A stroll through Tallinn is a walk into the past. Over the centuries, the Estonian capital, with its coveted position on the Baltic Sea just 37 miles (60 km) across the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki, has fallen under German, Swedish, Danish and Czarist Russian rule.

Since 1991, however, this Nordic-feeling nation of 1.4 million has been independent — and the country’s progress has been astounding. Estonia joined the European Union in 2004, and Finnish and other European companies have invested a great deal in their smaller neighbor.

Tallinn is slowly being discovered as the true gem that she is. Tourists coming in by cruise ship or hydrofoil from Sweden and Finland now frequent the tiny Baltic city.