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Estonia Travel Blogs

The most northerly of the chilly Baltics, member of Nato since April 2004 and the European Union since May 2004 Estonia is making great strides with rediscovering their culture and revelling in their newly acquired relative wealth.

Estonian society is however tainted with the aftermath of Soviet occupation with ethnic tension and the ex Soviet style womens liberation making Estonias women reluctant to pursue more rights.

Being sparsly populated, Estonia has wide expanses of forest and lakes.

Visit Estonia and stay warm in one of medieval Tallinns candlelit cellars with the delicious Estonian speciality hot chocolate and truffles or take an Estonian style weekend get away to the Islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa on any day of the week.

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Estonia

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By GMulvey
May 29th 2008

Last working day Europe » Estonia » Tallinn

At the kindergarten
Gary and Sarah on a visit.

Oh its sooo hard....yet another day of sunshine and blue skies. Luxury of not having to be on duty as it were until 9.30am. Myself Sarah and Carol were collected by our host Sylvi and strode out on a 20min walk to see a local Kindergarten. Spent some time looking at the classrooms and talking to the teachers. Found many similarities with our own system. Although children don't start a formal education until 7 the state actually heavily supports childcare in these kindergartens at a cost of 25 of your British pounds a month. No wonder parents are falling over themselves [View Full Entry]

By EmilyZ
May 28th 2008

Viska Viis! Europe » Estonia » Tallinn

Tallinn
View from atop St. Olaf's Church

We arrived to sun. After the weather we had in London we were slightly relieved. Since we needed to take the bus into town from the airport, the first thing we did was stop at an ATM. The first one we tried wouldn’t give us any money. Luckily, I spotted another one which bestowed our money upon us without hesitation (thank you Hansapank!). Then, after breaking our large bills (I bought some postcards, and Alex accidentally bought a $2 pack of gum—she was a little confused on the exchange rate), we caught the #2 bus to the city center, and eventually [View Full Entry]

By GMulvey
May 28th 2008

Another day another dollar Europe » Estonia » Tallinn

Group talk
Tony wondering what the hell is going on .....again. Always one step behind that bloke.

Today centred around a field trip organised for those children from a local school who had performed well in lessons, exams and in behaviour across the year. So luckily we were met once again by a bright blue clear sky. On the minibus and drove travelled for half an hour to meet the coach with the pupils. These pupils were aged from 11 to 17. Keping it brief - we went to a forest area to show us the damage done by recent forest fires. We then went on to a very interesting visit of a small vilage school. We all [View Full Entry]

By GMulvey
May 27th 2008

Visit to an Estonian school Europe » Estonia » Tallinn

School visit

Today we visited Tabasalu school. This is a typical school. It has 716 on role aged from 7 to 19. Staff were split up into the age ranges they taught and went off to see what happens in those lessons. We all saw three lessons and then went for lunch and had a tour of the school. Came back to the hotel and had an 2 hour! meeting about what we had seen, what had been learnt and could be cascaded to our schools at home. Teachers were impressed with the set up and teaching in the kindergarten. We were all [View Full Entry]

By GMulvey
May 27th 2008

Some more pictures. Europe » Estonia » Tallinn

Full class
10 and 11 year olds, grade 4 pupils in a maths lesson.

Some more pics. [View Full Entry]

By GMulvey
May 26th 2008

An introduction to Estonia. Europe » Estonia » Tallinn

The castle walls
A castle for a princess.

Carol says - A lovely late start this morning saw us traipsing round the cobbled streets of Tallinn in our sensible flat shoes looking at the very many and wonderful sights in the company of a history undergraduate from Denmark. City walls are amazing as the pictures show. Tallinn was bathed in sunlight and overrun with Americans from the cruise ships in the harbour. We errm were guests of the local education authority for an informative session on the education system. Like all countries Estonia has its problems as far as its education is concerned: 25% of the schools are Russian [View Full Entry]

By GMulvey
May 25th 2008

A day to travel Europe » Estonia » Tallinn

Our hotel
Reece strikes a pose outside the hotel.

So the nine of us arrived safely and got to know each other a little better in the process. The journey by taxi from the airport to the hotel turned in to something of a competition. We separated into teams of three and had to get the cheapest fare we could. I'm ashamed to admit that I lost paying 175 Kroon while Carol (our leader) managed to pay just 109 Kroon. Still our taxi driver was good conversation and we did have the largest car! Having arrived late in the afternoon we set about attempting to find dinner. Walked about for [View Full Entry]

By mcooper
May 19th 2008

pauls turn Europe » Estonia » Tallinn

Well. here goes. We arrived in Estonia today, with my incredible driving keeping us safe. The Lativans seem to think that a 2 lane road can be straddled by 4 cars with 2 overtaking at once no problems. I am super car nervous after our car greif in Germany. Who has bollards that come up from the ground under your car to stop you continueing into a restricted zone??? Why not just have a good sign and a lowering barrier, why something that will destroy your radiator?? anyhow we got lucky, a new one(2nd hand) was fitted that night and we [View Full Entry]

By Macit matkustaa
May 1st 2008

Budapestiin... Europe » Estonia » Tallinn

Matkamme alkoi aikaisin Wappuaamuna... siis, kun muut kokosivat voimiaan mennäkseen Ullanlinnalle tai Wappusillikselle tms. Me siis suuntasimme Polomme (JEU-329) kohti Länsisatamaa ja Tallink Starille. Koti oli vuokrattu Dimitrille ja Olgalle... Hannin tarkastama juttu, että ovat ihan OK!!! ... siis toivotaan, että KOTI on kunnossa, kun palailemme. Niin... emme muuten pääse kotiin ennen syyskuun ekaa, sillä Dimitri ja Olga aikovat asua siellä vielä koko elokuun. Me hyyryilemme Dobu-paralla... Niin, lauttamatka sujui ihan loistavasti. Aloitimme muuten jokin aika sitten Anttiheikkilän mukaise [View Full Entry]

By LivingTheDream
April 30th 2008

Unesco everywhere (Tallinn, Estonia) Europe » Estonia » Tallinn

Tallinn Old City

(Day 26 on the road) Three Baltic capitals, three UNESCO-protected Old Towns. So what does this actually mean, acquiring UNESCO-recognition? In short, any country can suggest a place it wants to have included in UNESCO's list of word heritage sites, and if accepted, the place is recognized as being of outstanding natural or cultural importance, being seen as "our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations" (UNESCO website). In other words, each site is thus seen as being in the interest of the international community to preserve for future g [View Full Entry]

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