Tallinn - Estonia
Last week I was in Estonia and I would like to share my impressions with you.
Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and one of the most beautiful towns I ever visited.
On this picture you see the skyline of Tallinn. You may notice all the old red-roofed houses in the front of this picture, a view that one usually does not see in former countries of the soviet union. Like in other cities in the former soviet union, one also planned to demolish these houses and replace them with apartment blocks, but one was unable because of a lack of money. Thanks to that lack of money one can still enjoy this fantastic view :).
You may also notice the several steeples, which seem a little confusing due to the fact that Estonia is one of the most atheist countries in the world. They were build when Estonia was not dependent, but under foreign control, which was mostly the case in the last thousand years. Because of the fact that Estonia was under control by countries from the west, from the north and from the east these churches belong to different confessions.
Another thing one has to mention concerning Estonia is their phenomenal mobile internet connection. In 99% of Estonia you have LTE connection. I drove by bus from Tallinn to Tartu and got stable internet connection the entire ride, back in Germany, when I drove by train back home I got connection losses over and over again which was very annoying. Please Germany, take Estonia as an example in terms of mobile internet connection.
Lastly, one negative thing I have to mention and also the reason why I think I would never move to Estonia, even if it is a wonderful country with very pleasant people, is Estonian. Estonian is a Finno-Ugrian language. Therefore it has up to no similarities with Indo-European languages like German. Usually if you are in a foreign country in Europe you may not understand the language, but you can derive some words. In Estonia this is not possible. Thus I think learning to speak Estonian is very difficult. Fortunately, as far as I noticed most Estonians are very good in talking English, so if you visit Estonia, the language should not be a problem.
If you like travelling I suggest you to visit Tallinn too. There were much more fantastic panoramic views I just forgot to take a picture of and much more interesting facts concerning Estonia and Tallinn.
Nino