Vilsandi National Park

Vilsandi National Park (also know as Vilsandi rahvuspark) is a 238 km² park located in the island of the same name and number of smaller islands, adjacent parts of western Saaremaa and the Harilaid peninsula on Saaremaa, the largest island in Estonia. Vilsandi National Park is used as an area of stop-over by many migratory birds, like barnacle geese and Steller's eider, and as a breeding and nesting ground for over 247 species of bird (like eider duck). One third of all protected plant species in Estonia can also be found in the National Park.

How do I arrive to Vilsandi National Park?

 The area has very few inhabitants so it isn't easy to arrive here.

• Boat: there are three weekly boats to Vilsandi from Rootsküla port.
  
• Car: to reach the National Park you can drive from Kuressaare to Atla (aprox. 35 minutes), from Rootsküla (aprox. 30 minutes) and to Harilaid Peninsula (aprox. 45 minutes).

 Once in the Park, a good choice to move along it is by car, bike or walking.

History

The area has been quite uninhabited by humans. The first permanent settlers were Captain Doll and his wife, survivors of a Dutch shipwreck. He founded Tolli Farm and worked as a hayfild guard for Kihelkonna Church Manor. In the 18th century farming families from western Saaremaa settled here, whose main sources of livelihood were seafaring, fising and raising livestock. In 1934 there used to be 169 inhabitants.

What can I visit in Vilsandi National Park?

These are some things to do in this National Park, explained now according to the part where they are:     

• Vilsandi: 6 km long and 3 km wide island, divided into two parts: Suur-Vilsandi and Väike-Vilsandi. This island has high variety of landscapes, with cliffs, forests, surrounding islands... Currently it's inhabited by 3 people. 
  • Vikati Information Center: visitor center in the port of Vikati on Vilsandi with infromation available to visitors.
  • Vilsandi Hiking Trail (7 km): trail that begins at the observation tower and leads to the west and north. Heading north it passes the integrated enironmental monitoring site and it's possible to reach Vesiloo island while heading west the trail takes you to a sandy beach and from there to the lighthouse.
  • Vilsandi Lighthouse: oldest surviving lighthouse in Saaremaa, from 1809, but renovated and modified several times. Nearby there's Vilsandi Rescue Station, built because the region used to be where most shipwrecks ouccred in the waters of Saaremaa.
• Elda Peninsula: peninsula located in the southern part of the National Park, mostly covered in alvar grasslands and wooded meadows. Within the peninsula, near Austla forest, it's the small village of Atla (with 34 inhabitants), one of the largest municipalities in the National Park, divided into three parts: Atla-Alt, Atla-Mäe and Atla-Niidi. The area by the campsite at Elda Peninsula is a very good point for seal observation, exploring the cliffs or walking along the seashore.
• Kuusnõmme Peninsula: peninsula located in the central part of the National Park, covered mostly by pine forests that has many rare species like the Alpine butterwort, Saaremaa yellow rattle, orchids... In the village of Rootsiküla (37 inhabitants) it's placed the Vilsandi National Park Visitor Center  (10-18 from Jun to Aug; 9-17 Mon-Fri from Sep to May), office where getting help and information about the National Park, at Loona Manor (a 16th century manor). Here you can take Käkisilma-Vilsandi Hiking Trail (5 km) when the water level is low, route that goes through the sea and across a large number of small uninhabited islets, ending in Väike-Vilsandi.  
  
• Harilaid Peninsula: peninsula located in the northern part of the National Park that used to be an island centuries ago but currently it's connected with Tagamõisa Peninsula, with a former bay as a lake (Laialepa Lake). It's excellent for bird-watching and has many protected species like natterjack toad.
  

  • Harilaid Hiking Trail (11 km): trail that explores the varied coastal environment. It's an interesting route to observe birds and seals.
    
  • Kiipsaare Lighthouse: impressing lighthouse placed 30 m from the coast (because of the erosion of the beach where it was placed). Sometimes it seems to be leaning but it's corrected by the sand movement.

