George Rebane
Today was another one of those days which makes you think whether you took the wrong turn somewhere and wound up in a travelogue film. We took a trip down to Otepää (unpronounceable by tongues born and bred in the US), a resort and winter sports training community in southeast Estonia about 30 miles from Tartu. The country here, now a bit more hilly, continues to be what one can only call Disneyesque – every scene is sculpted to perfection, we have yet to see our first piece of trash *anywhere*.
Before going to bed last night, a squall passed over Tartu and in its waning trail left a complete double rainbow. I had to take a picture of it through the rain covered skylight window in our hotel room. Note that the brighter rainbow strongly demarks the regions of light and dark sky as if they were painted that way on purpose – they were.
We headed south toward Otepää along what have now become typical Estonian highways – Jo Ann says she is getting a bit jaded by it all and wants to see something out of order. For those of you having been in New Zealand or the German Alps, this is the closest to which I can compare this land.
We stopped in Otepää for directions to Pühajärv (Holy Lake, equally unpronouncable) that was also visited and consecrated by the Dalai Lama in 1992. This beautiful lake is the jewel of the region and has two swimming beaches, an eight-mile-long paved and wide hiking/training trail that circumnavigates the 2.5 mile long lake.
We did the tourist thing and walked around the lakeside and took a picture of ourselves on one of the swimming beaches. We also had to visit the 400-year-old ‘War Oak’ by the lakeside. This tree witnessed the punishment of Estonian serfs who led an unsuccessful uprising against the local landowner. Throughout Estonia’s history over the last 800 years there have been a number of such unsuccessful uprisings by Estonians who were by law consigned to be the chattel of their Swedish, Russian, and German landlords.
Then we saw a squall coming and beat a retreat to one of the two hotels that are discreetly separated on the lake’s northern shore. When the rain arrived, we were already writing postcards and sipping coffee in the observation café located in a high glass tower on the hotel’s roof that overlooks everything.
When the squall passed we drove down to the village of Sangaste that is located south of the lake to see an especially unique manor house of the local plantation. The owner had visited England and wanted his new manor to reflect the English tradition. He built it with only 90 rooms because making it bigger would have it exceed the czar’s palace, and that was a no-no. Note the white-gowned bride under the front portico who is apparently getting married in that historic stack of bricks.
On our way back to Otepää we saw one of the typical Estonian Lutheran country churches. They are all built like fortresses with walls at least five feet thick and very high towers. This one happened to be open to visitors on this Sunday afternoon so we decided to go in. The inside is also of a very typical design and reflects the two-tiered society at the time of their construction in the 18th and 19th centuries. The front rows have solid backs and reading shelves for the prayer books and hymnals. This is where the landlords and families/friends worshipped who lived in the manors. The back pews were for the likes of my ancestors.
The organ and choir loft are again of a typical configuration. Each organ was hand-built by the most famous organ builder of the time that the local gentry could afford. The organ was powered by a two-pedaled foot pump usually operated by a hale and hearty youth of the congregation.
Estonia is also the land of storks. You see them quite often in the fields and marshlands standing in stately repose or contemplating the fate of a frog or fingerling that is in its crosshairs. They nest in high perches like unused chimney tops or like the one who moved in on top of an unused power pole which are apparently left for these welcomed birds. On our way back from Otepää we saw a mamabird preening herself while the young ones layed low and only peeked over the edge now and then. Disneyesque.
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