ESTONIA!

Moving out of Scandinavia and into the Baltic ex-Soviet region was something I had looked forward to when planning the trip. It certainly is the 'road less travelled' in terms of tourist trips. When we mentioned to people that we were heading to Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, we were met with quite a lot of blank stares and contemplative nods.

These Baltic countries still bear the impact of some very recent and significant history (on top of tonnes of more ancient stuff), having emerged from decades of communist repression and Nazi occupation before that. Knowing what to expect was like trying to find teeth on a chicken, which although could be considered not to be entirely impossible, certainly is not agreed to be a worthwhile pursuit.

Estonia is the Baltic area's northern-most country, with long stretches of coastline featuring beaches and national parks, and forests allowing you to rub shoulders with bears, reindeer, wolverines and lynx.

Our first port of call was to find our campsite for our stay in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. At this point we had only driven directly from the ferry to the campsite, and were met face to face with Tallinn's soviet past. The 'campsite' proudly featured no shade at all, was surrounded by barbed wire fences and 'compound' gates, and was essentially an asphalt car park surrounded by soviet-era buildings. Not exciting.

Through our panic, we made the decision to stay in a hotel, which turned out to be a blessing. From here we set out on foot to do some exploring of Tallinn itself.

The city has what is considered to be the best preserved examples of medieval architecture on earth, with its 12th century 'Old Town' surviving every invasion, skirmish and full on war from then to now. 90% of the original city still exists exactly as it was, with the remaining 10% only falling due to WW2 explosions from the Russians trying to get rid of the Nazis.

It was spectacular, the old cobble-stone streets, churches and offices all looked picture perfect, as if preserved in a museum. Antique stores sold Nazi and Soviet relics from a not distant enough past, and women dress up as though their lives depend on it.

We had planned to cook our dinner in the park, as the weather was so nice. Just as we had set ourselves down to begin cooking, I remembered that i had forgot the matches. In the time it took for me to go back to the car, and almost perfect maelstrom of weather gathered up above us and dumped enough rain for water to be running out of my pockets within 5 minutes. Upon return to Nicola, who I had left to fend off the lightening under a tree, armed with a chopping board and some vegetables, I found our situation to be untenable and we returned defeated to the hotel.

Aside from this, the weather remained fantastic, the beer cold and the prices unbelievable.

Key activities on the trip…

• Spending some time tripping along the cobble-stone streets and taking in the sights of medieval Tallinn
• Driving to the beach-side town of Vosu, camping within a stone's throw of the beach
• Heading to Parnu - known to be Estonia's big beach-side resort towns
• Paddling in tannin-soaked rivers, and swimming from floating jetties

The people…

Estonians are friendly and warm but have a strong resolve and sense of personal pride. Having come through the amazingly difficult and repressive times of Soviet rule, they are now firmly focused on the future. Estonia was where Skype was invented, and it has the highest rate of high-speed internet saturation of any market in the world.

The women dress up and are accompanied by men who look to be from Sunbury - mullets, slightly overweight and bloody dour.

Speaking to some locals in Parnu opened our eyes to what they had been through - not in ancient history but just 20 years ago. Not being able to buy meat at the supermarket, waiting lists for Soviet-produced cars (which were rubbish anyway) and a continual struggle for food let alone prosperity. The similar situation was found in many ex-USSR countries, however I would argue that Estonia has led the rest in terms of using pure will to force its way into changing the world's future, being a part of it rather than an oppressed onlooker.

Highlights...

• Paddling a canoe, followed by swimming and cold beers on a 32 degree day in Parnu.
• The scenery around Tallinn was sensational - picture perfect and cheap.
• We found a small restaurant in Tallinn which served the most sensational duck. I had it twice.
• Watching the Estonian women pose for photos being taken by their partners. Aside from 24-hour fashion catwalk TV station F-TV, I have never seen poses like this thrown. Pouting, showing some leg, pretending to be looking thoughtfully into the sunset - it was full on and very funny.

Lowlights…

• Having to endure one of the most unbelievable electrical storms I have personally ever witnessed in a tent, underneath a tree in the middle of the night in Parnu. One particularly intrusive bolt of lightening struck within an estimated 50 metres of our tent, explaining the smell of 'metal' in the air. We woke up tired and with a black cat huddled inside our tent vestibule. We nervously parted way with the cat early the next morning…

In summary…

Estonia (to this point) has been a real surprise packet of our trip. It had a wonderful mix of architecture, national parks and beaches, and the people are enjoyable to interact with. Food and alcohol is as cheap as chips, and is really high quality.

Although many still won't have heard of Estonia let alone plan to visit it, I would go back again in a heartbeat!

I would liken it to…

A rebellious teenager finally let out of the house to unleash its personality on the world. All about having fun and enjoying the good times...