A Baltic time warp-Muhu Island
Estonians like to brag that theirs is the most wired country in the world. They can pay for parking, taxis and many purchases in shops by dialing a number on their mobile phones. Trains and intercity buses are equipped with wireless Internet.
But here in Muhu Island, just two hours from the capital, Tallinn, you could easily think you were in another country. Many of the wood and stone houses, which date as far back as the 17 th century, have roofs made from wooden reeds harvested at the shoreline. Some elderly residents still have outhouses.
The juxtaposition between Tallinn and Muhu Island illustrates a great advantage of travelling in the Baltics. This trio of tiny countries- Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia-achieved independence from the Soviet Union 16 years ago and towns untouched by progress are only now starting to open up. In one day, you can go back centuries in time, from a capital city with international restaurants and the latest technology to villages that reflect another era.
These villages aren’t unchanged because they’ve been preserved as showpieces for tourists. They were left to stagnate for decades under Soviet occupation. The 2,000 inhabitants of Muhu Island, for instance, are mostly fishermen and farmers, just as they’ve always been.
The last Russian troops didn’t leave Estonia until 1994, and the animosity between Estonians and Russians still hasn’t faded. Only last month, when the democratic Estonian government relocated a Soviet war memorial from the centre of Tallinn to a cemetery, ethnic Russians rioted on the streets. In Russia, government officials called for a boycott of Estonian goods and some rail and road links to Estonia were briefly cut off.
Estonians still shudder at the memories of Soviet occupation. “I remember a time when people were fighting for washing powder in a store,” says Kristiina Ojamaa, destination marketing consultant for the Estonian Tourist Board. “There were lines for bread, lines for eggs, lines for everything. We couldn’t celebrate Christmas because KBG agents were standing outside the churches making note of who went in.”
When the Soviets left, the economies of the Baltic countries were in shambles. By the 1990s, with tourism around the world booming, governments decided that the wisest approach was to restore the old buildings and not to demolish them.
Figures speak dramatically of what happened to tourism: In the 50 years of Soviet occupation, Estonia drew two million tourists over that whole period. Now, more than two million come every year. Each summer, more than 300 cruise ships call at Tallinn alone.
Development capital has poured into Tallinn and high-tech companies such as Skype, which was founded in Estonia, have helped give the country the nickname ”e-Stonia.” Estonians attribute their country’s technology advances to a president who was an Internet fanatic, and to the fact that the economy was so destroyed during Soviet times that it had to be rebuilt from scratch, skipping decades to jump into the computer age.
Recent landmarks in Estonia include what could be the world’s first election, this March, allowing voting over the Internet, and a “virtual” government and parliament, where meetings and votes are conducted via the Internet.
There are still challenges, however. Thirty percent of Estonia’s 1.3 million people are ethnic Russians and, as the recent rioting over the removal of the Soviet-era statue showed, the loyalties of them still lie toward Moscow rather than Tallinn. Outside Tallinn, the government is still trying to rebuild the Country’s infrastructure from the days of Soviet occupation.
Muhu Island provides a prime example of the development lag in rural areas. In the Soviet era, tourists weren’t even allowed on the island unless they had gotten permission from Soviet authorities, since the island housed a military base. Today, although the buildings of a 19 th century manor have been converted into a lovely hotel called Pädaste Manor, it only has 12 rooms and can only be reached by driving three miles down a bumpy dirt road. On the rest of the island there are a few houses that have been turned into bed and breakfasts.
In short, Muhu Island is a tourist’s paradise - it’s particularly attractive because so few tourists get here. The 20,000 foreigners who come to Muhu each year are mostly from Finland, which lies just across the water from Estonia, and from the neighboring Baltic countries.
The island is flat, the traffic sparse, and the terrain a scenic mix of forests and old houses. The loudest noise I heard was the sound of birds chirping.
This is dramatic contrast to Tallinn, which has come a long way from Soviet times. The cobblestone streets of the Old Town, some of them forbidden to cars, are crowded with people, both locals and tourists, jammed into many restaurants, bars and boutique shops that have sprung up.
With Finland just across the Baltic Sea, the Estonians’ shared Nordic roots are reflected in their blond hair and tall stature. English is widely spoken and although Estonians are friendly enough when you start a conversation, they’re so reclusive otherwise that they make the Finnish, who have a reputation for reclusiveness, seem gregarious.
One night, at a restaurant with a largely Estonian menu, I found a perfect tom yum goong, the Thai spicy shrimp soup. When I asked the waiter how this came to be, he looked at me, startled. Rather than try to answer my question, he turned his eyes to the ground and shuffled away.
Stan Sessser
Hello Estonia blog
June 21, 2007
Tallinn, a vacation hotspot
According to an article in the 2007 issue, Number 34, of the popular German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, Tallinn is rated among the six most popular cities of Europe along with Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Kopenhagen and Hamburg. The author Erich Follath visited the city to see an artificial old-town but was pleasantly surprised by the boomtown atmosphere among the genuine medieval buildings. He was especially impressed by Estonia’s Internet- savvy populace and contemporary art.
