Saku, Hiiumaa, & Saaremaa
Well its been a very busy past few days. We stayed in Pärnu until the 3rd of August. The weather warmed up slightly and then turned beautiful just as we left Pärnu. During the final few days in Pärnu we went on a nice hike in Sooma Park, through the Riisa bog, and also more visiting with relatives.
We moved on to Saku where we met Eero’s relatives Urmas & Reet and their son Siim, and Arvo & Ene, who are cousins to Eero’s mother, on her father’s side. We feasted in Saku the first evening with them, a large dinner of bbqed meat, smoked fish, and of course, lots of Eesti viin (vodka).
The following day we drove out to Kaberneeme (just east of Tallinn) to take Urmas’ boat (which was interestingly brought over from Michigan) out in the water. We had some electrical problems, which needed a new battery, so we took Arvo’s boat out for a short trip out to the small island in the bay. We then ate dinner at Arvo’s cottage and then got Urmas’ boat back up and running. We then went for an evening boat cruise, and then drove through Tallinn and on the way back to Saku.
The next day Urmas and Reet loaned us their Renault car and a bunch of camping equipment. We then scoured over a map of Eesti for an hour and planned out a roadtrip through Eesti. We soon set off and drove through Haapsalu and right onto the Hiiumaa Ferry. We visited the Kõpu lighthouse (third oldest working lighthouse in the world) and then on to a secluded beach on the east side of the island. We camped there and in the morning got the car stuck in the sand trying to get off of the beach, which we managed to get free by building a track out of flat rocks from the beach to drive along. The next day we drove around Hiiumaa, visiting a wild boar farm, the Tahkuna lighthouse (the last place Eero’s grandfather was stationed in Eesti), an old farm museum, and then hiked along the Sääretirp (island point). We then caught the last ferry of the day over to Saaremaa.
The following day we went to the Angla windmills, Kaali meteorite crater and lake, the beaches west of Kuressaare, and then found another camping spot on a neat little beach on the southern Sõrve peninsula of Saaremaa. We camped, despite all the mosquitos, and then the next day explored the Vilsandi National Park, sampled some traditional island cusine, and then worked our way down to Kuressaare. We stayed at the Nooruse B&B, which served us an exquisite breakfast, we highly recommend staying there if looking for a decent hostel in Kuressaare. The next morning we toured the Kuressaare castle, which is an impressive and well preserved castle and museum. We then headed back towards Saku visiting various ruins of 13th century pagan Estonian forts and a German/Danish/Swedish strongholds on the island of Saaremaa along the way.
The weather has been hot and the sites we have seen, although not always the biggest have been very interesting. The camping was nice, especially being on seculded, off the beaten path places. Sarah and I have been fighting off a bit of a cold during the past week, so we would have liked to have been feeling a bit better, although we’re both starting to feel better now. We’ll be posting a map and pictures soon of this excursion.
Tags: Eesti, Relatives, Travel
