Estonia

Our summer holiday started a little bit earlier this year because I had the opportunity to combine it with a work trip. We started off in Estonia, where we spent a week, and then we continued to Finland for another week. Since I took soooo many pictures and both countries are quite different I decided to split the trip into two blog posts though. So, today Part I: Estonia!

My, that country has changed A LOT over the last 10 years. The last time I visited was in 2008 and Estonia had recently joined the EU - you could clearly see that Tallinn was a city under development. Back then, there was not really much outside the old town worth visiting except of course Pirita, Kadriorg, etc. but I mean more the outskirts of the city. I remember mainly grey suburbs with Soviet-style tower blocks but actually not much worth visiting as a tourist.

Fast forward 10 years and Tallinn has one of the highest concentration of hipsters and young creatives that I've seen in any European city, including a completely new and uber cool area of town behind the Balti Jaam called "Tellesikiv Loomelinnak" (Telleskivi Creative City) and a brand new market hall with gourment bistros and delicatessen shops. Last time I was at Balti Jaam it was famous for its "Russian Market" which was everything but new or hip and there was basically nothing behind the station.

In contrast, the Old Town now almost feels overrun with tourists. I remember really liking it on my first visit and it was also much quieter but now I found it actually quite annoying to walk around with tour groups blocking your way all the time and literally every single shop selling souvenirs. I still liked it but it was a bit too much for my taste.

To escape the hustle and bustle of the "big city" (really an exaggeration in the context of Tallinn which is still very small in comparison to most capitals), we had rented a cabin next to the sea on the Estonian West coast, near the town of Haapsalu. Both the region as well as the town itself were really beautiful and we were extremely luck with the weather. We spent most of the time outside, hiking in the Matsalu National Park and touring the two islands of Muhu and Saremaa.

Of course I also did some yarn shopping and admired the beautiful handicraft, especially on the island of Muhu. But I think I'll make this a separate blogpost to go more into details. All in all Estonia was a great place to explore nature and catch our breath after a very hectic spring and early summer in Brussels.