We visited the Baltic Countries as part of our adventure motorcycle travels on our BMW motorcycles in August 2003. With the breakup of the Soviet Union in the late 1980’s Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became independant countries. Some 14 years later and they each are poised to join the European Union in 2004. Located adjacent to Russia, Belarus, Poland, the Baltic Sea and the south of Finland, these three countries are physically located in the heart of Europe. In fact, some French geographers have designated a point in Lithuania as the central point in Europe.

One of the first things we noticed when we arrived in the Baltic Countries in August, 2003, was that this was one of the few places we have seen in Europe, outside of Scandinavia, where there are numerous buildings constructed of wood. Everywhere else we see construction of stone and mortar. Rarely do we see wood buildings.

We found a largely agricultural countries getting ready to enter the European Union. In the countryside it was quiet and serene, the rolling landscape broken by wooded areas and occasional villages and, when clear, skies that seem to go on forever. The landscape is dominated by gentle rolling hills With the Baltic Sea bordering each of the three countries there are also marshes, sandy beaches, sand dunes, bogs and deltas.

But in the large cities, there was the bustle of a consumer society. The locals, especially the young adults, were out and about, enjoying the joys of the city: shopping, strolling through the city square, and eating and drinking in sidewalk cafes. In most restaurants and hotels there were usually several workers who spoke English very well, so not knowing a word of Lithuanian, Latvian or Estonia was not much of a hindrance.

We enjoyed our visit to the Baltic countries, found the people to be very warm and friendly - evidenced by the help we got on the bus our first day in Tallinn as we tried to activate our bus tickets. Everywhere else we have been the machines on the bus that you put your ticket into was electronic and it stamped the date and time on the ticket automatically. We were shown the way to use the mechanical devices on the buses by a very kind young woman who took pity on the tourists. English is spoken by almost everyone under 25 and we had no problems communicating the whole time we were here.

If you find typographical errors or have any other problems when looking at the site please contact the Webmaster describing the problem and the page involved.