Vihula Manor #visitestonia #vihulamanor #estonia100 #eesti100

The first written record of Vihula manor in Lahemaa National Park dates back to 1501.

At the time it belonged to the Danish baron Hans von Lode. The manor fascinates with its atmosphere and picturesque location in Lahemaa National Park.

Today there in Vihula is the beautiful SPA.
Vihula – a lovely place where the the forest meets the Baltic Sea.

How to get here
You are pretty sure coming from Tallinn. Google maps suggest to you Tallinn- Peterburi road. This is safe but boring 🙂
Choose roads 85 and 210.

Close to the Vihula

• Sagadi Manor. Ask for night forest tours
• Rakvere. Shops and SPA and theatre and interactive and interesting  impressive 13th century castle ruins
• Lahemaa National Park
• beautiful captains’ village Käsmu.
  
• Visit old taverns with interesting history like the one in Viitna. Catherine the Great used to pass through Viitna Tavern (Viitna Kõrts) on her way from Russia and there is a famous story about a mirror.
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In Estonia

• Practically all Estonians speak or at least understand English. Generation +40 speak and understand Russian. Because of the similarity of languages, Estonians are able to understand Finnish.  Children learn German, French, Swedish or Chinese at school
• almost everywhere you can pay with a card. ATM -s are in the bigger place and petrol stations.
• and yes, this is not a fairy tale. Almost everywhere in Estonia is Wifi
  

  

  

  

Best Souvenirs to buy from Estonia

• Kalev confectionary, liqueur Old Tallinn/Vana Tallinn, Balbiino ice cream and Tallinna spiced sprats (Tallinna vürtsikilu)
• Handicrafts made of linen, wool, wood, juniper or limestone. Haapsalu scarf.
  (NB! In Tallinn Viru Street you can find a lot of amber and Matrjoschka. Amber is from Lithuania and Matrjoschka from Russia. Both countries are beautiful and with rich culture and interesting history. I suggest to visit Lithuania and Russia :))
• for children, everything about and with Lotte.

Estonian Food you Must to Try

• visit Estonian supermarkets and buy some Estonian dairy products: kohuke, kodujuust (cottage cheese), hapukoor (sour cream). Buy Kama and rye bread, handicraft beer
•  In restaurants ask for quark cake, soups with dumplings, meat balls or cabbage. Semolina cream, quark cream or bread cream. Local lake fish. Drink kefir, kvass or local beer. Värska mineral water. And Estonian tap water and spring water are clean, pure and drinkable.

 Culture:

• check and google timetables for Viljandi Folk, Pärnu Weekend, Jazzkaar, PÖFF or Laulupidu.
• buy movie about Estonian history: ” Nimed marmortahvlil”, ” Tants aurukatla ümber”, ” “Tuulepealne maa”. Or ” Malev”, this is a comedy and pseudo history, but very good summary about Estonians.
• Music: Pärt ja Tüür.  Tõnis Mägi, The Sun; Metsatöll and TradAttack. And read my blog posts. I gave a lot of links for good Estonian music.