Võru

Võru (Võro in Võro, Werro in German, Вы́ру in Russian) is a 12,367 inhabitants town by Tamula lake in the southeastern part of Estonia, capital of Võru County. One of its most curious things here is the presence of Võro language, a 87,000 speakers Finnic language that has been traditionally regarded as a dialect of Estonian but nowadays its considered an own language and it's in search of official recognition. It's also quite known in Estonia for having lived here several years Friedrish Reinhold Kreutzwald, known as the father of Estonian literature for its national epic Kalevipoeg.

How do I arrive to Võru?

  Võru isn't bad connect with most of the important cities in Estonia. 

• Bus: there are buses from Võru 8 times to Rõuge (aprox. 25 minutes), 16 times every day to Tartu (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes), twice to Valga (aprox. 2 hours), daily buses to Pärnu (aprox 2 hours 45 minutes) and 10 daily buses to Tallinn (aprox. 4 hours). To visit Setomaa you can reach Värska from Tartu (aprox. 1 hour 45 minutes) or Tallinn (aprox. 4 hours 15 minutes) there are buses from Võru to Meremäe (aprox. 1 hour) and Obinitsa (aprox. 1 hour).
• Car: if you rented a car from Võru you can reach Rõuge (aprox. 15 minutes), Otepää (aprox. 40 minutes), Karula National Park (aprox. 50 minutes), Valga (aprox. 1 hour) or Tartu (aprox. 1 hour). It's quite close to the Russian border so you can arrive to Pskov (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes).

History

 The first inhabitants of the municipality dates back to Stone Age by Tamula lake. There used to be a settlement just 1 km from Võru called Kirumpää, that dates back to 1322 but was abandoned after the Russo-Swedish War. The town was founded in 1784 under the reign of Catherine the Great, with a plannified structure (that can still be observed) and some old churches that can still be visited. In 1889 it was built Pskov-Riga railway and Võru was part of it.

 

What can I visit in Võru?

Võru has a mixture of 19th century wooden house (most of them abandoned) and Soviet style buildings, perfectly visible in one of its main streets, Kateriina allee. Võru is also the capital of smoke sauna tradition, placed in UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2014.

These are Võru's main attractions:

• Dr. Friedrish Reinhold Kreutzwald Memorial Museum (10-18 Wed-Sun; 3€/ 2€/ 1€  adults/ retiree and students/ people under 18): museum placed in a house from 1793 where Dr. Kreutzwald lived between 1833 and 1877. The expositions show the career of the doctor and speak about Kalevipoeg (Son of Kalev) and a nearby building has a collection of editions of this book in many languages like Chinese or Hindu.
• Võru County Museum and Art Gallery (11-19 Wed-Sun from Jun to Aug; 11-18 Wed-Sun from Sep to May; 3€/ 2€/ 1€  adults/ retiree and students/ people under 18): museum about the local history of the county of Võru (since the first human presence in the area to the 20th century) and its local culture like the sauna tradition (placed in the Intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO) and Võru language. There's also a small but dinamic art gallery with works of local artists.
• St. Katariina Lutheran Church: main Lutheran church in Võru built in 1793, just 9 years after the foundation of the town. The architectural style was probably chosen with her help, because the church strikingly resembles the Latvian monuments of the Baroque style.
  
• St. Ekaterina Russian Orthodox Church (16-19 Sat, 7-11 Sun from May to Sep): Neogothic church built in 1804 in Russian Orthodox style. It has a nice iconoclast and here it's buried Nikolai Bežanitski (murdered by the Bolsheviks). Both churches in the town are named in Catherine the Great's honour. 
• Roosisaare Bridge: modern bridge that leads through the swamp to the opposite shore. It is very nice to cross in on food and has beautiful illumination at night too.
  
   

Inner part of Dr. Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald Memorial Museum

St. Katariina Lutheran Church

Seto Museum of Farming

Going to the Russian border it can be found the region of Setomaa, located between Estonia and Russia (Võru County and Pechorsky District) whose historical capital is Pechory (Печо́ры in Russian, Petseri in Estonian), in Russia. Seto people speak a dialect of Estonian and whose culture is different from the rest of the country. The largest municipality in Setomaa is Värska (Verska in Seto), a 446 inhabitants village inhabited since 5,000 years close to Lake Peipus. In the village you can visit Seto Museum of Farming (10-18 Tue-Sun from Jun to Aug; 10-16 Thu-Sun from Sep to May; 5€/ 2€  adults/ retiree and students), 19th century farm that shows traditional life in Setomaa and sells traditional items;  St. Georgiuse Russian Orthodox Church, a picturesque stone church built in 1907. In the north, in Podmosta it can be seen Kulje (Кулье in Russian), village with a beautiful church in the Russian side of Lake Peipus. 

Piusa Cave Museum

Continuing 20 km there's Piusa, a 7 inhabitants small village where it's locatedd Piusa Cave Museum (12-16 from May to Sep; 12-16 Sat-Sun from Oct to Apr; 5€/ 4€  adults/ retiree and students), caves used to manufacture glass between 1922 and 1966 home of the largest bats in the Baltic countries. From here it starts also a Piusa Nature Trail (1.4 km) by pine forests and trenches. In the south of the region it can be found Obinitsa, a 187 inhabitants village. It has some interesting things like Obinitsa Museum (10-18 Tue-Sun from Jun to Aug; 10-16 Thu-Sun from Sep to May; 5€/ 2€  adults/ retiree and students), small ethnographic museum that displays traditional dressings or old pictures; or the Issanda Muutmise Russian Orthodox Church, church from 1897. There's a combined ticket for Värska, Obinitsa and Saatse museums for 10€/ 5€  adults/ retiree and students. 

Ruins of Vastseliina Episcopal Castle

Going south there's Meremäe Hill (204 m) with nice views and not far from Obinitsa, in the small borough of Vastseliina (Vahtsõliina in Võro, Neuhausen in German), it can be found the Ruins of Vastseliina Episcopal Castle (10-18 from Apr to Sep; 11-16 Tue-Fri, 11-15 Sat from Nov to Mar; 9€/ 7€/ 3€  adults/ retiree and students/ castle ruins), beautiful ruins (a wall and three towers) located by Piusa river, that was founded in 1342 by the Livonian Order (being one of the most of important ones in the Livonian Order) and destroyed during the Great Northern War, used as a Medieval Age museum. From here there's a 15 km path to the village of Lindora. The region has some very nice festivals like Seto Kingdom Day or Transfiguration Day. Seto Leelo, a traditional polyphonic singing tradition was placed in UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009.

Where can I eat in Võru?

 Võru has some placed to eat like the pub Ränduri (Jüri 36), Spring Cafe (Petseri 20) or another pub called Õlle 17 (Jüri 17). It also has a threatre called Võru Kannel (Liiva 13), an important sauna whose name is Kubija (Männiku 43a) and one of the best shops in Estonia to buy antiquities Karma (Lydia Koidula 14). Within Hanjaa Nature Park you can eat in Ööbikuoru Villa (Tiida küla).
In Setomaa it's a good idea trying Seto cuisine in places like Seto Tsäimaja (Pikk 56) in Värska or Taarka Tarõ Köögikõnõ (Seto seltsimaja) in Obinitsa.

Posted in: Estonia,Europe