Tallinn
Tallinn, the Capital of Estonia is located at the Baltic Sea and has 387.000 inhabitants. Almost 1/3 of all Estonians live here. The population of Estonia is 1,4 million people and ca. 28% of them are Russians. In the course of history Estonia was occupied by several European countries (Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Russia). That’s why Estonian culture has many different European influences. Since 1991 Estonia is independent after 50 years of soviet occupation and since 2004 it is member of the EU.
The old town of Tallinn is world famous and protected by the UNESCO since 1997. It is one of the best medieval old towns remained in good condition in northern Europe. Close to the old town is the modern centre of Tallinn with many modern buildings and shopping malls. In the north there is the harbour also with passenger traffic to many European destinations, for example to Helsinki which is only 80 km away or Rostock, St. Petersburg and Sweden.
An interesting district of Tallinn is located in the north-west, it is Kalamaja with colorfull wooden houses. It is one of the most popular and expensive districts of the city. Quite a contrast to Kalamaja is Lasnamäe in the eastern part of Tallinn. 100.000 people live there, 1/4 of Tallins population, almost all of them are Russians. The houses were built in the socialistic era, since the 1950’s. Lasnamäe is a ghettolike district with a high criminal rate. Lasnamäe is a proof for the fact that the Estonian society is still divided in two parts: the Estonian and the Russian society.
The development of the country is hardly forced by the Estonian government in all parts of the society to catch up with the countries of western Europe. The economical growth of Estonia is one of the highest in the EU. The new economy and information technologies have found their way into every day life. Also tourism has been growing in the last years not at least because of the public PR-campaign “Welcome to Estonia!”.