Tom Bissell in Estonia: ‘It Feels, In a Word, Sane’

Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 01.08.07 | 9:16 AM ET

Technologically, Estonia seems “like a planet from a Flash Gordon serial.” Economically, it’s strong and growing. And in Tallinn, the nightlife is “fun and welcoming,” and boasts “what I can say were—without fear of hyperbole—the most jaw-droppingly beautiful women I have ever seen in my life.” Those are the observations of Chasing the Sea author and World Hum contributor Tom Bissell writing in The New Republic. But Bissell, who traveled to Estonia twice in 2006, was not completely blinded by what he saw. He writes: “I wondered: Was Estonia’s stylishness actually some geoeconomic version of keeping up with the Joneses of the Western world?” His excellent story examines Estonia’s history and rise to become one of the European Union’s most successful new members.

I was told more than once in Tallinn that the luxury sedans tooling around the city were, in many cases, piloted by people who could not afford them. I had noticed Tallinn’s many bookstores and art galleries, but, when I actually spoke to some Estonian writers and artists, I was told that the nation’s literary and art circles, while lively, were often as cliquish and status-conscious as a SoHo loft party. The story of Skype, the pride of Estonia, is also more complicated than that of a brainy Estonian phoenix rising from a heap of Soviet ash. Skype originated when a duo of Swedish investors came to Estonia in search of cheap programming talent. So, while the talent was local—and Estonians did indeed write the code—the funding and the idea behind that funding was not.

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I sought out Scott Diel, the editor-in-chief of Tallinn’s City Paper, the Baltic region’s must-read English-language magazine. Diel, a former Peace Corps volunteer once stationed in Estonia, has spent ten years living in the country, and I hoped he could revive my flagging admiration for his adopted home. Estonia, I told him, was without question the most pleasant and most advanced of the former Soviet republics—but could beating out Kazakhstan and Armenia really be considered that wondrous?

“The stuff you see in the press about Estonia,” Diel told me, “about the Miracle Republic—most of it really is true. Estonia’s unofficial goal is to become one of the five richest nations in Europe.” Could that happen? “They’ll never be richer than Switzerland, but it’s not impossible to imagine that they’ll come close. Estonia is still pretty homogeneous, with a government that agrees on the core issues. That’s Estonia’s secret. It’s not that divided. Estonia wants to be Western.” Diel’s biggest impetus for staying in Estonia, he told me, other than his predictably lovely Estonian wife, was “lifestyle.” But, when I expressed some curiosity about possibly moving with my girlfriend to Tallinn, Diel advised: “Make sure she comes in the summer.”

Bissell’s story is available online with free registration.

Photo of Tallinn, Estonia: Jurvetson, via Flickr. (Creative Commons license).

Related on World Hum:
* Ben’s Place of the Week: Tallinn, Estonia