Hipsters are people too, right?
You’re walking down the street in a foreign city and the tell-tale signs of danger begin to appear: multiple shops on the same block advertising beard and mustache trimming, the scent of craft beer lingers in the air and everyone somehow found the same pair of suspenders and pork pie hats. Be careful. You have entered the hipster zone.
Telliskivi Loomelinnak (Telliskivi Creative City)
Every capital seems to have one, from Europe to Asia to Africa and Central and South America. Hipsterism knows no limits and Tallinn is no exception. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the cool kids of Estonia have congregated in Telliskivi, an area just west of Old Town. They have created Telliskivi Loomelinnak (Telliskivi Creative City), where you can find street art, trendy new restaurants with cuisines from around the world, organic markets and handcrafted goods ranging from clothes, candles, furniture and artwork.
It’s really fun to stroll around the food establishments and chat with the owners, many of whom are immigrants to Estonia,bringing their recipes from home along with them. The Estonian community has really taken to this set up as well. You can find young professionals celebrating with happy hour margaritas at La Tabla, a Mexican and Central American hotspot, and then turn the corner to see couples slurping down pho at the Vietnamese Konteiner across from Spice Wagon, where I ate some of the best Indian food I’ve had on my travels.
As much as hipsters are easy targets for ridicule, parody and scorn, God bless them for bringing craft beer to the masses. I had the best beer in Tallinn at Telliskivi. And even though all these restaurants and shops are super trendy, the vibe is not pretentious or obnoxious, but rather very laidback and mellow. Estonian hipsters aren’t the punchable douchbags you run across in Brooklyn. I felt very welcomed and happy to be included; in fact, I ate dinner in Telliskivi every single night!
In the midst of all these food establishments is the Depoo Turg, a massive market/food hall that has some of the best produce I found in Tallinn. If you’re on the hunt for some fresh fruit, bread, cheese and maybe a dessert to go, head over to Turg and stock up. Anywhere you find locals actually buying food you know that A) the quality is probably high and B) the prices will be low. Hipster, organic and cheap don’t always go hand in hand, but I didn’t find that I broke the bank at Telliskivi.
EKKM (Eesti Kaasaegse Kunsti Museuum/Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia)
While technically a five minute walk outside of Telliskivi, EKKM contains the hipster spirit of contemporary avant garde art housed in a falling down warehouse, so I thought it best to include here.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Tallinn’s heating plant was abandoned and a group of young artists began squatting in some of its former buildings. After a fight with the city, EKKM’s building was legally handed over to the artists in 2006, with exhibitions being scheduled on a regular basis since 2010. Their mission is to support young Estonian artists as they navigate their new post-Soviet art world.
To put it bluntly, the art at EKKM is not for the faint of heart. It is highly political, daring and unconventional. You may be immersed in darkness, hit with strobe lights and techno music and a good chunk of the art revolves around video installations, so be prepared to interact with the art more than at your typical museum. The one thing everyone agrees is cool is the metal cage on the roof that gives you great views of the surrounding industrial area.
Now, craft beer isn’t the only beverage hipsters know their way around. They are coffee snobs extraordinaire, and the best cappuccino in the capital can be found at EKKM. With free admission to the museum, it doesn’t take much arm-twisting to stop in the lobby cafe and decompress with an espresso after taking in the exhibits. The staff is really friendly and excited to share their art with the world. If you’re up for some adventure, check out EKKM.
Street Art in Telliskivi
The formerly industrial area of Telliskivi has been turned into something of an artist’s playground. You feel like you’re on the set of some bizarre version of The Wizard of Oz, and it’s even crazier when you think that the brightly colored medieval Old Town is only a ten-minute walk away. I think sometimes when people contemplate getting off the beaten path they feel they need to travel to a remote village 300 km from the nearest city where there is no WiFi or cell service, but that’s just not the case. Tallinn in and of itself is off the beaten path when compared to destinations like Paris and Rome, and even within Estonia, neighborhoods like Telliskivi and sights like EKKM are not on the tourist trail. You don’t have to go so far- you only have to dig deeper where you are.
