Estonia 2023 Part II: Viljandi Click here Part I: Tallinn Click here
Part III: Kuressaare
After Tallinn Street Food Festival and Old Town Days, I took the flight from Tallinn to the mystic, largest island of Estonia: Saaremaa. The flight directly took me to the capital of Saaremaa island: Kuressaare. It's known as one of the 12 most remote places on Earth. I had just a little more than 24 hours to explore this untouched nature and its unqiue town and surroundings. I stayed one night in Kuressaare in the famous Ekesparre Boutique Hotel. It is a lovely hotel with castle view and lake right away
Kuressaare is famous for its castle. And it was such a leisure to walk around the castle wall. When I stand at the hill looking back at the hotel, it's just like a miniature. How amazing! The reflection was so nice.
This is the hotel breakfast. Their coffee was superb. A perfect delight for a good beginning of a day. It was sunny day and I enjoyed exploring the town so much. The beautiful scenery surrounding is absolutely breathtaking.
The above is my hotel. Just like a chateau of France. It has no air-conditioning but it was a cool day so no problem at all.
If you love nature and history, you will love this place.
The wild flowers are so adorable. I took this by Laowa 10mm f4 cookie lens which specialising its short miminum focusing distance of only 10cm. So great for some wide angle close up. After spenind the morning near the castle, I went to the city centre in the afternoon and enjoyed the pavlova in the Chameleon Lounge, a fantastic cafe there. The Kiwi fruit drink was a pure delight. I took out the beloved sigma 20mm f1.4 dg dn art and took the shot wide open at f1.4. Lovely bokeh.
In the afternoon, we booked a taxi tour to the Kaali Crater
Probably the first HK musician arrived this unusual Kaali Crater, formed by large meteorite that hit on the Estonian island of Saaremaa 7,500 to 7,600 years ago. It's also the most spectacular Crater field in Eurasia.
Finnish mythology has stories that may originate with the formation of Kaali. One of them is the Kalevala epic: Louhi, the evil wizard, steals the Sun and fire from people, causing total darkness. Ukko, the god of the sky, orders a new Sun to be made from a spark. The virgin of the air starts to make a new Sun, but the spark drops from the sky and hits the ground. This spark goes to an "Aluen" or "Kalevan" lake and causes its water to rise. Finnish heroes see the ball of fire falling somewhere "behind the Neva river" (the direction of Estonia from Karelia). The heroes head in that direction to seek fire, and they finally gather flames from a forest fire.
According to a theory first proposed by Lennart Meri, it is possible that Saaremaa was the legendary Thule island, first mentioned by ancient Greek geographer Pytheas, whereas the name "Thule" could have been connected to the Finnic word tule ("(of) fire") and the folklore of Estonia, which depicts the birth of the crater lake in Kaali. Kaali was considered the place where "The sun went to rest."
It was a wonderful experience to witness this magical place.
The Kuressare castle is always a charm to wander! Highly recommend!! Below is the main town square of Kuressaare. How lovely is that!
Again the refreshing and inspiring view from the breakfast dining place of the Ekesparre Boutique Hotel. Romantique!!