I spent a long day touring the Estonian countryside with my guide, Mati. It seems that the life and money are being sucked into the big city, Tallinn. Country people are moving there for work. The Estonian countryside seemed pretty dead — enjoyed by holiday-makers and offering work to those who can telecommute.
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| Estonia’s Baltic coast was once the wall of its Soviet-maintained prison. Now the ruins of that cage are a place that free Estonians come for peace, rest, and to celebrate their nature. Enlarge photo |
The forests are thick, but the country is flat. Its highest “mountain” is under 1,000 feet, nicknamed “Big Egg Hill.” The endless pine forests are carpeted by wild berries and mushrooms. It is a part of the lifestyle to pick the berries. Mati said, “We have many berries. If you are very sick, some can make you well. Others can kill you. We pick them now for the joy, but during communist times, we picked them because we needed the food.”
The coastline is littered with souvenirs of Soviet occupation. Each little lip of land had a track for a gun and a searchlight. The metal used to keep the Estonians down is everywhere. Estonia’s first post-independence millionaires made their fortune selling scrap metal to the West. Today, Estonians enjoy their mellow, peaceful Baltic coastline, playing amid the ruins of their former prison.
History was tough even before the Soviet Union. If it wasn’t Russians, it was Germans…making life miserable around here. Until the mid-19th century, a good hunting dog was worth more than an Estonian peasant worker. And it was even tougher east of Estonia. In fact, Mati said that the vast majority of Soviet movies set in past centuries were shot in Tallinn, Odessa, or Riga. He said that was because these three towns were among the few from the former Soviet Union with an old quarter that survived the tumult of the 20th century.
And there was nothing charming about the architectural heritage of the Soviet Union. Ugly buildings, which dominate most cityscapes, are just assumed to be “from communist times.” Hotel Viru, long the only skyscraper in Tallinn, was an infamous Soviet hotel. Mati said it was built of a new Soviet material: “mico-concrete” (60% concrete, 40% microphones).
Doing my research, I asked Mati about a good Italian restaurant. He said these days, Italian restaurants are common in Estonia…but no good. They’re generally based on couples: Italian guy marries Estonian girl. His mom was a good cook, so they think, “Easy. Let’s open an Italian restaurant.” Mati said, “It’s always Italian boys and Estonian girls — not the other way. Italian boys think Mediterranean women (Portuguese, Spanish, Italian) don’t age well. Let’s face it: For this, God created the Catholic religion…so they can’t divorce.”
Mati explained his theory that Italian boys see Estonian women as the best bride material: They are the ideal Russian/Scandinavia/Estonian mix: deep, poetic, and romantic like Russians; free-spirited like Scandinavians, but without the problematic feminism of a Scandinavian; and the hands-on, can-do practicality of Estonians…the perfect woman.
This RS blog was interesting although it makes the Estonian countryside sound like East Germany before the wall came down. The most entertaining part for me was the guide’s story about Estonian women and how attractive they are to Italian men. A book about “women to emigrate for” could be a best seller.
Tallinn, Odessa, or Riga. These three towns were about the only ones from the former Soviet Union with an old quarter that survived the tumult of the 20th century. – errr, you might need to add Vilnius, next door in Lithuania, to that list. I remembered it as having a very nice old section, and a little checking online confirms that. It even has UNESCO World Heritage status.
Thanks for a look at Estonia from outside of Tallinn. From my experience, Estonian women were some of the most beautiful I have seen. Maybe my memory of them is being skewed by my experiences as a 20 year old college student. :) Nonetheless, they were very tall and very beautiful!
This is maybe true: “In fact, the vast majority of Soviet movies set in past centuries were shot in Tallinn, Odessa, or Riga”, but this seems like an over generalization, to say the least: “These three towns were about the only ones from the former Soviet Union with an old quarter that survived the tumult of the 20th century.”. What about Kiev, Lviv, Vilnius, Moscow, etc.?
Thanks for sharing this experience, too. Perhaps you could start posting some pictures again of your trek through Europe.
I notice an uncanny correlation between RS’s blogs and the anti-spam guard word requested when one posts a reply. Am I wrong or does RS carry a dictionary as a form of hands-on mgt? Or is there a service that suggests these words as sentinels?
i went to estonia in 2006. at the time, tallinn had just begun offering walking & biking tours run by students who are very passionate and knowledgeable about their country. i took the bike tour which covered some of the (i imagine) lesser toured sights of the walled city (including a nondescript door & barred window in a small part of the old wall which was a former KGB “detention” cell), but i thought the more interesting sights were outside of the medieval city. we wound our way through some of the poorer areas to an art gallery in a former jail; past a park which had at one time been a graveyard but the soviets bulldozed it as they did not want people to remember the dead; onto the only estonian submarine ‘lembit’; and ended at an amazing flea market near the train station where our guide tasked us with finding the most interesting item we could for 5eek (virtually nothing). i got a very cool enamel babushka pin which i prize highly.
We are arriving in Talinn via a huge cruise ship in 3 weeks. Will we be able to walk into the old town from where the ship docks if we are average walkers?
Gale, Yes, you will be able to get to the old town if you walk a straight line from the boat termional to the first major intersection…from there cross the street and you will see the walls of the old town. I entered the old town from walking to the right at that intersection and then there is an enteence there…beautiful cobblestone walls, old, old architecture. You will love it! Should only take 10- 15 minutes from the terminal. Have a good time!
In 2005 a friend and I took a bus from Tallinn to Kaunas, Lithuania and back again via Riga, Latvia and thoroughly enjoyed it. Hired a college professor in Kaunas who gave us an insightful 2 hr. walking tour. She commented that some of the population is still learning to be free — to take initiative and think for themselves after years of communist rule. Marveled at the beautiful architecture of buildings in Riga that were right next to those that were falling down — depended on politics and available funding I’m sure. In Tallinn we stayed in the homes of a young man and his neighbor that we found on the internet. He was friendly and a great help as we toured the city. Wished we’d been there for a concert in the park pavilion.
Karle, Thank you! Sincerely, Gale
Rick, you forgot to mention one more very important feature that the Estonian women usually have – most of them are natural blonds..8)
Before going to Finland and Estonia, I did not realize how completely the Russians dominated the Baltic countries and for how long. The best story that I heard was of the singing revolution in Estonia–they drove the Russians out by singing for 3 days around the parliament building–sounds too good to be true, but it is. The Russians peacefully agreed to vacate the parliament, altho according to our guide, many are still living in Estonia rather than returning to Russia. In Finland, our guide was quite frank about the feelings of Finns towards the Russians–the only one that they ever liked was Alexander, who was assassinated, according to her. These are beautiful countries that are trying very hard to join the 21st century and the digital revolution while preserving their heritage. Hope they make it.