Whenever anyone tells me they’re going on a big vacation, 9 times out of 10 they’re going to The UK, France, Greece, or some other ultra popular destination in Western Europe. Don’t get wrong, all of those very popular places are popular for a reason. They’re full of history, culture, and are just stunning. Not to mention, they’re English speaking and it’s easy to plan out a trip there on your own.
However, there are countless places in Eastern Europe that are much less crowded, less expensive, and are just as incredible, if not even more so i would argue. One of those regions is the Baltics. I was lucky enough to go on a tour of Estonia (Tallinn), Latvia (Riga), and Lithuania (Vilnius) along with Finland (Helsinki) and Poland (Warsaw, Krakow, and Wroclaw) this August. They’re now some of my favorite places i’ve visited and are incredibly worthwhile to consider visiting yourself!
Even during peak tourist season in mid August, Tallinn was not crowded at all and welcomed visitors with open arms. It reminded me of Prague, but much emptier. Interestingly enough, our guide mentioned that Estonians typically like to keep to themselves so we likely wouldn’t see the streets get crowded at any point and that definitely proved pretty accurate. We did walk into a concert one of the nights, though, which was a lot of fun and a great way to see how people spend their time, especially during the summer months when the weather is nice and there's daylight for more than a few hours.
Riga and Vilnius were pretty similar to Tallinn in terms of architecture, although there was just a special charm about Tallinn that made it my favorite city. The impacts of Soviet Occupation as well as The Holocaust were also blatantly obvious. We visited Auschwitz, which was as emotional and heartbreaking as I imagined it to be. Seeing the actual living quarters, which couldn’t even be considered living quarters, in addition to actually hearing the voices of the victims made the experience insanely real. The museum did an incredible job at commemorating the lives of all who perished, though, and I'm glad we were able to learn about the history of it all.
Simultaneously, The Soviet Union was starting to have a greater presence in The Baltics until they quickly took over in the 50s. Our guide told us stories of how she would would visit ration shops with her parents to purchase basic goods like milk, bread, and eggs. Her mom was a tour guide as well and even had her passport invalidated because she made a comment that wasn’t enthusiastically in support of the government. I was shocked to hear those stories, but I quickly found out that my dad wasn’t. I came to find out that he too stood in ration shop lines as a child, sometimes for over 2 hours. I didn’t expect that, since India was never a communist country but it did used to have a strong alliance and influence from The Soviet Union. I could definitely see how The Baltics are still recovering from both of these regimes’ control, but also, how much progress has been made in such a short period of time.
The Baltics are certainly beautiful countries, with kind, friendly people and a rich culture to explore. Definitely worth making a trip, you won’t be disappointed!
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