Midsummer, Kuressaare, Dirhami, and Tallinn

Near the end of my last post I'd said we were expecting a noisy night at Ruhnu, what with it being Victory Day and Midsummer.

In the event it was a really pleasant family atmosphere and, whilst people chatted in their cockpits late into the night, there was no shouting or loud music.

Victory Day marks the anniversary of the decisive 1919 battle of the Estonian War of Independence, in which the country’s military forces and their allies defeated the German forces who sought to re-assert control over the region. The day has been celebrated on 23 June every year from 1934 until 1939 and then again after the restoration of Estonian independence, from 1992.

The Midsummer Eve celebration on the same night sees thousands of bonfires lighting up the sky across Estonia and Ruhnu is no exception.

Midsummer celebrations on Ruhnu

Quite a bonfire!

We saw a couple of girls wearing hand made garlands on their heads and I asked them if this was a tradition at midsummer. They confirmed that it was and we noticed that several of the boats in the harbour had been decorated with wild flowers too.

When I asked if they'd mind me taking a photo of them with the garlands, they had a better idea - see below!

The 2 of us in traditional Midsummer dress!

Jo and I had made a fuss of a Hungarian Vizsla we'd seen earlier on the pontoon and, during the celebrations, the owner decided to "give" him to Jo! We was a really friendly dog but, as Nigel will tell you, Vizsla's are known as Velcro dogs because they always stick to their owners. As you can see in the photo below, this one wasn't taking his eyes off his!

Jo and friend

We'd intended to spend 3 nights in Ruhnu but left for Roomassaare, Saaremaa, on 24th June - a day earlier than planned to avoid the forecast strong winds. We're glad we did, because they blew hard for 2 days and nights following our arrival and, pleasant as it was, we wouldn't have found much to do in Ruhnu for that length of time in those conditions.

En route to Roomassaare. What is she doing? Applying pressure to a freshly glued part of the grating!

Roomassaare. Luckily the wind wasn't blowing straight in!

There's nothing at Roomassaare itself, but a 5km cycle ride takes you into the town of Kuressaare - Saaremaa's largest.

Kuressaare hosts the Bishop's Castle which dates back to the 14th century. Built of local dolomite this is one of the best preserved medieval castles in the Baltic States. It's certainly an impressive sight.

The Bishop's Castle

Not in bad nick, is it?

For an old pad, like.

Another side of the same

The first Soviet occupation of Estonia was accompanied by the Red Terror. This culminated in the summer of 1941 when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. On Saaremaa the most brutal act was mass murder in the castle grounds in which at least 90 people lost their lives. There's a memorial to those lost and a permanent exhibition that summarises what happened in the castle walls.

Memorial to the victims of the mass murder

The castle houses the Saaremaa Regional museum whose many exhibits give an account of the island's history. There was frankly too much to take in in one go, but it made for an interesting stroll through the castle's interior. We had read that the Bishop's quarters included a "particularly eye-catching medieval lavatory" but sadly we couldn't find it!

As well as the museum, there was also some "art" on display. This reminded us of a close relative of Jo's...

The defensive gallery (one of 2)

The view from the castle's defensive gallery. Kuressaare's marina is to the right of shot

Another view from the gallery

Er... A big moose! There were a lot of stuffed animals on show too

A parting shot

Friendly giants seem to abound in these parts and Saaremaa has one too. Theirs was called Suur Toll and this strong hero helped fishermen in danger. He's pictured below with Piret, his wife.

Suur Toll and Piret. She'll catch a chill!

Kuressaare town hall

Kuressaare weigh house

Memorial to those lost fighting for independence. Rebuilt post Soviet era

The wind continued to blow hard the day after our visit to Kuressaare and so we took a bus to view Kaali meteor crater.

Experts say this was created by a 20 to 80 tonne meteorite which fell from the east at an angle of 45 degrees at a speed of 10 to 30 miles per second (36,000 to 108,000 mph) sometime between 4,000 and 7,500 years ago. Bit vague, aren't they - apart from the angle!

Anyway, at an altitude of between 3 and 6 miles it got very hot and exploded, creating a meteor shower which, in turn, created the main crater and a 8 smaller ones when it hit the earth.

The main crater is 110m in diameter and some 22m deep. The bedrock was crushed by the meteorite to a depth of up to 50m and the crushed material was ejected upwards to form the wide circular elevated rim around it.

Sounds impressive, huh? Well, it sort of is - although you could be forgiven for suggesting that this mighty historical relic looks a bit like a pond... You decide!

