Peter's Europe Blog: 18.7: Taevaskoja

Today our language group, the students, tutors and a few +1’s, set off for a little piece of Estonian paradise – Taevaskoja. 30 minutes from Tartu by train. This is one of the most popular nature sites in southern Estonia, with large limestone outcrops and some lovely forest, all steeped in ancient folklore. Forests such as the ones found here form a major component of the Estonian national identity. The weather turned out to be perfect, at around 20˚C. Upon arrival, we set off hiking. We stopped at Emaläte (lit. mother fountain), a natural spring which flows from the sandstone cliffs. The water from this spring is said to feed all the other springs at Taevaskoja. It’s water is said be good for ones eyesight and take seven years off your age if, and it’s a big if, you wash your face with its waters forty consecutive times. We didn’t have the time to try out the latter but I did have time to rinse my face and take a quick drink and, while I can’t say that I now have 20-20 vision, it was very nice, cold, refreshing spring water. We had our picnic lunch of the banks of the banks of the River Ahja, in front of Suur Taevaskoda, a large and rather impressive sandstone outcrop. We continued our walk through some very pretty forest, with the native Estonians of our group pointing all the edible things along the way. It was great! All the wild strawberries and blueberries were ripe and delicious – I wish we had strawberries in Australian forests! We then chilled out on the banks of a large lake for a while and returned home to Tartu.