Kiipsaare Lighthouse

Grey seals in Vilsandi

Where can I eat in Vilsandi National Park?

This National Park has almost no places to eat so it's a good idea bringing food.

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Posted in: Estonia,Europe,National Park

Saaremaa

Saaremaa (Ösel in German and Swedish) is a 2,673 km² island with 32,000 inhabitants in the western part of Estonia, being its biggest island. The largest town is Kuressaare and it forms, together with Muhu, the County of Saare. The island keeps being covered with pine, spruce and juniper forests (as it used to be) with windmills, lighthouses and small villages that seem to be lost in time.

How do I arrive to Saaremaa?

 The best way to reach Saaremaa is by the ferry from Virtsu to Muhu, and from this latter island cross the 2.5 km bridge to Saaremaa. 

• Plane: there are two daily flights to Tallinn, among other destinations. It's located 3 km southeast from Kuressaare and there are buses to Kuressaare Bus Station.
• Boat: there are boats to Kuivastu in the island of Muhu (main way to visit Saaremaa) from Virtsu (aprox. 25 minutes), once or twice every hour. But there are also 2 daily boats from Sõru (in Hiiumaa) and Trigi, in the north of Saaremaa (aprox. 65 minutes).
• Bus: there are buses to Kuressaare from Muhu island (18 daily buses, aprox. 1 hour), Pärnu (4 daily buses, aprox. 3 hour 30 minutes), Tallinn (11 daily buses, aprox. 4 hours), Viljandi (2 daily buses, aprox. 5 hours) and Tartu (2 daily buses, aprox. 5 hours 30 minutes).
• Car: if you rented a car, you can use the ferry to cross it too.

Once in the island these are some of the best ways to move along it.

• Bus: the main bus station is Kuressaare one, from where there are many unfrequent buses to other parts of the island like Kaali (aprox. 20 minutes), Angla (aprox. 40 minutes), Orissaare (aprox. 45 minutes) or Kihelkonna (aprox 45 minutes), as well as destinations in Muhu like Koguva (aprox 1 hour 45 minutes).
• Car: if you rented a car you can reach every point in the island of Saaremaa in less than 1 hour and 30 minutes.
• Bicycle: this island is perfect to do some cylcing (but for the main road between Muhu and Kuressaare), with many roads without traffic and secondary roads to explore.

What can I visit in Saaremaa?

These are many things to do in this island, explained now according to the village where they are or the nearest one:     

• Orissaare (Orrisaar in German): 827 inhabitants village in the eastern part of Saaremaa.
  
  • Orissaare Oak: 150 years old oak located in the middle of a football field. It was declared European Tree of the Year in 2015 and in that field matches are still played, footballers just dodge it while playing.

    

    Orissaare Oak

  • In the nearby village of Maasi there's the Ruins of Maasi Castle. This castle was built in the 14th century by the Livonian Order and blown up by the Danes in 1578 to prevent the Swedes from taking it. Currently there's an underground chamber that can be visited.
    
  • Going 9 km south from Orissaare it can be found the village of Pöide (Peude in German), with 26 inhabitants, where finding St. Maarja Church, an impressing church from the 13th and 14th centuries that currently is used by Lutheran and Orthodox religions. It's a symbol of the influence of the Livonian Order in Saaremaa, as Pöide was the seat of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in Saaremaa.
• One of the first places you reach in case you arrive to Saaremaa from Hiiumaa, after Triigi port, is Leisi, a nice 264 inhabitants village with old wooden houses in the southern coast of Saaremaa. Not far from it there's Tuhkana Beach, one of the best sand beaches in Saaremaa. Continuing by the coast, in Panga, there's the 3 km-long Panga Cliffs, a beautiful place that used to be sacred for pagan Estonians.