Kaali meteorite crater

Note the banks around it created by the bedrock that was pushed upwards

Er... This was one of the 8 smaller craters

The busses to and from Kaali ran infrequently and so we - and the German couple who'd tagged along with us - had 2 hours and 20 minutes to admire the craters. The time just flew by...


With a decent forecast, we set sail for Dirhami - a distance of just over 90 miles - just before 0500 on 27th June. As the picture of the harbour shows, the sun was up well before us!

Leaving Roomassaare

Abuka 

The wind started off light as forecast but, as we neared the island of Muhu, things changed very quickly. In no time we were seeing apparent winds in the high 20s and low 30s (knots) and even a gust of 38 knots! As we had a couple of potential stopping places before Dirhami I asked Jo if she'd prefer to cut our journey short, but she was having none of it! So we continued to plough on for the remaining 50 miles to make our destination.

Jo "relishing" the stronger winds. She's tough!

In more pleasant conditions, the sail through the islands could have been very enjoyable. They were certainly picturesque. Although there's plenty of water around them most of this is really shallow and so all craft have to follow narrow channels - meaning we met quite a few yachts coming the other way.

The channel past this lighthouse - also used by ferries - is only about 30m wide

We made Dirhami just after 2100. 91 miles in a little over 16 hours - an average speed approaching 6 knots - so not bad for us. The icing on the cake was that there was just one finger pontoon berth available and, unlike the larger craft who had to tie up to tractor tyres alongside a concrete jetty, we fitted into it!

After showers and a large can of ravioli (we know how to live!) we crawled into our bunk around 2330 and slept soundly.... Until 0600 when the alarm went off!

Why so early? Well, we had to make Tallinn after just the one night at Dirhami because the wind was due to strengthen and blow from the east the day after. We reasoned that others may be thinking the same and so forced ourselves to get up early in the hope that a reasonably early arrival would mean we could find a vacant berth.

Dirhami

All the big boats tied to the wall. Sometimes small is beautiful!

The sail to Tallinn was very different from that to Dirhami. We had light winds and so motor-sailed for all but about an hour and a half.

Poled out genoa plus motor was the formula for the day

Tallinn's old town on the horizon

We'd kept in touch with Phil of Red Roo by text and so knew he'd still be in Tallinn when we arrived. Better still, Maree was due to fly back to join him the day before, so we'd get to see her again too.

Phil had recommended the Kalev Yacht Club visitors' berths in Pirita harbour. This is about 5km outside Tallinn but considerably cheaper than the Old City Marina (20 euros v 45 euros per night). We arrived to see one vacant berth remaining but our resultant high spirits were quickly dampened when we were told by a rather grumpy harbour master that we could only stay there for one night.

Phil had made friends with the crew of a boat in a neighbouring berth and knew they were due to leave the following morning. He asked the skipper what time he was leaving and if he'd give us a call so we could swiftly move into the vacated berth. We weren't the only boat in the "one night only" position, so there was a certain amount of competition! Naturally this boat was leaving early - 0600 - and so it was yet another early start for us. That's 0420, 0600 and now 0530 alarm calls on successive days! Isn't cruising supposed to be relaxing?!

Anyway, creeping around in the morning so as not to wake any potential competitors saw us successfully tied up in the vacated berth by 0630. And back in bed very soon afterwards!

Kalev Yacht Club happens to be hosting the 41st Spinnaker Regatta during our stay. This is primarily for Optimist class dinghy sailors but there is also a Zoom8 class. This year there is a record number of 229 young sailors, of which 168 are in Optimists and 61 Zoom8s. Between them, they represent Finland, Sweden, Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey and Estonia. Apart from yesterday, when racing was cancelled due to the high winds, they appear to be having a great time!

That's a lot of Optimists!

The day after our arrival we were treated to no less than 2 guided tours of Tallinn. The first, delivered by none other than Phil of Red Roo, covered the points of interest between Pirita and the old city. The second was a walking tour of the old city itself.

First stop on Phil's cycling tour was the Soviet War Memorial. The obelisk was erected in 1960 to commemorate the Soviet sailors who died in 1918 during World War 1.

The obelisk

The surrounding features were built in the 1970s in memory of the Soviet soldiers killed in 1941 under the Nazi onslaught.

Another part of the monument...

... and another

The whole lot was apparently built on the site of a German war cemetery that was bulldozed for the purpose. This is now represented by a memorial and a number of crosses placed in the surrounding area.

The German memorial

Maree, Phil (our guide!) and Jo

Next stop was the back of the Estonian History Museum for a butchers at some Soviet era statues:

Soviet statues...

