If you’re pondering which of the three main Baltic states to visit on your next holiday to the region, why not do away with the need to make such a decision and visit all of them instead?

Taking a tour of the Baltic could be the perfect way of seeing the main attractions in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in a single holiday – and with each of these countries offering a vast array of cultural and historical sights, such a break is likely to be a particularly memorable one.

Read the rest of this entry »

One Lucky Stag Has a Taste of Heaven in Estonia’s Thumping Capital

There’s a lot to love about a stag weekend in Tallinn. Right now all I could hear was ‘Void you like another beer?’, and all I could see was row upon row of straight, white, perfect Estonian teeth and long, shiny, blonde Estonian hair. The waitress, and owner of said teeth and hair, was asking for the trillionth time: ‘Beer. Do-you-want-another-one?’ Even though it was my stag night which made me emperor and overlord of all I surveyed, I couldn’t even muster eye contact and so just nervously spluttered out a well rehearsed ‘Jah!’ Sweet. Beer in the form of the fine ‘Le Coq Premium’ would be soon on its way and, well, I had to admit that my Estonian was coming along beautifully.

But before the beer could even be pulled from the beer pulling thing, before Miss Estonia could even return to service our table, the lights dimmed and there was a venerable hush. And after what had to be the slowest minute known to man, a vision appeared like a phoenix rising. Or something. Just 23 and a half hours earlier I had been arguing about the price of insulation batts in Reading Argos and now, before me stood – or rather lay -a moveable feast in every sense of the word. She was Tanya. She was 22. She was from Haapsalu. Or was it Hishpalaa? Somewhere west of the capital. She was naked. She had our dinner strategically placed on her 22 year old perfect Estonian body. She was very talented.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re looking to diversify, broaden or even begin your property portfolio consider Europe for your next investment destination.

Europe is host to such a broad range of countries all offering diverse property opportunities – you have everything from emerging market economies with massive potential for sharp growth rates, well established city based rental markets giving great yields and even residential housing markets offering an investor a slow burn on his capital outlay.

Here’s an overview of the potential on offer in the top ten European countries for real estate property investors right now.

Read the rest of this entry »

Different kind od health resorts have almost 200 years of history in Estonia. It all started from small towns called Haapsalu, Parnu and Kuressaare. Their most important resource was a mud that has healing power. But how did things look like during Soviet times? What kind of meaning had “spa” and “resort” back then? 20 years ago there were no places called “spa” in Estonia. But we had sanatoriums, therapeutic vouchers, radon and bromine baths, staff of sanatoriums wearing white smocks, and shows by “foreign” performers taking place in resort clubs. Sanatoriums were popular and people went there usually for weeks. With the aim to be a healthy and useful citizen for their country, of course.

Every citizen of Soviet country had to be strong and healthy – contributing to the health of its people was one of the most important functions of national social system. Establishing, rearranging, and expanding the network of sanatoriums, holiday homes, and guesthouses was regulated by different regulations. The process was coordinated by an institution which might be translated like – Estonian Republican Council of Union of Governing Resorts.

Read the rest of this entry »