Talinn, Estonia

Estonia is an even less populous country than Latvia.  1.3 million in the country as a whole and 450,000 live in the capital: Talinn.

We had a tour of the city, that included a visit to this open air arena where they hold a singing festival.  Estonians are obviously very into singing and the take it seriously.  This arena holds 30,000 singers and has space for over 100,000 spectators on the grass in front.  That's 10% of the population.  The score for the competition is published 2-3 years in advance and local choirs practice and compete to be in the last 30,000.  At the top of the tower next to the arena is a torch. They have a whole ceremony along the lines of the Olympics where a flame is brought across the country and burns at the top of the tower while the competition is taking place.

We walked around the old town, including the old city walls and fortress.  The old town is up on a rock, so there were some good views from there.

There are an assortment of churches including Russian Orthadox and the famous St Olaf's Lutheran, which was apparently the tallest building in the Baltic at one time.

To end with a fascinating fact.  The Estonian national anthem and the Finnish national anthem use the same tune, albeit with different words.  The Finns like to point out that they had it first and the Estonians "stole" it from them.  During the time that Estonia was part of the USSR, the Estonians were forbidden from singing or playing this anthem. Doing so could mean imprisonment.  But the tale doesn't end there.  The 1980 Olympics were held in Moscow, but Moscow is far inland. So the sailing events for those Olympics were held in Talinn. One of the sailing medals was won by a Finn, so the Russians had no option but to play the tune of the Estonian national anthem during the medal ceremony.