Talinn, Estonia

Yesterday we arrived in Tallinn, Estonia! It definitely had a different vibe than all the other eastern European counties. It was more modern, civilized, and seemed better off, both economically and socially. While in the car to the beautiful old town, we learned about some of Estonia’s history. Estonia has a long history of occupation by multiple European countries, though the German and Russian influence seemed to be most stark. In the 13th century, the Pope organized a special crusade where Germans came and converted the Estonians to Christianity. The Germans transformed the county into a feudal system where there were landlords, the rich German families, and serfs, the locals who were forced to work for them. Through many wars the high power might have changed but the local power always stayed with the German landlords, this resulted in a two-tiered system. The Germans and Russians wielded a lot of influence on the Estonian nation for years, but in 1918 they created a new republic and became independent. Although this nation only lasted 22 years, it had a flourishing economy. In 1940 the Soviets came followed by the Nazis in 1941-44 and then again by the soviets until 1991. The Estonian people didn’t believe in communism but they knew they had to behave. The Estonians had a little window to the world through the Finland TV tower that was in the south so it could reach the northern Estonian homes. The Baltic States were also shown off to the other communist countries as an example of successful people under their regime. Although they did not have it as bad as some other countries, their flag was banned and even the three colors it displayed, blue, white, and black used in unison (whether on clothing, paintings, etc.) was outlawed. As Nordic people, they claim when working towards their independence, they did a lot of calculating and did not take big risks. Although it took longer to gain independence, they took one idea at a time and eventually ended up where they are today.  The Lithuanians on the other hand, who were emotional, took their ideas and implemented them way too fast. That’s why nowadays you can see the harsh difference of success between the two counties. Estonia, taking the more cautious route by taking the process slow and evaluation each step of the way, eventually they got their independence in 1991 though their “Singing Revolution”. This is where they had a huge choir festival and approached independence in a peaceful way and in the end nobody died. Nowadays, Estonia has a Center-right Coalition government but the political structure itself is composed of 10 political parties with the four major ones in the parliament. The country has a population of 1.3 million people with a negative population growth, and the government supports those families who have children and even let the mother leave work for a year and a half, still being paid her old salary. The country has one of the top educational systems in the world with 33 establishments for higher education. Estonia definitely had a buzz to it that I did not since in any of the other places. I think it is because of their attitude on going about things but also not to mention they were never taken over by the Romans, Mongols, Turks, or Hapsburgs! I wish we could have stayed there longer!  P.S. Our food, hotel, driver, and guide were AMAZING!!