25 Minutes from Tallinn Airport: Seal Watching Trips in North Estonia
After only a 25-minute drive from Tallinn city centre, you can sit in a boat taking you to enjoy the most wonderful natural experience – an up-close encounter with seals, the largest mammals of the Baltic Sea.
Having lived in the Baltic Sea for 10,000 years, the seals have been both a nuisance and a source of income for the people living on the Estonian coast. The so-called hairy fish destroyed fishermen’s nets and catch, but then again, they were also caught by local seal hunters. Seals provided sealskin, meat and fat that all came to find good use in the households. The skin was used to make footwear and clothes, the meat was boiled with potatoes or smoked, salted and dried.
Historically, seals were hunted in winter on ice with men spending weeks on the sea. They brought bread, salted meat and potatoes with them and food was prepared on the sea in one large pot. They used fresh seal meat to cook soup, the meat of a grey seal pup was considered the best. Seal hunters and fishermen wore sealskin boots reaching up to hips that were lined with cowhide or horsehide soles impregnated in seal fat and tar. The man who shot the seal got the flippers to make good new footwear.
As today the seal habitats have considerably decreased, seal hunting is largely forbidden. It is only allowed on the Estonian island of Kihnu where it is part of the cultural heritage under UNESCO protection. Seal watching, however, is strongly encouraged, especially as the curious hairy fish will quickly come to check the visitors as well.
The trip takes about two to three hours, including an hour for the seal watching. You may see up to twenty seals at a time relaxing on the rocks. We will treat the seals to classical music, talk about the small islets on our way and also given an overview of the present situation of the seals in Estonia. We will set sail at a small harbour only a 25-minute drive from Tallinn city centre and in about an hour we will reach the seal watching area near Malusi islands.
Seal pups are born in late February or March. Therefore, the trips are taken in summer and autumn when the pups are large enough to swim. The group size is 6-30 people and the trips are organised in both Estonian and/or English. For further information, contact Go Travel consultants!
21 Minutes from Tallinn Airport – beer tasting in Saku Beer Factory
Only a stone’s throw from Tallinn, 21 minutes from the airport and 25 minutes from the city centre lies the charming small town Saku. However, the name of the town with only 5000 inhabitants is famous all over Estonia and also in neighbouring countries – namely, this is the place where Saku beer, one of the two best-known Estonian beer brands, is produced. The old brewery of the manor gradually grew into the oldest Estonian beer factory.
The first brewery in Saku was established in 1820 by the manor owner Count Karl Friedrich von Rehbinder. However, it remained a mere sideline and the situation changed only when the new owners took over the manor in 1849 – the Baggo family introduced major innovations and the beer making soon escalated.
By the end of the century, Saku beer had become a major player in the beer market in Tallinn and in 1876 the small manor brewery was replaced by a proper steam-powered beer factory. The venture paid off and already in 1900 altogether 203,800 buckets of beer were brewed in Saku, while their main rival, Tallinn beer factory Revalia, could only produce 153,000 buckets. The vigorous development of Saku led to Revalia closing its doors in 1911. There have been no beer factories in Tallinn ever since and the whole of North-Estonia has unanimously favoured Saku beer.
The historic brewery built on the charming banks of River Vääna now houses the museum of Saku Beer Factory giving an insight into the past and the present of beer manufacturing with also an opportunity to taste the production after the tour. The given tour with the beer tasting takes about 90 minutes including ten types of beer and other drinks.
Following the fun and informative beer tour, it’s time to take a short walk! Across the river from the factory, there is an impressive manor park. In the middle of the park, we will find the manor that was first mentioned already in 1622. The present manor house built in 1820 is considered one of the best examples of Neo-Classicism ever constructed in Estonia.
