as lots of fishing nets.

Only perfectly trimmed grass absolutely didn't fit with the entourage of the past. You can treat me like a perfectionist for this.

In general, this place is unforgettable thanks to its coast and views of Tallinn in the distance, as well as to the atmosphere of absolute relaxation.

In order to relieve this pretty boring exposition of the museum, the Estonians put on its territory wooden copies of the most famous local lighthouses.

And made circles of stones trying to add the mystery to the life in the past.

However, we were much more interested in the prices of a local cafe.

By the way, it's very cozy.

Probably, this place comes alive when local craftsmen and sellers of traditional souvenirs gather on the small market. They even arrange ethnographic holidays here. There's enough space for that.

Even if you don't like all of it, this place is still great. Especially when the sun is shining and all the concerns with anxieties are left somewhere else. That is how we started our journey in Tallinn - in the city being carefree between its rich past and Scandinavian future...