 |
|
|||
|
Estonia Holiday Accommodation |
|||
 |
The Republic of Estonia, or Estonia is a country in Northern Europe and a member state of European Union since 2004. It is separated from Finland in the north by the narrow Gulf of Finland and from Sweden in the west by the middle part of the Baltic Sea. Estonia has land borders with its fellow Baltic country Latvia to the south and Russia to the east. |
|||
| . | ||||
| Estonia is a gem of a country offering visitors the chance to see a country that is both ex-Soviet Union and now proudly European Union. The traces of the Soviet era are still there to see — a deserted Soviet army base that was once off-limits to Estonians themselves can easily be visited. Tallinn's old town is in magnificent condition, with the medieval city walls and towers almost complete, and surely rates amongst Europe's best old towns. Glorious beaches are on offer, although the swimming season is short. After all, the Baltics are not reknown for warm weather. And therein lies something that any visitor to Estonia must be aware of — summer is short and winter is severe. |  |
|||
| Estonia is perhaps the only EU country outside Scandinavia where wildlife has preserved almost the same since prehistoric times. Thanks to the devastation brought by the Second World War on civil population and abundance of areas closed for USSR military purposes Estonia's forest coverage increased from about 25% before the war to more than 50% by 1991. Wolves, bears, elks, deers as well as some rare bird and plant species are abundant in Estonia. The wild animals from Estonia are exported to some EU countries for forest repopulation programmes. |  |
|||
| Estonian food draws heavily from German and Scandinavian cuisine. The closest thing to a national dish is verivorst, blood sausage, served with mulgikapsad, which is basically sauerkraut stew. Many types of food are close to Russian and have their equivalents almost exclusively in former USSR, such as hapukoor, smetana in Russian, a sour 20%-fat milk dressing for salads, especially "kartulisalat" or "potato salad". As Estonia used to be a food mass-production powerhouse in the times of USSR, some of its foods, unknown to Westerners, are still well-recognized in the lands of the CIS. Among other everyday food, some game products are offered in food stores in Estonia, mostly wild boar, elk sausages and deer grill. Some restaurants also offer bear meat. |  |
|||
