Valga

Valga (Walk in German, Валка in Russian) is a 12,992 inhabitants town in the southern part of Estonia, capital of Valga County, by the Latvian border. It used to be a single town with the Latvian town of Valka till 1920, being nowadays twin towns and there are no borders or fences because of both countries joining Schengen Agreement.

How do I arrive to Valga?

  Valga is quite well connected with most of the important cities in Estonia and with Latvia too. 

• Train: Valga has a train station that connects Estonia and Latvia (but you'll have to transfer here) with, for example, three daily trains to Tartu (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes).
• Bus: there are buses from Valga 4 times to Otepää (aprox. 1 hour), 5 times to Tartu (aprox. 1 hour 45 minutes) and 6 times to Viljandi (aprox. 1 hour 45 minutes), twice to Võru (aprox. 2 hours), daily buses to Pärnu (aprox 2.5 hours 45 minutes) and 6 daily buses to Tallinn (aprox. 4 hours). To visit Sangaste there are 7 daily buses from Valga (aprox. 35 minutes) and 6 daily buses to Otepää (aprox. 30 minutes), among others. And to reach Otepää you can do it 4 times from Valga (aprox. 1 hour) or 10 times from Tartu (aprox. 1 hour).
• Car: if you rented a car from Valga you can reach Sangaste (aprox. 20 minutes), Otepää (aprox. 40 minutes), Karula National Park (aprox. 40 minutes), Võru (aprox. 1 hour), Viljandi (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes) or Tartu (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes). From Latvia Valga can be reached from Valmiera (aprox. 40 minutes) or Cēsis (aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes) in Gauja National Park.

History

  Valga was an important trade point in the heart of Livonia, specially as a stop in the way between Tallinn and Riga. The town is first mentioned in 1286 and during Middel Ages it suffered a lot of invasions by Lithuanians leaded by Algirdas and Gediminas. In it became the home of Terra Mariana landtag, reason why it was attacked several times by Russians and totally destroyed during the Livonian War. It was given the status of town by Stephen Báthory in 1584. After the Polish-Swedish War Valga became part of Sweden till the Great Northern War, when it was destroyed again and given to the Russian Empire. Its growth in population was small till in 1889 a train railway was built. In 1920, after WW1 was finished, the town was divided into Valga (Estonia) and Valka (Latvia). In the beginning of WW2 it was conquered by the Soviet Union (deporting Latvians and Estonians), Nazi Germany and then recovered by the Soviet Union.

 

What can I visit in Valga?

Valga has a mixture of 19th century wooden house (most of them abandoned) and Soviet style buildings, mixed with former border crossing with Latvia and industrial estates. Some of its nicer streets are Vabaduse or Sepa/Semināra iela.

These are Valga's main attractions:

• Valga Museum (11-18 Tue-Fri, 10-15 Sat; 3€/ 1.50€  adults/ retiree and students): museum about the local history and archaeology of the county of Valga placed in a former Art Nouveau threater. It also talks about deportations during Soviet times and about Alfred Neuland, Estonian weight-lifting champion in Olympic Games of 1920; there are temporary expositions too.
• Valga Old Town Hall: town hall built in 1865 that is the oldest wooden building in Valga. It is an example of early Estonian architecture.
  
• Valga Library: building that was constructed in 1902 as a manor house (that's why it includes a park and a small pond), currently used as the local library.
  
• St. Jaani Lutheran Church: church from 1816 in a mixture of Baroque and Neoclassic styles. The church is quite characteristic because of its oval shape (the only one of its kind in Estonia) and its weird organ. 
• St. Issidori Russian Orthodox Church: church built in 1898 for the Latvian and Russian communities, but used afterwards by Estonians as well. Its towers are of a similar shape as the St. Basil Cathedral at the Red Square in Moscow.
  
• Pühavaimu Catholic Church: Neo-Gothic church from 1907 with a beautiful and rare façade. It was built of large stones with layers of brick, common to the entire Baltic region but unfrequent for churches.
  
