Estonia

Estonia is the northernmost of the three Baltic States. It borders on Latvia in the south, Russia in the east and the Baltic Sea in the north and in the west. The area is 45 227 sq km. Nearly 10% of the territory is accounted for by 1,520 islands and islets, the biggest of which are Saaremaa and Hiiumaa in the west. Estonia has the biggest lakes in the Baltic region – Lake Peipsi is the fourth biggest in Europe.The population of Estonia totals 1,4 million, of which 430,000 live in Tallinn. Estonians comprise 61%, Russian 30%, others 9%. Estonian´s official language is Estonian. It belongs to Finno-Ugric group of language and unrelated to the Slavic, Romanic or Germanic languages. But Russian, Finnish, English and German are understood and widely spoken in Estonia.

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is one of the best –retained medieval European towns. Even more than in extant individual buildings, the Old Town’s value lies in the integrity of its medieval structure. In 1997 the Old Town of Tallinn was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.