  

  Angla Windmill Hill

• Angla: 18 inhabitants village where there's one of the main touristic attrations in Saaremaa, Angla Windmill Hill (9-20 from May to Aug; 10-17 from Sep to Apr; 4€/ 2€/ free  adults/ retiree and students/ kids). This hill has one of the largest and most photogenic windmill groups in the island whose origin goes back to the 16th century. Its inner part can be visited and there are expositions about old tractors and ploughs. Close to Angla you may explore St. Karja Katariina Lutheran Church (10-17:40 Mon-Sat, 12:30-17:30 Sun from May to Sep), in Linnaka. The fortress-style church links Christians and Pagan traditions has trapezoid tombs (from the 13th and 14th centuries), interesting paitings inside the church and an unusual carving about Christ between two thieves.
• Kaali: 35 inhabitants village placed 18 km far from Kuressaare.

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    Kaali Crater

    Kaali Crater: rounded lake formed 4,000 years ago by a meteorite crashing (nearby there other 8 smaller lakes formed the same way). According to Scandinavian mythology this are was known as Sun's tomb. Nearby there's Kaali Meteoritics and Limestone Museum (9-19; 1.30€/ 0.65€  adults/ kids), small museum that explains more things abour the lake, metheorites and Kaali village.
  • Kõljala Manor: abandoned and gloomy 18th century manor that was built by the Baltic German family Buxhoeveden and own by several other families till 1919.
• Before reaching Kuressaare it may be interesting visiting in Kaarma (Karmel in German), a village with 78 people, GoodKaarma (10-18 from Jun to Aug), an ecological farm that produces natural soaps. The village also have St. Peeter-Pauli Church, a 15th century church.

  

  Kuressaare Episcopal Castle

  
  
• Kuressaare (Arensburg in German, Ку́рессааре in Russian): 13,276 inhabitants town in the southern coast of Saaremaa. It's the capital of Saare County and the westernmost town in Estonia. Kuresssaare is the most popular and visited town in the island.
• In the way to Sörve Peninsula from Kuressaare there are some natural beauties such as a forest (Loode Oak Forest, one of the few extant naturally growing park-like forests) or nice beaches like Mändjala Beach, that makes Mändjala and Järve the main beach holiday destinations in Saaremaa. Continuing a bit it can be found Battle of Tehumardi Monument, that honours the 1944 night battle between the German Army and the Red Army.



Sõrve Lighthouse

• Once in Sõrve Peninsula, a 32 km long isolated and almost uninhabited peninsula in the southwestern part of Saaremaa, the main choice is enjoying its beauty and the remains of WW2 that are still visible here. There are some nice places to visit such as Jämaja Church (19th century church that was first built in the Middle Ages). In its peak there's Sääre (Zerell in German), a tiny village with Sõrve Lighthouse (10-19 from May to Aug; 4€/ 2€  adults/ retiree, students and kids), lighthouse from 1646 (although the current one dates back to 1960) that has expositions about the ligthouse, nature or maritime rescue. The village also has the weird Sääre Military and Natural History Museum (10-19 from May to Aug; 4€/ 2€  adults/ retiree, students and kids), museum located in former Soviet barracks with military remains found in the area and an strange collection of insects, feathers, skulls or stuffed animals.

  

  Viidumäe Nature Reserve
  

  
  
• Viidumäe Nature Reserve: 11.94 km² reserve mostly of pine and oak forest, complemented with meadows, bogs and traditionally utilised wooded meadows. From Rauna Observation Deck (22 m), in the tallest point of Saaremaa (Raunamäge Hill), there are awesome views of Saaremaa's beauty. There are also two trails: Audaku hiking trail (2.2 km) and Viidumäe studying trail (1.5 km) that give an insight into the different ecosystems of the reserve, as well as the permanent expostion at Viidumäe Nature Reseve Center in Audaku.
• Kihelkonna: 320 inhabitants parish located 30 km northwest from Kuresaare.
  

