Saaremaa vald

We leave at 9:30 am and drive towards the Gulf of Riga; the roads are very good, and there are lots of trees en route to Virtsu where we take the ferry to Kaivastu on Muhu Island.

From here, we drive to the small village and port of Koguva, where the Muhu Open Air Ethnographic Museum of Koguva is situated; the museum reflects Estonian peasant architecture and life - there are separate farm and textile museums, as well as the original school house. The museum has been established on the farm where the Estonian poet and writer Junan Smuul was born; he had associations with Stalin.

After lunch nearby in Liiva, we drive across the 2.5 km causeway to Saaremaa Island. We visit Karja Church; this church contains the richest medieval stone sculptures in the Baltic States, but boes not open until 15th June (doh!). It is built from dolomite sandstone and is very large, but Karja village could not prosper because of the nature of the rising ground in the area.

From here, we visit the Angla Windmill Hill site, which comprises four typical trestle windmills characteristic of the island, one Dutch-style windmill, and a heritage museum on local folk culture and engineering - it is very interesting.

We then stop off at the Kaali Meteotite Crater; we see the largest of the 9 craters that are here. The impact could have been up to 7,500 years ago; the Crater is 100m wide and almost circular.

Then it's on to Kuressaare, the main town on Saaremaa Island; it is on the south of the island, facing the Gulf of Riga.Lue lisää