Accompanying persons' programme

 We are glad to introduce the Estonian history and culture at several tours and excursions taking place during the Convention week.

Please see the Accompanying Persons' Programme here (including tours and host country presentations).

 

Monday, January 31, 2011

ESTONIAN ART AND HANDICRAFT

Medieval Tallinn was a bustling trade centre, one of the great Northern European merchant cities, and some traditions of the craft and artistic work of the period continue today.

 

 We will take a walk through the cobblestone streets to the art galleries on the picturesque streets of Long Leg and Short Leg. From there we will proceed to Katariina käik (Catherine’s Passage) where master craftsmen’s workshops are busy producing finely crafted hand-made goods in the original stone buildings of the medieval town street.

 

 You can watch glass-blowers, goldsmiths and other craft-masters as they work, and buy their wares and other unique Estonian souvenirs directly from the artists.

 

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

FULL DAY TRIP TO LAHEMAA NATIONAL PARK

The full day trip to Lahemaa nature reserve 50km east of Tallinn on the Gulf of Finland offers you the chance to see the natural beauty of Estonia’s countryside, and see some more of the country’s cultural history. The cultural heritage within Lahemaa National Park goes back as far as 800 BC in the ancient burial barrows of the local Finno-Ugric tribes at Jõelahtme.

We will visit the 18th century manor houses of the German landowning families in Palmse and Sagadi. Both manors with their parks, greenhouses, stables and other buildings have been furnished and decorated in the style of 1820s, the period when the German landlord class was at its height.

 

 To compare with the lifestyle of the Baltic barons, we will then see Estonian rural life of the centuries past by visiting fishing villages that date back more than 500 years. At the idyllic captains’ village of Käsmu you can see something of Estonia’s seafaring past. We will have a traditional Estonian peasant lunch at the tavern in the village of Altja.

 

 The wild beauty of the scenery of Lahemaa is worth the visit in itself, with its bays, forests, bogs, limestone cliffs and huge erratic boulders.

 

 

 

The park is rich in fauna and flora, although it is unlikely we will see wild animals as we will pass through the park by bus.

 

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

VISIT TO TALLINK SPA

Take some time for yourself and relax in the pools, jacuzzis and saunas of the Tallink Hotel Aqua Spa. The spa has several pools, including a saltwater pool and an outdoor pool, which is open even in winter.

 

 

After swimming you can take a sauna, which is a traditional feature of Estonian life. In the past it played a central role in Estonian family life and was a place not just for cleaning the body but also for purifying the soul.

 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

ESTONIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS' MUSEUM

Estonia has historically been occupied by several nations, but became independent in 1918 in the War of Independence. The Estonian War of Independence of 1918-1920 took place during the Russian Civil War, and was Estonia’s struggle for sovereignty in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution. It resulted in a victory for Estonia and was concluded in the Tartu Peace Treaty.

 

 

The Estonian Freedom Fighters Museum is a private museum run by Johannes Tõrs in Rae rural municipality. The museum houses the largest collection of arms in Estonia and uniforms of ten armies, and is of interest even to the non-specialist. In the evening there is outdoor lighting to illuminate tanks, half an aeroplane and a monument in the shape of a cross or a sword by the river.

Johannes Tõrs comes from the island of Saaremaa and talks passionately, throwing out jokes incessantly. A fanatic of his subject and deeply involved in it, he is a member of the National Defence League (volunteer reserve) and organises scout camps in the summer, staying in tents beside the museum.

The museum building has a stone gable and was transported from its original location in Narva-Jõesuu; it used to be the summer residence of the brother of the Estonian president Konstantin Päts and resembles a small manor house. It is surrounded by a beautiful park and stands on an island between the Pirita and Leivajõgi rivers reached by a grand tower bridge.