Nõmme – The village within the city

Nõmme, a quiet, forested, district filled with 1920s- and 30s-era houses, has the feel of a small country town. It boasts its own historic centre complete with a farmers' market, newly opened cafés and pubs, and it even has its own castle of sorts, not to mention a number of other attractions.

If Nõmme feels like a village that's completely detached from the rest of the city, there's good reason – before being absorbed into Tallinn in 1940, it was just that. The area owes its existence to the Baltic-German landowner, Nikolai von Glehn (1841 - 1923), who not only succeeded in turning his Tsarist-era estate into a real town, but also earned a reputation for being somewhat eccentric. He was, after all, practically giving away land and the castle-shaped manor house he had built flew in the face of convention.