[TRAVELS] The Rummu Quarry, Paldiski Area, Estonia

The last location where Hive account@greddyforce took us was about showing us the abandoned Rummu Quarry just outside of Tallinn, in the Padinski area. He was pretty siked about it, I only saw photographs of the drowned buildings on the internet and thought it would be impossible to get there, without a guide I think that we would get lost actually. It is one of the most interesting sights I have ever seen and visited in my life to date. And there is quite the story to tell about this place. While the Rummu Quarry used to be inhabited by prisoners that had to work here, it is now a hot spot for tourists, a swimming location for the locals during the summer and a home for countless poisonous snakes.

Oke, nothing unusual here, we just happen to have sneaked our way in a prison area, now almost entirely drowned by the groundwater that once was dried out with the help of water draining pumps. With the majestic looking mountain of limestone waiting in front of us, this must have been the best out of the three spots that we have visited during our trip. Saving the best for the last, are we Hive account@greddyforce? The waterfall itself was already impressing, the coastal cliffs were at the same time very calming but yet contained sad stories, while the quarry had both of them at once. The scenery just speaks for itself.

While we were walking towards the work-area for the prisoners, the sun started to slowly go down. We had about 20 minutes left until we could not see the sun anymore. At first sight, the limestone mountain looked like it was made of sand and that it could collapse any time you would set foot on it.

When we came closer, we noticed that the ground was made of the same limestone we saw in front of us. A gravel-type looking material. It was pretty hard, which made it interesting and quite appealing to the eye. The sharp intimidating edges of the limestone looked really nice, at first I thought these photographs would look amazing in black and white. But honestly, with some tone and color correction, these popped out a little bit better in my opinion. Obviously, the colors aren't that vibrant to the eye, but I like to push the colors to the limit and use as much from the color detail from my camera, the dynamic range is just insane on the Sony Alpha 7 Mark II.

The hike towards the top of the limestone mountain (why do I keep saying that this is a mountain?), yeah.. mountain. We don't have shit like this in Holland m'kay? Anyway, the hike towards the top of the limestone- hill then? C'mon.. someone please point out to me how I should call this. THE HIKE towards the top of the mountain was pretty exhausting. The rough terrain with steep heights and depths made sure we had to walk all the way around it. For a smoker like me, this was breathtaking, just like the view. Cheezy I know, but judge for yourself.

Usually, I always forget to take photographs of the people that I share a travel experience with. I catch myself often getting totally lost in the world of photography when I see sights like these. In the end this is always something that I regret when I get back home. "Shit, I forgot to take a snapshot of him or her". At the start of the meet-up, I promised myself to forget a little bit more about the 'shots' that would give me the satisfaction when I get back home. From now on, I wanted to take photographs of the people who I travel with so I could document them in my travel stories. Memories fade, photographs don't.

And of course, I had to get some proof that I actually was here.

When we walked to the other side of the inverted valley(?) we finally saw the drowned prison area, what now clearly looks like a lake, the perfect spot for skinny dipping. It looked impressive from this point of view. I just wanted to jump down and crawl my way to the water, and drink it, maybe they have food as well. I am so hungry at this point, but seriously, the water is so friggin' clear! it looked green, turquoise and blue at the same time. At this point, I have been awake for I can't even remember how long. I started brabling nonsense and was easily triggered by anything that came up in my mind.

If not, flip your phone and scroll back, or bend your neck 180 degrees clockwise

On our way to and from the quarry we have found several interesting everyday objects, I didn't bother to photograph them, which is a shame when I think of it now, but we found socks, shoes, umbrella's, a chair, trash and burned out camp-fires. If you're curious about what happened to this place and why it looks like this right now, check out Greddyforce's post about it.

The nice thing about being with several photograph enthusiasts, we all know that it can take some time to take a nice shot, so at every location, we waited for everyone to get their shots done. @Greddyforce, @Escapist and @Eveuncovered showed some really nice photographs during our trips and I honestly do not know why they would be 'intimidated' by me, yeah I am actually talking to you @Escapist, I saw what you wrote, you dipshit. They all have a great eye for detail and appealing compositions. I think we would be a good team if we would need to work together as storytellers or (travel)photographers in general.

It was great to have Hive account@greddyforce as a guide, I can't thank him enough for taking us, complete strangers to all the locations. I invited him over to get some drinks with us in back in Old Town, but at the time when we got back, the entire team was already too drunk to continue. We were very hungry and our mission to find food started once we arrived. After everyone went to their beds to get some rest, I ended up with @Greddyforce and we chatted for a little while after he went back home. Of course, there were some hamburgers involved. Thanks again, let me know whenever you visit Holland, so I can return the favor of the hospitality you showed the three of us.

Hope you enjoyed, to be continued
Ruben