13 things you might not know about Estonia If you were to play connect-the-dots with a map, Estonia would be the link between Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe. After learning of its hidden charms, you might find it impossible not to pay a visit.
• land of capitals
• fairytale forests
While Tallinn is the official capital of Estonia, there are several other ‘capitals’ in their own rights: Tartu is the long-standing capital of culture, Pärnu of summer, Kuressaare of weddings, Jõgeva of frost and Türi of flowers and spring.
Estonians have a tree-hugging streak, and rightly so – roughly 50% of the country is covered by forest, inhabited by all kinds of fauna including lynxes, wolves, brown bears, foxes, rabbits and deer.
• e-estonia Estonia is a digital society which was the first country to implement online voting in 2005, and virtually all tax returns are filed electronically.
• singing nation With the largest collection of folk songs in the world, 133,000 recorded tunes, Estonia has aptly been called the “singing nation”. The lyrical tradition culminates every five years in the Estonian Song and Dance Celebration, a gathering of up to 200,000 performers and spectators. 150
TIMEFLIES
• europe’s most famous oak A towering oak in the village of Orissaare, Saaremaa was voted European Tree of the Year in 2015 and stands right in the middle of a football field.