Valga

We went to Valga last week. Here's a map of our trip I made in Google (fingers crossed it works, I haven't played around with custom maps before).

View Valga in a larger map

 Unfortunately this trip is never for pleasure, and thus we barely have any time to look around. There are some wonderful houses/buildings/parks (the old is not ruined by Euro-norms there) in Valga, and the nature in Southern Estonia is different - the land is not as flat as it is in the North. The only reason we go there is to tidy the graves of our ancestors. I'm not even sure if that's how you say that in English (or whether foreigners will understand what I'm trying to say here because as far as I've seen in the movies, the cemeteries in UK/USA are mostly covered by grass and the keeper takes care of them - ours are not). When a grave is not visited for a year, you will have a lot to weed. And that's pretty much what we do there. Visit and weed the graves of people I've never met. Our relatives live in Valga and even they don't care (nearest cemetery is 2 km from the border of Valga).
Oh well, at least I get out of my routine once in a while. And go abroad (3 km radius in Latvia)...I've missed just wandering around and going to places. My favorite choice of transportation (bicycle) is beyond repair and it makes me sad that while my friends are out in the great world doing big things, I'm not even able to go as far as 20 km. I probably sound awful, because I have a home, clean water and food so I've got nothing to complain about.

But on to the main topic! As said before, I never have enough time in Valga, so the photos I've taken could definitely be better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helme,_Estonia
A small place we always pass on our way to Valga. There are some ruins of a castle and
caves, but we usually never go there. I've been to the caves about 3 times before, but since
extremely tight spaces make me very anxious (slightly claustrophobic) and I get trouble
breathing, I tend to avoid that area there.

This right here is the essence of Valga (to me, at least). Many houses are
old and tired, they're not all made up and covered in pastel colours, they
are real. You can see their age, not just read the date of "birth" from a
plaque near the door and see the photo of the original house in a museum.
The real house, as it was built, is right there before your eyes.
It also makes me wonder...who made that house, what was situated in that
building, who lived there and what has happened to those people...

A house near the park.

The statue of Nipernaadi in a park and a Lada Riva near the market and church.

And finally a photo of a church in Rapla. This photo wasn't taken during this trip, though.

 Ruja - "Eile nägin ma Eestimaad" (title translates "Yesterday I saw Estonia"). It goes well with the topic of this post.

Ruja - Eile nägin ma Eestimaad