Connected in the woods: White Christmas in South Estonia

"Let's hope we will have snow for Christmas!" and so it was. Luckily. And somehow unexpectedly. Because until two days before, the weather was rather warm (in our referential, this means: around 2 degrees on the plus side) and rainy.

Sunset in Pühajärve

Snow is bright ...

We wanted a snowy Christmas badly because we had planned a three-day stay in the Winter Capital of Estonia, Otepää, with the goal of spending most of the time in the open air. The perspective of spending the short daylight time hiking in the mud was not perfect.

Picnic spot with view on the Pühajärve

"Early" morning sun on the Pühajärve beach

But we were blessed with a lot of fresh snow and that turned it into a beautiful time. Yes, snow is light. Snow means that, with a bit of artificial lighting, you can enjoy open air activities at any time, even long after sunset, which happens at... 15:30! (although you still have reasonable visibility until 16:00 when the terrain is covered with snow).

... fun ...

And snow means a lot of fun: making snowmen, walking in knee-high snow, snow tubing, skating, skiing. It was the first time I tried snow tubing, and I confirm it is a lot of fun. The first time was even scary, because I could not control the direction of my "donut", but the tracks are rather safe and the sides are slightly shaped to keep you inside.

... but tiring

Another big première for me: cross-country skiing. As a big fan of downhill skiing, I wanted to try cross-country or Nordic skiing for a while. Could not find a better opportunity than this one! Otepää has a skiing stadium with organised tracks as well as tracks connecting villages. Because of the fresh snowfall, we decided to reach for the Tehvandi stadium where the tracks were clear and we would have the "rails" for the classic style. When we arrived, on the morning of 25 December, there were not many people, and that was a good thing, because most skiers around us were really fast! Not surprisingly, they had "Estonia" written on their blouse and Katri recognised an olympic medalist...

The ring was far from easy, and going uphill seems to require a good deal of technique (and strength) not to slip backwards... or (let us believe so, for our ego) a more accurate waxing of the skis (but I am happy the lady at the rental did it for us anyway - it seems to be a science).

And uphill we go (or try to go) on Tehvandi stadium

Brave man digging a hole in the ice cap of the lake in search for fish

A lot of fresh snow also means that the lake ring of 13 km felt like... 25 km? Walking on deep snow was very pleasant but indeed a bit tough, especially in areas where one could clearly see that we were the first ones to walk there since the last snowfall.

Relaxing is key

Overall a healthy and quiet Christmas. While tradition in my family was to spend long hours at family gatherings, where good food and bubbly wines follow each others for a few days, here we just had the necessary food to fill the gaps left by our activities. Now, not everything was outdoors. We were staying at the Pühajärve spa hotel and had a package allowing us to use the gym and the swimming pool, with sauna, and which included a couple of extras - which we turned into a couple of back and neck massage of 20 minutes. All this was lovely and for once in my life I think I got back from my (short) Christmas holiday in much better health - both physically and mentally!

People skiing on the frozen lake... (every year they report accidents)

Snowy hike in Paunküla

And since we didn't get bored yet with all the snow, we also had a stopover in Paunküla, 45 km South of Tallinn, for another beautiful walk in deep snow.