It's a tribute to the resilience of
the
Estonians that during the
ten years since the Declaration of
Independence in August 1991 they've
transformed their country from a
dour outpost of the former Soviet
Union into a viable nation with the
most stable economy in the Baltic
region. This is even more impressive
in the light of the fact that
Estonians have ruled their own
country for barely thirty years out
of the past eight hundred. A
Finno-Ugric people related to the
Finns, the Estonians have had the
misfortune to be surrounded by
powerful, warlike neighbours. The
first to conquer Estonia were the
Danes, who arrived at the start of
the thirteenth century; they were
succeeded in turn by German
crusading knights, Swedes and then
Russians. Following a
mid-nineteenth-century cultural and
linguistic revival known as the
National Awakening, the collapse of
Germany and Tsarist Russia allowed
the Estonians to snatch their
independence in 1918. Their brief
freedom between the two world wars
was extinguished by the Soviets in
1940 and Estonia disappeared from
view again. When the country
re-emerged from the Soviet shadow in
1991, some forty percent of its
population were Russians who had
been encouraged to settle there
during the Soviet era.
The capital Tallinn is an
atmospheric city with a magnificent
medieval centre and lively
nightlife. Two other major cities, Tartu
, a historic university town, and Pärnu
, a major seaside resort, are worth
a day or so each. Estonia's low
population means that the
countryside - around forty percent
of which is covered by forest and
much of the rest by lakes - is
generally empty and unspoilt. To get
a feel for it at its best, head for
the Baltic islands of Saaremaa
and Hiiumaa . Kuressaare
, capital of the former, is home to
one of the finest castles in the
Baltics.
Spring and summer are the best
times to visit, with the warm
weather bringing colour to the
countryside and a rash of outdoor
pavement-cafe drinking to the
cities. In winter the temperature
can fall below zero for weeks at a
time, although it's worth bearing in
mind that public transport continues
to function normally, and the sight
of both countryside and townscapes
decked out in deep snow can be a
magical one.
