{"id":161889,"date":"2026-08-28T04:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T01:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/?p=161889"},"modified":"2026-08-27T19:07:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T16:07:56","slug":"a-hundred-reasons-to-visit-poltsamaa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/a-hundred-reasons-to-visit-poltsamaa\/","title":{"rendered":"A Hundred Reasons to Visit P\u00f5ltsamaa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What comes to mind when you hear the name P\u00f5ltsamaa? Perhaps its famous mustard, a castle seen in social media photos, or a road sign along the Tallinn\u2013Tartu highway, although by then you are already so close to Tartu that you might not really feel like turning off the main road.<\/p>\n

But do you know why this small town of around 9000 inhabitants, together with the surrounding P\u00f5ltsamaa municipality, was known as Oberpahlen until 1917? It is also the name of the restaurant operating in the castle courtyard, complete with quality wine cellars. The river flowing through the town, eventually reaching Tartu\u2019s Emaj\u00f5gi via the Pedja River, is also known locally as the Paalaj\u00f5gi, or Pahle in its former German-language form. Thus, \u201cabove Pahlen\u201d or \u201con the Pahlen bank\u201d is quite a logical name for a settlement that developed as early as the late 13th century and, in the 1570s, even served as the main residence of the then Kingdom of Livonia.<\/p>\n

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Estonia\u2019s first karting track and competition in the summer of 1962. Today, the same Kuningam\u00e4e centre has been completely renovated and is a modern motorsport hub.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Speaking of the main road: the geographical centre of mainland Estonia is located in Kalme village, in P\u00f5ltsamaa municipality, right alongside the highway. The site features an ancient sacrificial stone, an information board and a yellow National Geographic scenic frame, perfect for taking selfie photos. Note to self: remember to add it to the list of stops in the satnav!<\/p>\n

And continuing with the trivia: did you know that the first Estonian-language periodical, L\u00fchhike \u00f6ppetus, mis sees monned head rohhud te\u00e4da antakse…<\/i>, published in 1766, was printed at a printing house on the outskirts of P\u00f5ltsamaa? Its title translates roughly as \u201cA Short Instruction Giving Information About Some Good Folk Remedies\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The church\u2019s stained-glass windows were created by Dolores Hoffmann, whose work can also be seen, for example, in the glass wall of the Tallinn TV Tower\u2019s auditorium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Inspired by the town charter it received exactly one hundred years ago, P\u00f5ltsamaa\u2019s tourism people launched a series of Facebook posts<\/span><\/a><\/span> in June called \u201c100 Reasons to Visit P\u00f5ltsamaa\u201d. Although the campaign is aimed at domestic travellers and is available only in Estonian, the posts and photos are easy enough to understand using a web browser\u2019s translation function. Now, at the end of August, the series has reached episode 59, but even from the posts published so far\u2014many of them enriched with excellent background stories\u2014I have already collected plenty of ideas for a stopover on my next drive towards Tartu. Here are just a few examples:<\/p>\n

The Adavere, Lustivere, V\u00f5isiku and Pajusi manor houses; the hugely popular wake park on Lake Kamari, featuring a cable-pulled waterskiing system and also located right beside the highway; S\u00f5pruse, or Friendship Park, also right by the main road, with its impressive statues of \u201cKalevipoeg Ploughing\u201d and \u201cEstonian Olympic Medalists\u201d; three new large stained-glass windows at P\u00f5ltsamaa St Nicholas\u2019 Church and Estonia\u2019s longest woven church aisle carpet; fashion designer Katre Arula\u2019s handicraft and accessories shop in the castle courtyard; a private radio museum; numerous summer events; an exhibition at the castle museum featuring space-tube food developed at the P\u00f5ltsamaa factory for cosmonauts; Toretalu\u2019s cornfield labyrinth<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u2026 and many, many more. It might even be worth looking for accommodation in the area rather than in Tartu\u2026<\/p>\n

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What comes to mind when you hear the name P\u00f5ltsamaa? Perhaps its famous mustard, a castle seen in social media … Read more<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":161884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[28167,339,13336,13882,17693,26490,27921,28166],"class_list":["post-161889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-estonia","tag-wakepark","tag-restaurant","tag-tourism","tag-poltsamaa-2","tag-castle","tag-attractions","tag-oberpahlen","tag-castle-museum"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t