Exploring A Snowy Traditional Village In Estonia


After so many years living in Spain, it was nice to visit Estonia and experience a real winter again. That numbness on the tip of your nose while the rest of your body is bundled up and warm, the way sounds get muffled by the snow, the intricate designs the icy branches etch into the sky – winter is a good season when you don’t have to experience it for too long.

The best way to experience winter is to get out into the countryside. Day trips from the capital Tallinn can be tricky, however, as the bus system isn’t the greatest. One quick way to experience country life and get a bit of history is to spend a few euros on a taxi and go to the Estonian Open Air Museum just outside of town.

This remarkable place is the Colonial Williamsburg of the Baltics. Historic buildings have been collected here from all regions of Estonia to recreate several traditional villages. Costumed employees practice traditional crafts as visitors wander around the forested paths between the villages.

I went on Shrove Tuesday, which is a special event in Estonian culture. The village tavern was serving up pig trotters with the warning not to wipe the grease off your chin if you wanted to ensure a prosperous and lucky new year. After a messy lunch that’s going to make me rich and fortunate in 2013, I headed out into the country lanes. Being the middle of a weekday, it was quiet. Visitors were spread out over the museum’s several acres and for the most part all was silent except for the crunch of my boots in the snow. Every now and then I’d hear the jingle of sleigh bells and see a happy family scoot by, driven by one of the museum employees.

%Gallery-179095%It’s a big day for kids, who go sledding on this date. For some reason sledding ensures that flax will grow tall in the new year. The child who sleds the farthest guarantees that his or her household will have the best flax crop. A gaggle of squealing Estonian kids hurtling down the slope next to one of the windmills were having too much fun to care whether the flax grew tall or not. Nearby was a merry-go-round set atop a frozen pond, spinning extra quickly on the ice.

Estonian kids have turned the making of snowmen into a fine art. Kadriorg Park, back in town, had an entire population of snowmen, snow women, snow dragons, and a snow bear climbing a tree to get a snow squirrel. Scattered around the 18th- and 19th-century buildings of the Open Air Museum I saw snowmen hanging out enjoying the holiday. It made me wonder how old the tradition of making snowmen is and why it started.

The homes, barns and churches collected here are now rarities. During Soviet times the emphasis was on collectivization and most old rural buildings were allowed to decay. So it’s a rare treat to see their distinct, homey style and watch kids play at the same games their ancestors did when these old buildings were new.

Read the rest of my series: “Exploring Estonia: The Northern Baltics In Wintertime.”

Coming up next: The Secret Tunnels Under Tallinn!

[All photos by Sean McLachlan]

Video: Inside A Traditional Village In China


China is a fascinating place to visit. While we’re always hearing about the country’s booming cities, there are still plenty of traditional rural villages like the one shown in this video.

The traveler, who sounds Canadian, takes us on a tour through a thousand-year-old village. One stop is the Longevity and Health Well, which enjoys enough local fame to have the restaurant next to it sport its image on its sign.

I like the little details in this video, like the Chinese city kid struggling to draw water from the well, the straw brooms leaning against the wall, the meat hanging outside the restaurant and the traveler wondering if the birds in the birdcage are food. It’s worth watching more than once to catch things you didn’t notice the first time. The amateur filmmaker really captures the novelty, fun and confusion of travel, and gives us a glimpse of a quiet life in China away from the smog-covered factories and noisy cities.

Video: Lunch In A Village In Burkina Faso


It’s lunchtime in Taga, a village in Burkina Faso, West Africa. A guy is milking the cows and the women are working over the stove. Kids are running around making noise and getting in the way. It’s just like lunch at my house – well, not quite.

That’s what I love about this video. There are so many similarities – the laughing kids, the idle chatter, taking some time off work in the middle of the day to enjoy family – that I can almost forget the thatched huts and chickens. The greatest thing travel teaches us is how similar people are under all the superficial differences.

One of the bigger differences is the slow pace of life in this village. It’s a tranquil video too – great for inspiring relaxation on your own lunch break. For a different look at life in the same country, check out this video of driving through the capital Ouagadougou.

By the way, anyone out there know what the gray seeds are that the woman is putting in the milk?