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    Mihkli Farm Museum

    St. Mihkli Lutheran Church (10-17 from May to Aug): very old (1280) and austere church with a dark inside, whose main pieces are a Renaissance triptych and its pulpit. The church has the bell tower separated from the church 100 m (what was formerly quite common but currently it's the only one of it's kind in Estonia.
  • Outside the village (4 km) there's Mihkli Farm Museum (10-18 from May to Aug; 10-18 Wed-Sun Sep; 4€/ 3€  adults/ retiree and students), a branch of Saaremaa Museum. It is a museum located in an 18th century farm that has been kept the way it used to be, with its sauna, windmill and even the traditional Estonian swing.
  • Not far from Kihelkonna, in Pidula, it can be seen Pidula Manor, a mid-18th century manor that is considered one of Estonia's most attractive Baroque manor houses. Close to Pidula there's
    Karujärv Lake, oldest lake on Saaremaa.

    

    Vilsandi National Park
    

    
    
• Vilsandi National Park: 238 km² park located in the island of the same name and number of smaller islands, adjacent parts of western Saaremaa and the Harilaid peninsula. It's used as an area of stop-over by many migratory birds, like barnacle geese and Steller's eider, and as a breeding and nesting ground for over 247 species of bird (like eider duck). One third of all protected plant species in Estonia can also be found in the National Park.
• In the norwestern part of Saaremaa it can be found Tagamõisa Peninsula, a quite unspoilt place that mostly belong to Vilsandi National Park.

Muhu Museum in Koguva

Before reaching Saaremaa there's an smaller island, Muhu, a 206 km² island just inhabited by 1,476 people that is 8 km far from its nearest point of Estonian mainland. It's the 3rd largest island in Estonia (part of the Saare County) and usually there aren't many tourists because it's mainly used as a way to reach the largest island, Saaremaa. But it has enought interesting things to be worth a visit. In the middle of the island in Liiva (189 people), it can be visited Muhu Church, one of the oldest church in Estonia (13th century) with trapezium shaped tombstones with pagan symbols (some of them represent the pagan Tree of Life). Only 6 km away from the main road it can be found Koguva (40 inhabitants), a very well-preserved small village that seems an open-air museum. It has Muhu Museum (9-18 from May to Sep; 10-17 Tue-Sat from Oct to Apr; 4€/ 3€  adults/ retiree and students), an ethnographic museum that shows the former school of the village and Juhan Smuul's house (Estonian writer and journalist that was awarded with prizes like Stalin Prize or Lenin Prize), but also discover the traditional cloth and dressings. Once you are in Koguva it may be a good idea visiting Koguva Art Gallery (12-17 from Jun to Aug; free), a small but nice modern art gallery. Closer to the main road there's the small village of Nautse (23 inhabitants) popular for Eemu Windmill (10-18 Wed-Sun from May to Sep; 1€/ 0.50€  adults/ retiree and students), a windmill that it's still on use and they sell bread with its flour. Not far from it there's a monument that conmemorate the last battle between Pagan Estonians and the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1227. Also close to Nautse there's an Ostrich Farm (10-18 from May to Sep; 3.50€/ 0.50€  adults/ kids) with a small zoo. In the north of the island it can be admired Üügu Cliffs, the largest cliffs in Muhu. The island is also perfect for cycling, with two main routes starting at Kuivastu and finishing in the end of Saaremaa road: north one (52.5 km) and southern one (26 km).

 

Where can I eat in Saaremaa?

This island doesn't have have a bad culinary offer, mostly based in Kuressaare and whose base is fish. But Saaremaa has an important beer tradition, with some popular brands like Tuulik or Pöide. Some of the most interesting places to eat are Söögimaja in Lümanda or Sääre Paargu (Sääre küla) in Sääre.
In case your choice is eating something in Muhu there are some interesting choices like the traditional fish restaurant Muhu Kalakohvik in Liiva or the modern restaurant Alexander at Pädaste Manor (whose history dates back to 1566). The Finnish chef Sikke Sumari gives cooking class using local products at NamiNamaste (Simisti kula) in Simisti.

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Posted in: Estonia,Europe