My visit to Estonia ~ May 2013

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 1st, 2013, 9:50 pm

In May I had the chance to make a visit to Estonia and see a bit of the beautiful country, the cities and the wonderful nature. I have been asked to share some photos here.

I arrived in Tallinn and had the evening there with Juta giving me a quick introduction to the lovely Old Town.

Walking up towards Vanalinn, the Old Town

The townhall

A detail from the townhall

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 1st, 2013, 10:08 pm

In front of a Russian restaurant on Raekoja plats

For the "long leg" - the Pikk jalg - to the upper town you need a long boot

View from the upper town to the lower town - Niguliste kirik (St. Nicholas church)

and towards the harbour and Oleviste kirik (St. Olav's Church)

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 1st, 2013, 10:22 pm

Some more impressions from the walk around the town:

On top of a house:

and this guy live once in this house and was prying on his neighbours

one of the small alleys

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 1st, 2013, 10:27 pm

Next day I took a bus to Tartu.

Some impressions from the bus journey:

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 1st, 2013, 10:36 pm

I had a chance to visit a very well known place not far from Tartu as well:

A little empty without the dinner guests

That's where during the winter months one of the most famous Looduskalender web cams is mounted:

Through this way the boars are usually coming:

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 1st, 2013, 10:36 pm

The next day in Tartu was not very nice - morning was a bit wet, but for a walk around the city it was okay.

Raekoja plats, the place in front of the townhall

The townhall

The Emajõgi river, the second largest river in Estonia flows through Tartu

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 3rd, 2013, 8:29 pm

On Angel's Bridge connecting the two parts of Toomemägi looking down towards the city

Angel's Bridge

and the counterpart - Devil's Bridge

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 3rd, 2013, 8:34 pm

On Toomemägi - the still intact part of the Cathedral (this part houses the University of Tartu History Museum)

The ruins of the Cathedral

Adventurous people can climb the tower

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 3rd, 2013, 8:47 pm

Several memorials are in the lush green park on Toomemägi

Kristian Jaak Peterson, an Estonian poet who walked from Tartu to Riga

Villem Reiman, clergyman, public figure and historian, who was also founder of several important Estonian cultural associations like Estonian Literary Society and Estonian National Museum

Karl Ernst von Baer, a naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, a founding father of embryology, explorer of European Russia and Scandinavia, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a co-founder of the Russian Geographical Society and the first President of the Russian Entomological Society

and I ended my short round through Tartu at the University (Tartu Ülikool)

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 3rd, 2013, 9:18 pm

In the afternoon I had the chance to go further south to Valga near the Latvian border, where the last stop of the photo exhibition "Ülemlinnud" (Supreme Birds) was. The exhibition of eagle photos was part of "Eagles cross borders", a joint activity of the Estonian Ornithological Society and the Latvian Fund for Nature, supported by the European Regional Development Fund ESTLAT programme.
http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/11370

Unfortunately some water had seeped down some of the walls, so not all photos were hanging at their place in order to keep them dry. But viewing was still possible - some impressions of the wonderful photos:

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 3rd, 2013, 9:29 pm

On the way back to Tartu I could visit the Karula rahvuspark, a National Park. Some impressions from there:

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 3rd, 2013, 9:39 pm

On my last day I took a very long walk through the city and along the Emajõgi.

The Jaani kirik (St. John's church)

Rüütli

The river, tranquil and peaceful

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 3rd, 2013, 9:58 pm

The Freedom Bridge, opened in 2009. The previous bridge, built by order of Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great, in 1785, was destroyed in world War II. Nowadays there is a ritual in which students have to cross the bridge on the arch as a test of courage

The modern Tartu

Looking back:

Statue of a pig in front of the Market Building. It was erected in 2008 to mark the 70th birthday of the Market Building and symbolises wealth and trading

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 3rd, 2013, 10:18 pm

One last look up and down the river:

On top of the suspension bridge

The famous Vanemuine Theatre

Trompe l'oeil on a wall near the university

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 7th, 2013, 5:08 pm

I returned to Tallinn and on Saturday I was picked up by Mannike from 360kraadi for the tour to the Alutaguse bear hide.

Arriving at the woods, we first took a tour around the woods and were looking for bear prints and a winter nest and other intersting things to be seen.

This is one of the typical forest roads:

This is a really huge print from a "Sven size" bear:

A bear's winter nest

A beaver dam

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 7th, 2013, 5:13 pm

The tour is timed in a way that one reaches the hide shortly before 6 PM and the group (we were 7 group members guided by Mannike) settles down inside the hide and the wait begins.

View from the hide:

And this is the web cam:

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 7th, 2013, 5:19 pm

To make the long story (and night) short, the bears, having shown up on every night before and even the same afternoon, did not show up during this night. But we got to see some other actors on the stage:

The first to show up:

followed by a colleague

A little later a fox showed up for dinner:

When the first raccoon dog came, it was already too dark to take proper photos:

The light there does not help to see more. So for some hours only staring into the dark or rest was called for.

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 7th, 2013, 5:26 pm

Shortly after it got light enough again, some more raccoon dogs came to have an early breakfast:

Unfortunately even then the bears did not want to come and have breakfast with us and by 7.30 the time is up and it is time to return to the cars. On our way out of the woods we met some more birds, like black grouse having a late lek:

and cranes far away in a field

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 7th, 2013, 10:05 pm

Back in Tallinn I spent some more time sightseeing.

Viru gate

City walls

A slightly different window box

The Raekoja plats

Post by **Felis silvestris** » July 7th, 2013, 10:30 pm

I took one of the hop-on-hop-off tours by bus around Tallinn

One of the typical wooden houses near Kadrioru park

Song Festival Grounds Laulukaar

The beach near "Rusalka"

The Rusalka monument

The Kardriorg Palace

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