You have to visit Saaremaa to see the real Estonia, as it was a hundred years ago. And the way it would have been if it hadn't been for the cataclysms of the twentieth century.
From the mainland, the island is surrounded by a narrow strait - only five kilometers away. It is possible to get over it by ferry.
In cold seasons, there are not too many people and cars on it - mostly islanders. In summer, Estonians like to rest on Saaremaa, many of them have summer cottages.
The ferry arrives not at Saaremaa itself, but at a small island called Muhu.
The first impression is that this is a corner of pristine nature. The island is full of farmsteads and villages. But they fit so seamlessly into the landscape that they seem to be a natural extension of it.
Barns with reed roofs... Fences made of boulders covered with surprisingly soft moss... Tidy houses surrounded by lime trees and maples... In short, a village idyll.
On the islands of Muhu and Saaremaa, there are surprisingly many windmills.
We find windmills of solid construction - the so-called "Dutch" ones. But most of them are quite light buildings of local construction.
Once upon a time, the islands of Muhu and Saaremaa were inhabited by Estonians, the ancestors of today's Estonians. Almost a thousand years ago, the Danes started colonizing the Baltic States from the same islands.
- There are no monuments of that time on Mukha, but there are many of them on the island of Saaremaa, which is connected with Mukha by a three-kilometer dam.
- Danish settlers built stone churches, which also served as fortresses.
- There are no such massive, reliably fortified churches in continental Estonia. Behind their powerful walls, the Danes and then the German knights took refuge from the revolts of the pagan Estonians.
- If the enemy managed to break into the church, the besieged were hiding in a hiding place. In the church of Vallala settlement, it was arranged between the ceiling vaults and the roof. From the facade, it is clear that there is quite enough space there.
- The site of the Valley church used to be the largest settlement on the island of Saaremaa. In 1227, a group of Danes approached its walls, but the battle did not take place. The elders, having thought carefully, accepted the conditions of the aliens, paid tribute and let the priests into the fortress to baptize the people. And ten years later they started to build this church.
- There are several dozen such churches on Saaremaa, and in each of them, besides the usual crucifixions, there is an image of a star hanging on the wall. It was worshipped by the inhabitants of the island in pagan times.
- According to legend, this cult appeared after one of the stars broke off from the sky and fell to the island. By the way, this is not a fantasy of Estonians. Everyone can see where the star fell.
- Such an exact geometry in natural landscapes is probably not found anywhere else. And no wonder - 2500 years ago a meteorite fell here. When it hit the ground, a crater was formed, which now occupies Lake Kaali.
- Among the piles of stone blocks, there are traces of a pagan temple. Estonians, after the official adoption of Christianity, came here for another three hundred years to worship the star. Each natural attraction on the island is associated with a legend.
- There is a legend that a Spanish monk knight sent to Saaremaa with a special mission by the Pope himself was immured in the castle wall. He was bricked up for falling in love with a young Islander and forgetting his vows as a monk, he settled with her on a remote farmstead. The bishop's helpers found him, grabbed him and subjected him to an excruciating execution. Several centuries passed. During the reconstruction of the castle was opened a room that was not listed on any plan. The skeleton of passionate hidalgo was sitting in a chair at the table, on which stood a jug of scroll with his sentence.
- In the middle of the 16th century, Bishop Kuressaare sold his land together with the Danish castle. The bishop's name was Munchausen - he was a close relative of the famous baron-baron.
- In Soviet times, rare sightseers were led not to the castle but to the house-museum of the Estonian communist revolutionary Viktor Kingisepp. It was named after him from 1952 to 1988.
- It is impossible to find a museum house anymore - apparently, it was closed down by the free Estonian authorities. So the main monument of the Soviet era in the city remained a dwelling house, combined with a water tower.
- Life on Saaremaa runs slowly. People are busy serving tourists, agriculture. And, of course, the fishing industry is the majority of the locals, hereditary fishermen, and sailors.
Before Estonia gained independence, Saaremaa was a closed border area. Perhaps that's why its nature has remained almost untouched. Now there is almost nothing left of the Soviet outpost. Only on the extreme southwestern extremity of the island will a lighthouse emerge, which has turned from a military object into a symbol of openness and hospitality.