Trip to Lake Peipsi (Part 1)

Yesterday I made an impromptu day trip to some bits of the Estonian countryside around Tartu that I hadn't yet seen. About 20 miles to the east of Tartu lies Lake Peipsi (see photo above), a large body of water (over 100 miles long and 20 to 30 miles across) that forms most of Estonia's eastern border with Russia. Along the shoreline on the Estonian side are a string of fishing villages inhabited by Russian speaking communities known as 'Old Believers'. These split off from the main Russian Orthodox Church in the late 18th century and have preserved many of their traditions because of their isolated position. In some ways they are Estonia's equivalent of the Amish, one difference being that the Old Believers have no problem with adopting modern technology.

Another difference is that the Old Believers see very few tourists, again largely because of their isolated location. I spent the morning wandering around several of the villages, watching boats coming in off the Lake, wood being chopped and piled for next winter, and farmers out in the fields ploughing and sowing crops. The Old Believer communities make their living catching fish from the Lake and growing onions. In the foreground of the picture below are onion fields waiting for the spring sowing.


Having eaten a couple of weeks ago at the only Brazilian restaurant in Finland, on the Lake Peipsi trip I managed to do one better and have lunch at the only Old Believer restaurant in the whole world. Given what I knew about their lifestyle, it seemed clear that I should focus in my menu choices on fish dishes and onion dishes. I started with 'Lake Peipsi sprat soup':



Then I tried 'Fried pike-perch in tomato and onion sauce', which also came with a side dish of spring onions in sour cream:


I washed this down with tea, served from a large samovar that was placed in the middle of the table. The teapot containing the (strong) tea sat on top. You pour the tea into a cup and then add water from the samovar tap to dilute it. It is served with hunks of raw sugar-candy, and apparently the correct thing to do is to munch on a piece of candy and then sip your tea to dissolve the candy in your mouth!


arb