Spring recommendations for what to do in Estonia #2: Viktorija
Estonian Institute in collaboration with podcast “Found in Estonia” brings you a series of recommendations from English-speaking local foreigners. Estonian Institute is presently developing its web environment at Culture.ee to make integration and cultural exchange more accessible.
Viktorija Domarkaitė is a 27-year-old Lithuanian designer of Qviin jewelry brand. After coming to Estonia in search for better arts education, she chose Tallinn as her second home and is now counting her 9th year in this country. You can listen to her episode on “Found in Estonia” podcast here. “Lately more than ever I keep on finding new gems of places I haven’t seen before,” she says. “Covid time has been perfect to discover something further than city center or a nearby park.”
This list is going to be all about that long awaited road trip with a personal or a rental car, full of discoveries, premade moist sandwiches and oldie but goodie music.
The most mesmerising sight of underground springs coming to life. Small sand particles reflect different colors in a collection of springs, from blue to green or black. These beautiful springs breathe together with the surrounding nature and remind us myths of healing described in folklore.
I can not describe the beauty and alternate universe that opens up there during a sunny day. Construction created out of stones with its green moss and a structure like no other gives a feeling of a fairy tale scene from book pages. It’s in Nõmme, on the side of Glehn’s castle.
An industrial facility water bank is one of the later discoveries. Oil Shale leftovers are washed out from the factory forming a crust on the bank floor of white powder. The waste and carbonites gives water a sky blue glow which creates the most mesmerising view.
Soviet architecture lovers will for sure find where to let their eyes loose over here. Andropoffs Villa near Pärnu together with a nearby cinema building has been kept as a top secret for decades. A feel as well as a smell of mixed morals still lingers next to on a wall hung legendary hammer & sickle.
Another nature attraction that is lately getting more visitors is Keila waterfall. Spring is the perfect time to visit this powerful nature phenomenon. The view just calls for a picture and a picnic near a specially made hiking path to enjoy full waterfall grandeur.
A real eye candy in all of its glory – sort of. By now an abandoned building with heaps of potential invites to step back and take a moment. Octagonal shapes and hundreds of small windows resemble a sort of a ufo spaceship that after a good look starts luring you in for a further inspection.
One of the biggest Estonian/Soviet movie “The Last Relic” was filmed here for a reason. Thousands and thousands of years have created a sandstone outcrop landscape showing time complexity. Take a walk, winter or summer, with someone or alone, on foot or canoe, the view is just impressive. As simple as that.