Wigs and Weirdos

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What do crazy wigs, blokes dressed up in cow suits, bungy jumping, traditional dancing, choral singing, hark rock, sausages and techno music have in common? Beer. Yes in Estonia all of these sometime complimentary, sometimes contradictory forces were brought together under the uniting and liberating force of beer, resulting in the Tallinn beer festival.

One could say that it was a case of expert organisational skills that we timed our visit to Tallinn with the beer festival, but rather it was by sheer luck that we discovered that there was a festival on and that we would be there at the same time. We hooked up with a couple of Irish blokes from the hostel and headed out to the “singing ground” for our first European beer festival.

It wasn’t as we expected: to our delight there was much more to this festival than just drinking beer, and the locals seemed to know this! The festival attracted people of kids and adults of all ages, and dressed in all manner of crazy attire (wigs seemed to be popular this year) set to revel in the atmosphere.

There was traditional dancing, and hundreds of people joined up to form a massive choir, which had equally as many "unofficial" choirers from the general public who loudly sang and clapped along. The music tent was awesome and the main act was Estonian rock group "The Sun" who pulled quite a crowd and played pretty decent music actually so we attempted a bit of a sing-a-long in Estonian.

There was also all many of crazy rides including a bungee rocket that launched people from the seat of a car, a bungee jump from a crane (and accompanying screams), and super bouncy trampolines, and even a sauna if you fancied a bit of a sweat. For the boys there were bikini clad girls dancing on 10 metre high pedestals, teasing them with offers of free entry to a local nightclub.

Along with Conal and Ivan we started the party in the dance tent with our excellent dance moves that inspired others to join us! In the dance competition we narrowly missed out on the major prize (a bottle of vodka!) being usurped by a couple of gyrating blonde bombshells, leaving us with the consolation prize of some rubber seat mats!

And there was beer. Lots of it. A local told us that at last year's festival they managed to sink nearly 10 tonnes of beer! The food was pretty excellent too and the boys reckon they ate the best pork ever! We met a nice Estonian guy who insisted on buying us all icecreams, which was a bit of a weird gesture from someone we'd only known five minutes, but his generousity was appreciated nevertheless.

So beer festival aside, we spent loads of time in the Old Town, walking through the narrow windy and cobbled streets and looking at the buildings, and delving deeper into modern estonia in the new town. Walking and looking, no major "sights" to speak of here, but rather we enjoyed the laidback nature of the place and our aimless wanderings.

Our wanderings included searching for Tallinns beach, reportedly a long stretch of white sand that sits on the Baltic sea. Sadly we didn’t manage to find it, instead we found patch of sand about one square metre in size, some rocks and a really manky smell that didn’t bode well for lingering there. Plus the cold weather and icy wind weren't really conducive to a dip in the sea and lying on the beach.

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Photos

Dave is getting involved!
in borrowed hat and glasses

At the festival
Ivan, Conal and Dave

Mobile Sauna Truck
If you fancy a bit of a sweat with your beer

Comments

[Kat]

Brilliant! You guys know how to make the most of things!! You must have sampled how many beers now form how many countries?! Well, I guess you need to try them all just to see which its the best.... Latvia that would be awesome. Have a great time! Part of me wishes we were still on the road but part of me is so glad to be without the back pack! Keep on cruisin'! Kat

[Christina]

Just a wee hello
Wow, madness in Estonia!! I have to say I'm envious of your travels and have read all about them from the beginning. fantastic! Should be working for national geographic or lonely planet, although doesn't seem such a lonely planet according to your blogs. look forward to seeing you in England in the near future, will keep in touch, Christina. (Another small town hick from Taupo.)