Estonia

Discover Estonia

Fun Foods

Black Rye Bread, Mulgi Puder, Pork and Potatoes, Smoked Fish, Kama, Kringel

Most countries win their freedom with armies. Estonia sang its way there.

In 1988, about 300,000 Estonians packed into a giant outdoor stage area in Tallinn, the capital, and sang old patriotic songs their rulers had banned. Night after night, crowds kept coming back to sing.

People called it the Singing Revolution.

Singing runs deep here. Estonia has held a huge song festival since 1869, where tens of thousands of singers perform together on one stage. So when Estonians wanted to stand up for themselves, singing was the tool they already had.

They had good reason to want freedom. Estonia first became independent in 1918. But during World War II, the Soviet Union took it over, then Nazi Germany did, and then the Soviets came back and stayed for about 50 years.

Those years were hard. Thousands of Estonians were deported, forced from their homes and sent far away to Siberia. People couldn’t fly their own flag or speak freely.

In 1989, about two million people from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania held hands to form one enormous human chain, stretching all the way from Tallinn to Vilnius in Lithuania.

Two years later, in 1991, Estonia declared its independence again. This time it stuck, without a war.

Today, Estonia is one of the most high-tech countries on Earth. Estonian engineers helped create Skype, the video-calling app, and people here can vote online.

In Tallinn’s Old Town, you can walk along stone city walls and towers built more than 500 years ago. It’s one of the best-preserved medieval towns in northern Europe, and you can cross the whole thing on foot in about 20 minutes.

Outside the city, strap on wide “bog shoes” and walk across squishy, 10,000-year-old bogs. In spring, Soomaa National Park floods so deeply that people paddle canoes between the trees, a time locals call the “fifth season.”

For food, Estonians love dark rye bread, smoked fish, and mulgi puder, a creamy mash of potatoes and barley. For something sweet, try kringel, a twisted cinnamon bread shaped like a pretzel.

Sources: Visit Estonia: How Estonia Regained Its Independence, Visit Estonia: UNESCO Heritage in Estonia, and Smithsonian: Estonia’s Singing Revolution.