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Guide to Travel in the Baltics

Exploring Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania Post-USSR

Sep 11, 2006 Amanda Kendle

The three Baltic nations – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania –are just emerging from the shadow of their USSR past to become tourist destinations in their own right.

When I was a child, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were mysterious lands - the origins of some immigrants to many parts of the Western world, but otherwise locked away as members of the USSR. I never really believed I'd be able to collect passport stamps for the three Baltic states, but now traveling here is not only simple but also very worthwhile.

  • Starting in eastern Estonia on the border with Russia, the town of Narva gives you the experience of Russia meeting the Baltics.
  • Abruka Island, on the opposite corner of Estonia, is a little-known settlement near the popular summer destination of Saaremaa Island.
  • Latvia's capital, Riga, is home to the Museum of Occupation which details the life of Latvians during Soviet and German occupations from 1940 to 1991.
  • Ventspils, a port town on the Baltic Sea coast of Latvia, is the ideal place to enjoy small-town Latvia and smell that fresh sea air.
  • Baltic Sea beaches like those found on Lithuania's UNESCO Heritage Curonian Spit might not always be warm enough for bathing, but the landscape is always worth the trip.

    • The copyright of the article Guide to Travel in the Baltics in E Europe Travel is owned by Amanda Kendle. Permission to republish Guide to Travel in the Baltics in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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