You could be lucky and chance on a craft market which purports to bring a rural perspective to things – felt hats, smocks and the like, to put the town into its context of a countryside which is still significantly unspoilt forests and lakes.And it’s a countryside which is seething with the ancient myths and magic which weave together the Estonian sense of identity. Those thousands and thousands of folk songs are the Estonians’ secret weapon that sustained them through centuries of occupation. When they weren’t allowed to read and write in their own language, they kept it going by singing in it – songs where each line is chanted and repeated, the time-honoured way of learning by repetition. And so the great epic stories are handed down the generations: singing your identity.Singing was also a way to forget your troubles: there’s an old Estonian proverb, “A song on your lips heals the sadness in your heart”.

There are songs to remember the great outrages – one laments the young men who were press-ganged into working for the Russian machine (there wasn’t much to choose between Peter the Great or Stalin); songs to undermine the oppressor – “Chant to Iron” exposes the dark secrets “we know what you can do” In knowledge there’s strength. A great deal of the songs tell of how the powerless can triumph in the end.It was electrifying stuff for those people who began to agitate for the National Movement in the 1860s to have newspapers in Estonian, books and theatre and concerts, and to re-discover their song heritage (just as the Finns, Estonians’ close cousins, were electrified in the same period by re-discovering the epic poems of the Kalevala). What a strange paradox that so many dispiriting tunes will get aired in the place where music is such a positive, essential part of national identity: there really is a great pride in the Singing Revolution – every Estonian knows the country left the Soviet Union while singing, and that its first success in the European context is in singing too. Maybe, just maybe, the effect of being in Estonia will electrify Eurovision too.Travellers’ GuideGetting there: Estonian Air (020-7333 0196, ) flies daily except Saturday from Gatwick to Tallinn, leaving at 6pm and arriving at 11pm local time for £231 return. SAS (0845 607 2772, ) offers connections from Birmingham, Dublin, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow via Copenhagen or Stockholm. Finnair (0870 241 4411, ) flies from Heathrow or Manchester via Helsinki for around £250.

Or, for a leisurely trip, fly to Helsinki and take a two-hour boat from there.. And it’s one that starts at Scone, near Perth.In 843, the first true king of Scotland, Kenneth MacAlpin, took advantage of his dual Celtic/Pictish heritage to establish a single, unified Scotland north of the Firth of Forth. He set up his capital – and the Stone of Destiny used to crown Scottish kings – at Scone.Around 200 years later, when Kenneth’s descendant, Malcolm II, defeated King Canute near Roxburgh, Scotland expanded rapidly southwards to the Tweed and the rest, as they say, is history.OR RATHER DRAMA Malcolm’s grandson, Duncan, was killed by Macbeth, who took on Scotland’s crown for 17 years. Shakespeare’s Scottish play is set in Glamis, near Forfar, although the real-life murder actually took place further north, near Elgin – between Inverness and Aberdeen.Today Glamis Castle is a danger-free Scots fantasy of turrets and battlements. It is also where the Queen Mother grew up and where Princess Margaret was born, and is open for visitors (01307 840393; ; open 10.30am-5.30pm daily; £6.50 for adults and £3.20 for children).Back on the road to Scottish royalty, Duncan’s son, Malcolm III, took revenge for his father’s murder by killing Macbeth. After reclaiming sovereignty in 1058, his descendants were to rule Scotland for the next two centuries – until the accidental death of Alexander III on the shores of the Forth.John Balliol (who, defiant against the English, began the “Auld Alliance” between Scotland and France) was then crowned king. However, when the English threw Balliol into the Tower of London (and stole the Stone of Destiny along with him), and after William Wallace roused the masses (that’s Mel Gibson in Braveheart for those of you who prefer your history re-written for the screen), Robert the Bruce assumed royal duties in 1306.ROBERT THE BRUCE, I’VE HEARD ABOUT HIM The much-loved leader of the Scottish resistance was eventually crowned king at Scone in 1306.

To pay homage to him, head for Bannockburn, the site of his most famous Scottish freedom-winning battle in 1314, and these days run by the National Trust for Scotland. The site’s heritage centre includes a Kingdom of the Scots exhibition (01786 812664; .uk). Or, at Rosslyn chapel near Edinburgh, you can try to pick out his eerie death-mask from among the building’s tangle of carvings (0131 440 2159; ).Robert died in 1329. His heart is buried at Melrose Abbey: 01896 822562; open 9.30am to 6.30pm daily, £3.30 adults, £1.20 children. After his death, power eventually went to the ruthless Stuarts. They ruled Scotland, and later the rest of Britain, for the next 300 years or so, passing sovereignty and scandal equally down the line from Robert II via James IV, James V and Mary Queen of Scots to James VI.The country retreat of the Stuart kings and queens was Falkland, which still boasts its original 1539 Real (or royal) Tennis court (01337 857397; .uk). But the majority of their time seems to have been spent in Stirling castle (01786 431316; net; open daily 9.30am-5.15pm, £7 for adults and £2 for children).