By Mary Moore Mason
The Siamese-twin islands of Muhu and Saaremaa floating in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Estonia were for decades almost as little-known to most Estonians as to foreign visitors. Considered by their Soviet overlords to be militarily strategic bastions against the perceived threat of NATO and the West, they were accessible only to their residents and the Russian military until Estonia's independence in 1991.
Now they are beautiful and tranquil but still little-known retreats unique in this part of the world: Estonia is the only one of the three Baltic countries to have islands and only five of its 2,000-some are inhabited.
Predominantly rural with verdant, rolling pasturelands, deep woodlands and high bluffs overlooking the sea, the largest island, Saaremaa, and much smaller Muhu — tethered to it by a causeway — are particularly appealing for their small, charming towns and villages, historic sites, rather quirky charm and wealth of agritourism opportunities. And yet they retain remnants of their turbulent past.
Soon after disembarking from the 35-minute ferry ride between Virtsu on the mainland and Muhu's Kuivastu my companions and I were whisked off to the Muhu Farm Winery, where a dapper young man welcomed us by inexplicably opening up bottles of white wine with the swipe of a garden spade (apparently a local custom). We were then guided through the rustic farmhouse, where visitors can overnight under open wooden pyramids (we were led to believe they were a source of both energy and tranquility).
In the village of Liiva a small roadside complex encompassed a brewery producing some commendable brews, a bakery known for wonderful black bread and a shop full of local handicrafts, including colorful traditional embroidery and felt slippers, all a preamble to what we were to discover throughout the islands.
Lunch, served in the atmospheric Nautse Mihkli farmhouse, was predictably impressive as our hostess, attractive blond Ingrem Raidjoe, not only teaches cooking courses, runs a restaurant and offers bed and breakfast but is also the co-author of the handsome "Magical Meals of Muhu" cookbook. Among the most unexpected things on the menu was ostrich, sourced she said, from the local ostrich farm run by her mother. (We briefly stopped by and got a glimpse of the ostriches as well as the small zoo that is home to such exotic animals as kangaroos and zebras.
Later we had another delicious meal featuring pork, red cabbage, pickled pumpkin and potatoes served family-style in Lumanda Tavern, sited in a converted schoolhouse next to a splendidly ornate Orthodox church. At a farm known as Good Kaarma we were introduced to a young couple — she Estonian, he British — who support their idyllic lifestyle by producing organic soap. On Saaremaa, the picturesque village of Leedri is home to a pretty yellow Orbu Farm cottage where several women produce a wide range of quite delicious syrups made from local juniper tree buds, and elsewhere the Roosi sheep farm is not only home to a restaurant specializing in mutton dishes but also produces a wide range of handsome (and pricey) sheepskin and woolen items.
In the midst of all this rural charm there are the occasional jarring reminders of the islands' occupation by both the Germans and Russians. Hidden deep in a woodland and protected by a high wire fence is a former Soviet rocket base, now an Estonian military satellite tracking station. Saaremaa's Tehumardi battlefield is studded with World War II Russian and German graves and at Orissaare there's a comprehensive Military Museum.
"When I was growing up here we awoke at night to the sound of Russian rockets going off," recalled our lively blond guide Elle Mae, who with school friends defied the local 9 p.m. curfew by slipping past the Russian border guards to visit the bluffs and beaches along the coast.
One of the reasons, she said, that Estonia in general and the islands in particular are so sparsely populated (Muhu has around 1,800 residents) is that thousands of Estonians were either deported to Germany or Russia or fled to Sweden in 1944 just before Soviet forces reoccupied Estonia. Many who were left were herded into collective farms whose bleak barracklike structures are still seen around the otherwise beautiful countryside.
One of the more unusual attractions we encountered was a "sheep sauna" located on the grounds of the Muhu Museum. It consisted of a sheep pen where locals steamed themselves surrounded by straw-covered manure that was then scooped up and used as fertilizer for the surrounding fields. The other attractions of the museum, located in a cluster of farm buildings in the fairytalelike former fishing village of Koguva, included a barnlike structure filled with odd farm and household implements and galleries displaying beautiful hand-woven fabrics and colorful traditional clothing.
And yes, along the way there were the islands' fabled windmills, lighthouses and historic churches. One of the best-known of the lighthouses, sited adjacent to a lighthouse museum at the very tip of Saaremaa's Sorve peninsula, is so remote that when we arrived our cell phones said "Welcome to Latvia." As for churches, we particularly enjoyed medieval Valjala, where we could glimpse ornate Catholic frescoes through the plaster applied during the Reformation. Christianity came late to Estonia, courtesy of 12th-century crusaders. Today only 14 percent of its residents claim to follow a religious belief, although 69 percent reputedly believe that trees have souls —very convenient as more than 50 percent of the country is forested.
In Kuressaare. the Saaremaa capital, the 14th-century castle, once home to bishops, is now a history museum covering, among other things, the grim Nazi and Soviet periods. (This summer it also housed a temporary exhibition dedicated to the work of famous American architect Louis Kahn, who spent his early boyhood in Kuressaare before his family emigrated to the United States.)
Graced by handsome homes, a pretty park, cafes, specialty food stores, and arts and craft shops, the town is particularly known for its spa hotels. We stayed at the modern Georg Ots Spa Hotel, named for a famous Estonian opera singer, enjoying its pools and sauna before ogling the nearby waterfront statue of folkloric giant Suur-Toll frolicking in the nude with his well-endowed consort Piret. Then it was off to a gourmet dinner featuring ferocious-looking but delicious gar fish at the Kuressaare Kuursaal restaurant overlooking the castle.
Other places to stay on the islands include Loona Manor, dating back to the Middle Ages and adjacent to the information center for the coastal Vilsandi National Park, and Padaste Manor, on a 13th-century estate once owned by the land marshal of the last czar of Russia.
Transformed by Dutch businessman Martin Breuer and his Canadian-Estonian business partner Imre Sooaar, it is now a five-star resort encompassing 24 elegant rooms and suites in the manor house, additional accommodation in a 400-year-old wooden farmhouse, a gourmet restaurant presided over by an award-winning German chef, a spa featuring everything from seaweed and mud wraps to goats' milk and bladderwort baths, and midsummer moonlight trips to nearby Love Island. Hardly what we expected when we first arrived on these delightful but quite rural and laid-back islands!
WHEN YOU GO
For more general information: www.visitestonia.com
For hotels: In Kuressare: Georg Ots Hotel and Spa, www.visitestonia.com/en/georg-ots-spa-hotel. In Muhu: Padaste Manor: www.visitestonia.com/en/padaste-manor
Mary Moore Mason is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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