Day 30 - Spa's and Scooters

Today we moved from Tartu to Võru. When we were driving further south into Estonia, there was so much dense forest. It was so lovely being surrounded by an abundance of pine trees, I really enjoyed just watching the scenery. Of course I was so in it, I didn’t take any pictures, but I managed to get some videos! Looking at the forest and looking through the trees, I tried to imagine what it would have been like for the Forest Brothers. They were basically peasants who did not want to fight in the Russian or German armies so they took to the forest and lived there for years, fighting against the Russians. When I was up north in 2019, we went to Sooma national park, and there was an old bunker in there where the Estonians had really developed small communities to fight. They lived there through so many Winters and Summers, it was incredible they survived off the land. Estonia is more than 50% forest and they must have known it well to be able to fight and survive the way they did. To read more about them, click here.

​Once Mum and I settled ourselves, we headed into Võru. It wasn’t far from where we are staying and the town square looks like there is a series of steam trains, but only their elements, parked there. I remember it from last time but it was still pretty cool. I was recommended a pizza place to go to, ‘Olive Pizza’, so we went there for lunch. At this point, I had a bad headache and not sure where it came from but my gosh I was torn if I should go out or sleep but I am glad I did because of where we went after. The pizza we had was pretty good, well I had a calzone and mum had a pizza, so I am glad it was recommended to us. We then went to a little gift shop, I was so excited I didn’t take many photos. I headed straight for the stand that had Rahvariide fridge magnets, and I may have bought one of each county they had there. I know it is a bit extra but I don’t care, this stuff really brings me joy and I can’t wait to keep making my space at home feel like mine and really have a little bit of Estonia back at home.

​After a little bit of discussion, I convinced Mum to come to a day spa with me! It was more a room with 5 pools and 4 sauna’s all at different temperatures. I really liked the pool that was at 42 degrees, it was like being in a bath. We got there when it opened at 2pm and I am glad we did, it was somewhat peaceful at the start but then kids started coming. It wasn’t to hard to drown out the noise but they were loud. I spent some time in the 42 degree pool and then I found these really lovely warm tilled beds. Oh my, I think I sat in one for over an hour, drifting in and out of sleep. Really focusing on my breathing and feeling my nervous system relax. What I really liked about this place was the big windows and when you look out of them you can see the forest! It was such a beautiful philosophy of health, looking at the forest. They have spa packages where you really submerge yourself into the forest and healed through nature. This is something common in Southern Estonia, especially in Setomaa. I really enjoyed my time at this place, mum not so much but I was thankful she did it with me.

In the evening mum and I had some sausages with cheese (finally) and we were both craving something green so she made a really simple salad. Oh my gosh I don’t think I have enjoyed a green salad so much in my life. We had to make our own salad dressing because we realised that in Estonia, they use sour cream a lot for salad dressing rather than vinaigrettes so mum made one out of vinegar, oil, lemon, honey and mustard. It was so good I think I will have to make it when I go home! After dinner we were just chilling, I was writing and Raigo, Tiiu’s son, came in and asked if we wanted to go on some scooters. I wasn't sure what he meant and I thought it was the manual one’s. Turns that he met the electric scooters like you can hire. I didn’t have a chance to think about it and all of a sudden we were riding scooters. At first I was really nervous and didn’t think I was going to be able to go, I went really slow up the street but then once I had some confidence it was so much fun! Mum seemed to really enjoy herself too, her scooter was a bit slower than mine, mine went up to 75km/hr but there was no way in the world I was going to do that! I was surprised Mum did it but when we were riding them we were both having a lot of fun and so glad we said yes to this little opportunity. It was a different perspective riding these around Võru, seeing a different part of it that we probably never would have seen. I didn’t know there were so many nice parks and shopping centres. It was really nice going to the lake and going along the boardwalk, on scooters. Seeing the world from this perspective was interesting and I am so glad we did it. There was a moment when I was trying to get a video of Mum on the scooter and I didn’t leave enough room and she fell off it. Like a champ she did get back on and continued to ride around. When we come here it is usually to the old town area, where my grandparents grew up. Which reminds me, mum pointed out where my grandmother lived until she was 8 years old and we think we found the house my grandpa lived when he was a kid. They knew each other when they were kids and re found each other in Australia, how romantic. I am talking about mum’s parents of course. So we scootered around and Raigo took us to the house Mum thinks was her Dad’s. After we took some pictures there we continued on and then we came to another house and she thought it was that one, so we took photos of two old houses and we will compare the pictures when we get home. We drove around for a little bit longer then right near the end Raigo let me go on the motor bike scooter. I preferred this one, I liked it but I need a licence to drive it. We had so much fun!

​When we got back, Karen was there to give me a book. She had found the Kalevipoeg book that we were looking at in the museum, at a shop in Pänu!! I was so excited and grateful and she wanted to deliver this to us so that I had it. I can’t wait to read it, being in both English and Estonian, it should be a good read!
Until tomorrow
Marissa xx