Castles, Craters and the Capital

While it is true that we have seen and visited several castles already on our travels in the Baltics, it would also be true to say that most (all) did not really come up to scratch as "real" castles. My idea of a castle is something of a mammoth structure, complete with moat and drawbridge. A few cannons at the front would also add credibility to the castle credentials as well.

For all those reasons,the castle in Kuresaare, really qualifies as a genuine, grade one, certified castle. It turned out to be the highlight of our final day on the bikes. Almost as big a highlight would have been the glorious, silky smooth bike path we followed from our hotel, all the way to the castle. It was what all other bike paths should aspire to be. It even came complete with a tail wind ! Absolutely perfect.

The episcopal castle dominates the lovely city and, after a little trouble finding the entrance (something designed to confuse would be attackers no doubt), we parked our bikes and went inside. Not only was the castle itself quite magnificent, the location by the waterfront was also breathtaking.

The inside of the castle has now been set up as the Saaremaa Museum, containing a fascinating insight into the extended history of the island over the past several thousand years. The exhibitions relating to the war times and Soviet occupation were the most fascinating, although it was a shame that very little was in English.

Although the sign said that the roof top cafe would not open till 11 am, I discovered that the sign was only intended to deter less intrepid coffee drinkers. The young sales girl was quite happy to make me a coffee and serve me a slab of Neapolitan cake, even though it was only 10.30 am. The coffee was actually quite good. We have now learned that, if you order a latte, you get much better value than ordering a cappuccino. Certainly the views from the windows were amazing.

I guess I should have mentioned that the weather was just as good as every previous day. The sky was cloudless and the temperature was high enough for us to ride in our Ghostrider jerseys. We have asked several locals about this and they have all agreed that it is most unusual at this early time of the year. We should have been getting cold and wet days for the entire ride. You might call this luck, but I would attribute it to superb planning by me.

After leaving the castle we knew that we only had around 30 km left to ride. Unfortunately the bike path ended and we returned to the road. It is worth noting that traffic on Saaremaa is very light and we found that all vehicles gave us a very wide berth when passing. Our brilliant new Ghostrider tops made us visible from a distance of about 5 km, so we never felt in any danger when riding on the public roads.

Our final stop during the ride was at a small cafe at the side of the road. Although it looked a little nondescript from the outside, inside it was a real surprise. The young owners had stripped back all the old wall linings to reveal the original construction and had obviously tried hard to build a good business.

The owner himself noticed our shirts and then came out to chat with us. "Are you really all the way from Australia ?", he asked. "Yep", we proudly replied.

He spoke excellent English and went on to explain that he used to be a civil servant in Tallinn, but decided to take on this challenge two summers ago. I told him that we would love to know what it was like in the winter. He immediately decided that he would put some winter pictures on his walls, so that travellers would be able to see just how different it is. When I asked him how the kids got to school in the middle of winter, he explained that they all ski to school. Now that would be a sight to see.

The final 10 km of the ride took us to the Kaali Meteorite Crater. This is apparently the most famous natural wonder on the island, although the crater itself was a bit smaller than I had been expecting. It even took us a bit of effort to find it.

The bikes which had served us so well were packed onto the trailer for the final time. We had suffered no punctures, no mechanical issues and no injuries in the entire ride. I could also add that we had not even had a single drop of rain while we were riding. I guess that constitutes a successful ride in anyone's language.

All that remained for us was to climb back on the bus for the drive to the capital city of Estonia - Tallinn. That will officially mark the end of our Baltics Cycling Adventure, although for some of the team, the trip will continue for a little longer as we travel to Helsinki and St Petersburg.Read more