Üle-Pelska

The 3-room suite called Ülepelska stretches from one side of Ilmaveere to the other – the rooms on the second floor have large balconies opening to both the south and north sides. It sleeps up to six and has its own personal bath with exceptional views of Lake Obinitsa. Of course, you are welcome to use the Nature Spa as well.

This room has another special feature. From 1904 to 1950, the first floor of the house was a school, but the second served as the church. And the altar of that church was located in this very room.

In Orthodox churches, the room behind the altar and the iconostasis can only be entered by the clergy, who at that time were only men. To mark the location of this room, the bema, we asked the local artist Evar Riitsaar to paint unique patterns on the ceiling beams. Raise your gaze for a truly heavenly experience.

A bit of history behind the name of the room:

The name of Ülepelska comes from the Pelska stream, which borders this area. The other border runs just here in Obinitsa. When looking south from Ilmaveere, you can see the lake with Ülepelska on the right coast and Mokornulga on the left coast. The lake itself is man-made by raising the waters of the Tuhkvitsa stream in the primeval valley. It was christened in 1995. On the shore of the Ülepelska Lake, there is a sandstone cave called “Juda tarõ” or “Vanahalva tarõ”, which is featured in many Estonian myths about “Vanapagan”, the local version of the devil. It is said that the monastery was planned to be built here, but some unknown force did not let this happen. So a new location in Petseri was chosen.