Alatskivi #visitestonia #eesti100 #estonia100 #alatskivi

Alatskivi located right on the shore of Peipsi lake in Nina village. Alatskivi Castle is a Neo-Gothic castle in Alatskivi, Estonia. Dating to the 17th century, it is situated in Alatskivi. Visit Alatskivi Castle during summertime to admire beautiful roses and enjoy Peipsi lake.

Peipsi area is home to Old Believers, a traditional religious minority recognised as hard-working and skillful fishermen, builders and keen onion cultivators. 

Estonia is the Paradise of Introverts 🙂 Estonians saying : A good neighbour is one where you can just barely see the smoke of their chimney from your window.’
In Estonia  you can feel, how is to be last soul in the Earth 🙂 You can drive through the Estonian countryside and not see another living soul for miles.

And be careful. This is the area of States Borders. Be careful and follow signs. Latvia is in EU and you welcome to visit Latvia, but for Russia you need visa.

Close to Alatskivi

• Start your tour from Rakvere.
• The Kuremäe Convent, located in the centre of Kuremäe
• admire Peipsi lake. Swim, pick berries and see, if you can see the Russia 🙂
• visit the Old Believers villages and buy and eat fresh or smoked Peipsi lake fish, local strong and spicy onions and cucumbers. Have a lunch in Kolkja Kala- ja Sibularestoranis. NB! this restaurant needs pre- booking
• Taevaskoda hiking trail, which is located in the Ahja River Landscape Reserve
• Piusa caves are one of the most visited tourist sights in South Estonia. Unique colonnades that are kilometers long were created during the mining of glass sand in the 1920’s. In the Nature Reserve (45.64 ha) of the cave’s area is a marked hiking trail of 1.4 km.

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 and some Swedish or Chinese at school
• almost everywhere you can pay with a card. ATM -s are in bigger places and petrol stations.
• and yes, this is not fairy tale. almost everywhere in Estonia is Wifi

Best Souvenirs to buy from Estonia

• Kalev chocolate, 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 forest spring water are clean, pure and drinkable.

Culture:

• check and google timetable 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 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.