The mansion was established by Paul Eduard Rehbinder (1784-1870) who sold the manor to County Commissioner Rudolf von Patkul in 1843 for 92,500 silver roubles. Seven years later, Patkul sold the complex to Karl von Baggenhufwudt making a huge profit. It was the latter’s son Valerio who developed the small brewery established in 1820 by Karl Friedrich von Rehbinder into Saku Beer Factory and further into a major corporation in 1909-1910. Similarly, purebred animals were kept in Saku, there were two pubs, a tavern, a beer shop, greenhouses, watermills, a steam-powered watermill and a weaving mill.
During the years of the Republic of Estonia between the two World Wars, Saku manor housed a home economics school, nicknamed as the brides’ school. Later also an agricultural school, technical school, the Estonian Institute of Agriculture and even a kindergarten and the local council were located in the building.
At present, the manor functions as a recreational and conference centre. It may be booked for various events as there is an extensive ballroom (90 m2), a somewhat smaller Palm Hall (65 m2), a seminar room, the Cognac salon and the Gentlemen’s salon, and also 11 hotel rooms and a sauna. Restaurant Von Sackenmeck on the lower ground floor is open for the general public. The manor park is suitable for various adventure games, including disc-golf.
In case you would like to learn more about the activities in Saku manor, please turn to our incoming sales department. We will assist you in arranging either a day trip to learn more about beer or a conference in Saku manor. Further information incoming@gotravel.ee.
____________________ Photos: Saku Õlletehas; Saku mõis
5 Places in Eastern Estonia Worth Showing to Film Producers
Our Project Manager Hele Lahtvee gives you five hints for unique places in Eastern Estonia that should definitely be shown to film producers as their authenticity and historical accuracy must not be missed!
Kreenholm – A Town with no Street Names
Kreenholm is an island on River Narva dividing the Narva waterfall into the western and eastern distributaries with the latter also marking the Estonian-Russian border. In mid-19th century, a textile factory named Kreenholm Manufactory Company was established there.
Kreenholm operated as if a separate town on its own island. In addition to the production facilities, also housing for employees were constructed in the fashion of the most innovative industrial housing areas in England (with red brick and little turrets as compulsory elements). It reminded of a comprehensive city district with its residences for managers, foremen and workers, a school building, sauna, police station and shops, but also a Lutheran and Russian Orthodox churches, a market, a fire station, a huge hospital and club building.
Kreenholm was officially merged with Narva only in 1917, until then the street across the complex did not even have a name. It was only after the Second World War that the street in Kreenholm was named after Lenin. Elsewhere, the name of Lenin was given to the widest and most important street, but Kreenholm got the name for its workers’ uprisings that were regarded highly by the city. In 1990s, it was renamed as Joala Street.
The abandoned Kreenholm Manufactury Company expanding over 30 hectares is a perfect setting for a horror or action film for its massive walls as well as vast deserted rooms. Excursions to the closed facilities allow the tourists to sense the enormous extent of the textile industry here.
Stalinist Grandeur in Sillamäe
During the Soviet period, architecture was a means of propaganda for the authorities to speak with the people. In Sillamäe, the conversations have been excellent: the powerful colonnades, stairways and generally oversized scales allow you to sense the presence of power and your own minuteness. In order to complete the urban image, the staircase leading from the central square towards the sea was decorated with sculptures and live palm trees (stored in greenhouses in winter and brought outside again in spring). As Sillamäe was a closed border town during the Soviet period, people were kept away from the sea and thus the avenue was not completed near the coast. At present, however, there are plans to construct a pedestrian bridge, pavilion and colonnade at the end of the avenue in keeping with the former style.
One of the most remarkable buildings in Sillamäe is the cultural centre with a grand eye-catching chandelier. It was installed in 1949 and has remained unchanged ever since with only new sockets fitted for contemporary lightbulbs. The majestic chandelier was originally made for a castle in Tajikistan or Turkmenistan in Central Asia, but the factory director in Sillamäe Fyodor Gukov ‘snatched’ it for the cultural palace under construction.
In addition to the chandelier, Sillamäe also boasts a miniature copy of the famous steps in Odessa, a boulevard opening to the sea at present under vigorous construction, a restored bomb shelter housing the Soviet museum, and much more that would make a perfect scenery for a monumental film set in the Soviet era. There is no match for such genuine and representative Stalinist style anywhere else.
