Estonia

This is the northernmost, smallest and most prosperous Republic, which has already adopted the euro this year. The beautiful capital TALLINN is located on the north coast, an hour and a half by catamaran from neighbouring HELSINKI, the capital of Finland. Tallinn is protected by UNESCO for its beautiful historic centre with houses and palaces in Gothic style, including the beautiful 15th-century Town Hall right in the middle of an enormous square, at the foot of the hill above that houses the Orthodox cathedral, the Parliament and the government palace as well as the cathedral. Tallinn is rich in parks, gardens, a nice marina and a recently renovated district, Rottermann, which has mixed the infrastructure of old factories with modern elements of excellent taste.

Further on is the modern city with futuristic skyscrapers and then the Kadriorg district with an enormous park, the classical palace of the same name that houses a museum and a very well-tended garden full of roses next to the presidential palace. You then come across the open-air green arena that hosts choirs of 30,000 singers and an audience of up to 300,000 people. At the eastern end is the beautiful sandy beach of PIRITA with an adjacent pine wood, while on the other side of the city is Rocca al Mare with an ethnographic museum on an area of 80 hectares with traditional houses from past centuries. I also visited PARNU, a beautiful seaside resort in the south with a lovely sandy beach and wooden buildings and old villas used as hotels and spas.

The centre is very pretty with parks and promenades, a couple of ancient churches, a Swedish gate, an old tower and a lively central pedestrian street, Ruutli, which has shops and bars where guests gather in the evening. Finally I visit TARTU, the cultural capital of the country, which hosts an ancient and prestigious university founded by the Swedes in 1634 and which owns part of the ancient buildings of the city, especially those in and around the park located on the hill behind the Town Hall. The latter is a beautiful pink palace that borders the rectangular square that reaches the nearby river, with fine classical buildings, restaurants and bars along its sides and an art museum... pending. Many beautiful modern buildings and parks complete the beauty of this student city.

Estonia has about 1,500 islands, two of them very large in the western part, and an enormous lake that it shares to the east with neighbouring Russia, as well as various parks in a very green but flat landscape.