• Roheline: WW2 commemorative monument to the death of 29,000 Soviet soldiers in the prisoner-of-war camp Stalag-351 (a German concentration camp from 1941 to 1944, that became later a camp for German war prisioners). Only 100 m further there's a beautiful German cemetery.
• Crossing the border with Latvia to its neighbour Valka, with 5,835 inhabitants, there are some things to visit. Valka Local History Museum (11-18 Tue-Fri and 10-16 Sat-Sun from May to Oct; 10-17 Mon-Fri and 10-16 Sat from Nov to Apr; 1.50€/ 0.60€  adults/ retiree and students), small museum that helps to understand the history of Valka Municipality and the cultural heritage left by Jānis Cimze (founder of Latvian choir music culture); and Valka-Lugaži Lutheran Church. 
  
  

  

  Border between Valga (Estonia) and Valka (Latvia)

  
  

  

  St. Jaani Lutheran Church

Tõrva Lutheran Church

Another interesting place to visit, the second largest town in Valga County, is Tõrva (Törwa in German) with 2,848 inhabitants. This small town has some interesting things to see such as Tõrva Lutheran Church, a 20th century church that was built as a Russian Orthodox church during the Russification period. Not far from here it's located Barclay de Tolly Mausoleum, with tombs of many members of Barclay de Tolly family, one of the most important Baltic German families during the Russian Empire. Going back to Valga and driving towards Tartu, 27 km northeast there's Sangaste (Sangastõ in Võro), small village of 228 inhabitants known as the rye capital city of Estonia, thanks to the efforts by baron Friedrich von Berg (developing a variety of rye currently used worldwide).

Sangaste Castle

Moreover the village has some interesting things to visit, particulary Sangaste Castle (10-19 from May to Aug; booking on advance from Sep to Apr; 5€/ 3€/ free  adults/ retiree and students/ kids under 5), a Neo-Gothic red brick castle built in 1881 for baron Friedrich von Berg (one of the best examples of this style in the Baltic countries), and St. Andrease Lutheran Church (12-13:30 Sun from May to Aug), church from 1742, whose interior is quite simple, built over a 13th century one which is said to have hosted Blood of Christ relics (Sanguis Christi, possible origin of the name of the village).

Continuing our way to Tartu it can be seen Otepää (formerly Nuustaku,Odenpäh in German, Отепя in Russian), a 2,167 inhabitants town known as the winter capital of Estonia. This winter resort is very close to Pühajärv Lake, lake formed by the mother's of some sons who died in a battle in the novel Kalevipoeg, according to the legend. It has a popular beach (Ranna tee) and a monument conmemorating the blessing by dalai lama.

Pühajärv Lake

In the town you can also visit Energiasammas (column from 1992 which is believed to have an special energy), Otepää Winter Sports Museum (9-16 Mon-Fri; 6€/ 5€/ free  adults/ retiree and students/ kids under 16), museum located at Tehvandi stadium that shows expositions about some of the most well-known Estonian winter athletes or the Linnamägi Hill where there used to be an Estonian fortress and in 1224 it was built Otepää Bishop castle (destroyed in 1396). Here it was created the Estonian flag by the Estonian Students' Society in 1884, in St. Maarja Lutheran Church (10-19 Tue-Sat from May to Sep; free), Gothic church from 1671 but rebuilt in 1890, with bas-relieves (1934) that conmemorate the consecration of the flag. There are many options to do sport near Otepää from skiing to horse-riding, canoeing, rafting or hiking. Some of the most popular trails are Murrumetsa trail (3.5 km) or other trails by Pühajärv lake and other routes by Kääriku lake.

 

Where can I eat in Valga?

 Valga has some placed to eat like Metsis (Jüri 36) or the pub Voorimehe Pubi (J. Kuperjanovi 57).
In Sangaste, in the way to Otepää, a good idea is stopping at Sangaste Rye House Restaurant (Valga mnt. 13) to try traditional food linked to rye.
Otepää has an interesting culinary offer with the bakery Edgari Pood (Lipuväljak 3) or the restaurant Pühajärve (Tennisevälja 1).

 

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