Viljandi is the strawberry soul of Estonia.

17 June 2015 • Travel time: with 26 July 2014 on 26 July 2014

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Vilyandi was recommended by a Tallinn taxi driver who once gave us a lift to the airport. Seeing estophiles in his passengers, he spoke so enthusiastically about the beauties of his native town that we immediately put Viljandi on our list of "must visits next time. "

Tallinn bus station

And so, one fine day of a sobering Estonian summer, the charm of which only a resident of a hot southern city can fully appreciate, we were standing at the bus station in Tallinn, looking forward to a long-awaited trip to Viljandi.

I like to travel around Estonia by bus. Estonia is a small, compact country, and in four hours you can take a bus "from the capital to the border. " The roads here are excellent, the buses are clean, the scenery is lovely.

Estonian bus ticket booking website: www. t-pilet. ee

It is convenient to plan independent bus trips around Estonia using the t-pilet website. ee (there is a Russian version! ). On the site, you can view the schedule, find out the duration and cost of the trip - it depends on the carrier and route, buy a ticket online and print it on a printer. You can also buy a ticket "traditionally" - at the ticket office of the bus station, or you can "book tickets" directly from the driver when boarding the bus. Since we didn't have a printer handy, we opted for the "traditional" option and bought round-trip tickets at the ticket office at the Tallinn bus station.

Lake Viljandi

The road from Tallinn to Viljandi takes two and a half hours, which is quite a long time by local standards, and our "long distance" bus was equipped with a toilet.

A friendly female driver deftly helped passengers with oversized luggage, simultaneously filling / checking tickets. The bus set off to the minute on schedule, however, in Estonia this is accepted as a rule.

Viljandi Fortress (Fellinn Keep)

Before the trip, I almost did not find any useful tourist information about Viljandi. All my ideas about this city were limited to the taxi driver's story, the Wikipedia article about the fortress of Fellinn and the music video of the Estonian quartet Curly Strings - "Maailm heliseb". Therefore, having arrived at the place, we, following the signs, first of all went to the tourist information center, which is located on Vabaduse Square (Freedom Square).

Or maybe this is a kind of local "conspiracy", and the people of Estonia, tired of the tourist traffic, decided to leave something for themselves, because Viljandi is a very popular place for domestic tourism.

Streets of Viljandi

The city is located on the border with Latvia. And from here it is a stone's throw to the Estonian Pä rnu. Conditions for a good rest are created here: Viljandi - the capital of Estonian folklore festivals; the megalithic building houses the Ugala theater - one of the oldest and largest Estonian drama theaters, well. of course, beautiful nature, the wonderful lake Viljandi, the water in which is much warmer than in the sea.

Colorful swings in the park.

Ugala Theatre

I really want to stay here for two or three days, or maybe even for a week, renting a room or a whole house somewhere on a hillside overlooking the lake, wandering through the quiet cozy streets, learning Estonian with the help of friendly and endlessly patient sellers of local shops, take a break from the noise and dust of the metropolis.

You can take a boat ride on the lake. . .

A separate "feature" not only of Viljandi, but of the entire Viljandi County, is. . . strawberries. Here it is grown in large quantities. Under the stingy northern sun, it ripens exactly by the end of July, when we already forget how it looks. Approaching the city, at one of the stops I noticed a woman with a bucket filled to the brim with strawberries.

Kondas Art Center

A huge concrete strawberry will meet you upon arrival in Viljandi. Walking around the city here and there you will meet her concrete "sisters". Tails of strawberries indicate the direction to the art center of Kondas. Paul Kondas is a well-known naive painter in Estonia, his painting is "Strawberry Eaters", which, according to the guide, is one of the "top 100 pictures in the world".

Strawberries are not only made of concrete here : )

Viljandi Bus Station is a 10-minute walk from the central square. By the way, in the very building of the bus station, to the delight of shopaholics, there is the only department store of the Finnish chain Anttila in Estonia.

The department store and ticket offices of Viljandi bus station are open until seven in the evening, so if you are going to walk late, either take care of buying a return ticket in advance, or be prepared to purchase it from a driver who most likely does not know Russian. The toilet at the bus station is paid - 40 euro cents.

A white wooden staircase leads down to the promenade near the lake.

Every year on May 1, Viljandi hosts a traditional race around the lake.

There is a monument to Hubert Parnakivi, who won this race 11 times in a row, on the treadmill near Lake Viljandi!

Well, what else to say about the glorious Estonian city of Viljandi? In addition to the well-known ruins of a medieval fortress, there are two beautiful Lutheran churches, one of which is over five hundred years old.

St. John's Church

St. Paulus Church

There is a city hall, a water tower with an observation deck, a folklore music center, a city museum, a singing field with an open stage, a "Tree of Peace" with a harp monument carved from a single piece of wood, monuments to various famous people - natives of Viljandi County. . .

Singing field.

Someone's "private property" in the courtyard of a residential building. People live!

Probably, there is something else, I'm sure that I didn't see everything the first time - I'll have to go back! ; )

Thanks to everyone who read my opus to the end.

I wish you all pleasant travels and vivid impressions! : )

Translated automatically from Russian. View original