Baltic states Travel Guide
From Wikitravel
The Baltic States (not to be confused with the more general category of Baltic countries), are three small countries of Northern Europe, with a long history of difficult relationships with powerful neighbors; including being part of the Soviet Union for half the 20th century. They are currently the only ex-USSR republics in the European Union and NATO.
Although never part of the USSR, neighboring Finland was within its "sphere of influence" (especially during World War II) and is also sometimes considered one of the Baltic States.
Countries
North to South:
Other destinations
- Kaliningrad Oblast - a small enclave of Russia, between Lithuania and Poland.
Understand
Despite the three nations' similarities in culture and history, their languages belong to two distinct language families. The Latvian and Lithuanian languages make up the group of Baltic languages which belongs to the Indo-European language family. The Estonian language, on the other hand, is a non-Indo-European language and instead belongs to the Baltic-Finnic subgroup of the Finno-Ugric languages, sharing close cultural and historical ties with the Finnish language and culture.
The peoples of the Baltic countries also belong to different Christian denominations. Believers in Latvia and Estonia are mostly Lutheran (except for Russian minorities in these countries, which are predominantly Orthodox), while Lithuania is principally Catholic.
Fifty years of Soviet rule have left Latvia and Estonia with the uncomfortable legacy of sizeable and unsettled Russian minorities.
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