Estonian Mining Museum
The underground museum is one of the most exciting and fascinating attractions in East Viru county with the total length of its tunnels extending over a kilometre. The excursion takes you through the mine in the miners’ footsteps providing you with a glimpse of their daily drudge in the dark and damp tunnels thus revealing the background and development of the mining industry.
The underground tour takes you through various work and resting areas and explosive storages, you ride on an authentic miners’ train and learn about the underground equipment and technologies. Visitors may also order a delicious miners’ lunch to be enjoyed in an authentic underground miners’ canteen. It is a truly film-like experience taking you back in time to the daily life of a Soviet miner.
Coastal Cliffs of Saka-Ontika-Toila
The coastal cliffs in Saka-Ontika-Toila are the main attraction in East Viru county. Expanding over 55 metres above the sea level, Ontika cliff seems like a stone natural history book highlighting the layers of various eras. It is the highest point of the famous Baltic Klint extending over 1,100 kilometres from the Swedish island of Öland to Lake Lagoda in Russia. The coastal cliff stretches from the village of Saka to Toila Bay over almost 23 kilometres thus forming the longest continuous part of the klint.
The platform near Valaste waterfall offers the best views of the cliffs, while also the hiking track built on the coast provides a good opportunity to experience the unique klint forest. Valaste is the tallest waterfall in Estonia at 26 metres. It formed only a few decades ago at the mouth of the canal dug in the limestone plateau and ledge of the klint as a result of the drainage work. The platform affords excellent views of both the waterfall and the consequences of the flow.
When viewed through the lens, the coastal cliff would provide a perfect background for love movies – both those with tragedy and dramatic events interwoven in the plot and those featuring cheerful romantic encounters. The views from the cliff and the mysterious forest and sea below – sometimes smooth as glass, sometimes in violent storms – will feed your imagination with endless opportunities.
A Genuine Knight’s Castle in Purtse
The castle of Purtse is located on the banks of River Purtse in East Viru county, immediately visible to visitors driving from Tallinn and gazing at the sea. It has provided shelter against raids and found practical use as an icehouse, milk and grain storage as well as a prison and workers’ accommodation.
The construction of the tower castle was funded by the money that the owners, the Taube family, gathered as coastal robbers – by leading ships onto the rocks with false lighthouses and then looting them. They later built the church of Lüganuse and supported the church in Jõhvi to redeem their sins – whether the lord in heaven or, more likely, the more temporal king on Earth. Thus, the background of the castle would provide an excellent setting for medieval Sopranos or for some other knightly tale.
Today, the castle doors are open for excursions, exhibitions, weddings, concerts and also as a restaurant. We recommend the delightfully delicious mushroom puree soup! ____________
Photos: Irene Sulger, Hele Lahtvee, Põhjarannik, Silver Kämära (VKG)
Meet us at ITB 2016!
We are glad to inform you that our company GoTravel will take part in ITB Travel Fair 2016 in Berlin 09.03. – 11.03.2016. You are most welcome to visit our stand 126c / Hall 18!
ITB Berlin is the foremost business platform for global touristic offers.
As a result of the expansion of Go Hotel Shnelli, 13 new spacious family rooms with an average size between 40 and 50 m² were completed in the spring of 2014. This allows to offer even more cosiness and homely feeling to families with children, but also for couples who appreciate comfort, space and privacy. The new family rooms include a kitchen nook, which is equipped with a microwave oven, fridge, kettle and dining table.
Ask for a price on your travel dates!
Price is inclusive of:
accommodation 1 night in an apartment-type family room
A special feature of the Juu Jääb Festival is the fact that the Festival takes place outdoors exposed to the elements – be it grass that is slowly turning into mud because of pouring rain, starlit sky adding a touch of romance or the scorching July sun, people have always come to celebrate the birth of music.
Juu Jääb brings together many diverse artists and personalities, each of whom has a story to tell.
