Dear Friends,
Of the three Baltic States, Estonia is the smallest, with over 50% of its population being Russian. This is sharp contract to the other Baltic States, Latvia and the largest state, Lithuania, whose population is over 80% native Lithuanians. Tallinn is the flagship of Baltic reformation. During the Soviet era, Estonians spent their free time listening to either Finish radio or watching television, which was beamed over the Gulf of Finland. Consequently, when independence came, Estonians were very much aware of what a "Western" economy should look like. Since 1991 these hardy people have been putting together a prosperous economy as fast as possible. Estonians consider themselves a Nordic nation of solid, hard-working Protestants willing to go the extra mile in order to enjoy the comforts that many Scandinavian countries take for granted. One can trace these strong ties to Finland going back to when both Finland and Estonia gained independence from Russia after World War I. As late as 1938, Estonian living standards were equal to Finland's; Estonians would have liked to keep this up had it not been for a couple of hundred Russian tanks. The story of Tallinn is a saga of three cities: an ancient citadel, the old town and the new, modern city. Tallinn owes its existence to Toompea, the citadel, sitting on a hill where the city's Upper Town lies. Here you will find traces of history dating back to the 9th century when Talinn was ravaged by the Bikings, as well as he Great Northern War when Peter the Great gained conrol of Estonia, all mixed with a new modern era that is gaining a strong economic foothold on the city.
Estonian and Latvian history are intertwined, but there are also big differences between the neighbors - most notably among the people themselves. Estonians and Finns are both related to the Hungarian people. No other people in the region share this ancestry. Human relics date back 10,000 years, although little detail is known until the arrival of the Germanic Goths who ravaged Europe during the first century AD. By that time, Estonians had organized themselves into a clannish society, but they were no match for fierce warrior-neighbors, so they were forced to retreat northward. They settled in what is now Estonia. Some continued across the Gulf of Finland.
On October 21, 1976, Estonia's organized nationalists wrote a letter to US Congress formally protesting Soviet rule. A decade later, in the revolutionary atmosphere of Russian glasnost and the velvet revolution in the Czech Republic, Estonia declared independence (August 20, 1991). Estonian independence and strong ties to its Finnish sister aided stability across the Gulf and admission to the EU in 2004 was cause for celebration. Although many pacts were signed with the US and EU shortly after Estonia gained autonomy, one agreement overshadowed all others. On January 16, 1988 all three Baltic presidents signed the US-Baltic Charter, a military co-operation pact designed to bring NATO membership and Estonia joined the military league in 2004. Estonia's Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, leader of the Reform Party, has led his nation into prosperity.
We four had a wonderful day there. The weather was very pretty - sunny and warm. We took a taxi up to the top of the hill - the Toompea area. We walked around up there, found a beautiful little look out garden which gave us beautiful views over the city and harbor. Our sights were immediately drawn to the beautiful wind vanes on tops of many buildings and churches. Dick wanted me to take many pictures of them. So, I dubbed this the "wind vane tour" and that is why I am sending you pictures of them. Hope you enjoy. After walking around on the top of the hill, we walked down to the old town and found the Town Hall Square. There were many wonderful outdoor cafes all around the square. We walked thru many of the side streets and always ended back up at the main square. We did eat lunch at one of the outdoor cafes - had dumplings and soup which were typical Estonian food.
Around 2 pm or so we headed down to the lower town which is the modern part of the city, and followed the coast road back around to where the ship was docked. It was a really neat little city around which we thoroughly enjoyed walking!!!!
Enjoy.
Jan and Dick
Hi.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed your stay here. I just wanted to point out, that the actual Russian population in Estonia is roughly ~25%.
Good day!