... and more...

...and more...

...and more. 

Then it was on to the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds. It was here in 1988 that the Singing Revolution set Estonia on its road to independence. Every 5 years the Song and Dance Celebration sees up to 34,000 performers and 200,000 spectators gather here.

Tallinn Song Festival Grounds

Other tour highlights included:

Kadriorg Palace - commissioned by Peter the Great for his missus Catherine 1 in 1718

The President's Palace

Swan Lake

Then it was a meander around the suburbs to view some of the old wooden houses...

Fixer upper anyone?

Some rather more impressive examples

... before our guide left us at the tourist information centre to make our own way around the Old City (thanks Phil!).

It's not a real deer. Water feature backing onto part of the Old City wall

Great Guild Hall. Site of the Estonian History Museum

Phil had recommended one of the free tours from the tourist information centre. We followed his recommendation and were glad we did, as the guide gave us a humorous insight into life in Estonia during the Soviet era.

For example, the church below - St. Nicholas' church and now a museum - was destroyed during a bombing raid when the Soviets tried to kill a number of German generals in a nearby restaurant. The locals wanted their church back but of course the Soviets - now in charge - weren't keen on ploughing money into religious buildings. Having brainstormed ideas, a delegation was sent to Moscow to request money to rebuilt the church as a "Museum of Atheism". Quite what you'd put into such a museum I have no idea! Anyway, the story goes that the request was granted and the church was rebuilt (over the next 40 years. Apparently Estonians don't rush into things!). It was subsequently struck by lightening, rebuilt again, and now houses a museum dedicated to church art.

St. Nicholas' Church

Freedom Square

The monument to the Estonian War of Independence is a controversial one. It is made from Czech glass and the makers claimed that it could survive a nuclear holocaust. What it apparently couldn't survive, however, was an Estonian winter. When temperatures plunged to -20 degrees or less, the glass panels started to drop off and a pink algae grew inside those that remained! This has led some Estonians to claim, tongue firmly in cheek, that an Estonian winter is worse than a nuclear holocaust!

Monument to the Estonian War of Independence 1918-1920

The Kiek in de Kok tower, so called because the bored guards at the top could look down chimneys into the kitchens of the medieval buildings below, is a 15th century tower that serves as an entrance to hidden tunnels and the Carved Stone Museum. According to our guide, every Sunday groups of Punk Rockers would gather in the park opposite to sell banned western music. This was often recorded from Finnish radio transmissions - Estonia had more access to Western culture than the other Baltic States because of its proximity to Finland, whose transmission aerials were built "unnecessarily high" - before being copied and sold on. A look out would alert the traders to approaching militia whereupon all of the illicit goods would be hidden in the tunnels. Of course, this left the Punk Rockers to explain what they were all doing gathered together in a park! The answer? The music was replaced with stamps and the Punk Rockers - boots, spiky dyed hair and all - enthusiastically discussed their stamp collections under the approving eyes of the officials. Got the one with Stalin on it mate?!

Kiek in de Kok Tower

More of the Old City wall

The Parliament Building

St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin (Dome Church)

The Knight's House - Used whilst Estonia leads the EU for the next 6 months

The white Soviet era building in the centre of the picture below is the Hotel Viru and KGB Museum. All visitors to Tallinn in the Soviet Era had to stay there and the fact that every room was bugged was known by all. On the 23rd floor the KGB had their listening headquarters - there was no button in the lift for this floor! - and it's this that has now been turned into a museum.

View from the Kohtu Street viewing platform 

Another view, with the Cruise Ship terminal in the distance

View of Tallinn's medieval walls and towers. A mile of the former and half of the 46 towers remain

Same again, really!

Looking back towards the Patkuli viewing platform

Our guide at speaker's corner - explaining the intricacies of the Estonian language!

Town Hall Square. The centre of the medieval city

The Town Hall

Town Hall Square again! Pretty though, isn't it?

Another section of the wall

The 14th century Viru Gates with the 20th century Hotel Viru in the background

A view over Tallinn bay. Look at those boulders! The place is littered with them. Glacial, you know!

The weather's been wet and windy for a couple of days now, so yesterday was spent doing a bit of grocery shopping and not a lot else. The highlight was a slap up meal courtesy of the Red Roo crew! Home made chicken pie - lovely. I was the only one to have 2 second helpings, so perhaps they think I'm a bit of a greedy b person now though!

Mmmmm...... Pie!!

With Tallinn being our furthest destination, we may start our long trek home tomorrow. Alternatively we may stay here for another day. I need to go check the weather!

Thanks for reading.