Estonia promised more bogs, but also island beaches, coastal beaches, lake beaches and even a harbourside experience in Tallinn. What it lacked in hills, it made up for in water. Los geht’s!
Coordinates
Muhu and Saaremaa
We crossed from Latvia into Estonia and overnighted at a sports club with showers, power and water included in the pitch fee. The next morning was spent on van life admin (fuel, groceries, laundry) in the busy town of Pärnu before continuing to the port at Virtsu. From here we took the 25 minute ferry to Muhu saar | Muhu Island in the West Estonian archipelago (📷1). Our first stop was in Liiva, where the bakery sold traditional must leib, a dark rye known as “black bread” (📷2); it’s very good! Just down the road, Muhu Katariina kirik | Muhu St. Catherine’s Church was billed as a 13th C. beauty, but it was closed (📷3). It seems Estonians have a thing for cliffs too: the limestone outcrop at Üügu is the “largest and grandest” locally, representing about 4,000 years of former seabed erosion—and more recent quarrying (📷4).
Koguva is a fishing village, present in writings from 1532 CE, and some 20 farmsteads remain inhabited by descendants of the original villagers. All Koguva’s traditional buildings are protected, with four properties—plus their outbuildings and accompanying drystone walls—preserved by Muhu muuseum | Muhu Museum (📷1). The Tooma farmyard complex includes various structures, such as this well with a bucket lowered on an arm (📷2), while the late 19th C. farmhouse interior recreates living quarters (📷3) and houses farming and cultural exhibits. Välja is a more modern building and hosts a display of colourful textiles adorned with traditional motifs. Koolielu presents the Lutheran village schoolhouse as it was in 1876–1923; a 20-pupil classroom (📷4) joined to a compact teacher’s apartment. The Kunstitall stable was closed.
Saaremaa is Estonia’s largest island, reached via an artificial causeway from Muhu. Although Karja kirik | Karja Church (📷1) was closed, the churchyard contains three trapezoidal gravestones c. 13–14th C.—among the oldest surviving sculptural works in Estonian history and reflecting integration between heathen and Christian beliefs. We stopped briefly at Angla tuulikumägi | Angla Windmills for a photo (📷2) but drove onward to the meteorite crater at Kaali. This is the primary impact site from a strike (up to 80 tonnes/ 6m diameter) that fractured thick layers of Silurian dolomite thousands of years ago, which preserved the crater shape and its surrounding debris mound; it’s now partially filled with a lake (📷3). On to Kuressaare, Estonia’s westernmost town, where we noted a pair of nicely restored villas (📷4). These are former nobleman’s houses, built 1890 and 1908, located on a small island (technically a 17th C. ravelin, part of a fortress’s defence against artillery fire); one is private and the other a hotel.
Kuressaare linnus | Kuressaare Castle is a fortress begun by the Teutonic Order. A central 14th C. “convent” (now housing Saaremaa Museum) is surrounded by a 15–17th C. system of bastions, ravelins and moats that were modernised by the Danes, Swedes and Russians who successively controlled the island. It’s not every day you see a beach volleyball court flanked by an actual castle (📷1)! The adjacent Old Town is known for its 18–19th C. architecture (📷2), spa heritage (“healing mud”) and 17th C. town hall. As we passed through Salme we stopped at a concrete sculpture marking the find site of ships used for Viking burials c. 750 CE. Sõrve tuletorn | Sorve Lighthouse stands at Saaremaa’s southern tip (📷3); the concrete tower was completed in 1960 after its 1770 stone predecessor was destroyed during WWII. On the blustery pebble spit beneath it waves collided from two directions (📷4). We did contemplate a hike in the largely marine Vilsandi National Park, but the prospect of 11km in driving rain under a wind warning softened our resolve.
Nature is present in the West Estonian archipelago too. Mycena epipterygia, a common native mushroom with some bioluminescence, was growing on the thatched roof of one of the farm buildings at Muhu Museum (📷1). On Saaremaa we re-encountered Grus grus | the common crane, both in the fields and in the sky—perhaps rehearsing formation flying, or already on their migratory voyage (📷2). In the waters around Sorve Lighthouse we spied Phalacrocorax carbo | the great cormorant, or black shag in NZ (📷3); he took off into a strong headwind, seemingly stalled, and banked sharply away to one side! Also diving for food here was a sea duck, Bucephala clangula | the common goldeneye (📷4).
Mainland western Estonia
Marimetsa raba matkarada | Marimetsa Bog Hiking Trail in Marimetsa Nature Reserve crosses a meadow and passes through a spruce woodland before the boardwalk begins. The boardwalk section takes you across fen, transitional mire (📷1) and raised bog (📷2) to bog pools. This bog is the oldest in western Estonia, having formed 7,800–7,500 years ago. Bog grasses and sedges are well-adapted to the acidic, nutrient-poor conditions of raised bogs and may take on an appealing golden or straw-like colour in the autumn, as we saw in today’s afternoon sun (📷3). At the end of the trail is an observation tower and several pools, two of which have poolside decks and ladders to facilitate a hasty egress by hypothermic wild swimmers (📷4). Several locals rose to the occasion and their vocalisations upon water entry conveyed meaning with no understanding of Estonian. What might nibble your toes on the soft bottom here? Actually, although the water is clean (albeit stained brown by dissolved humin), the pools are lifeless: the lack of nutrients and acidic water are not friendly to life. 9km/ 3h out-and-back.
Public toilets
Like Latvia, Estonia recognises the fundamental human need to excrete and provides (mostly free) clean public toilets, even if long-drop loos in nature (similar to NZ DOC loos). They also have paper and often soap and water. This is a rarity in much of Western Europe.
✳️ Tips and tricks
In the forest section of the hike in Marimetsa Bog were many fungi, including the native Apioperdon pyriforme, a widespread puffball that is apparently edible (📷1). To either side of the boardwalk were Sphagnum mosses, some semi-dry and some submerged (📷2). The last of the Calluna vulgaris | common heather flowered in the area around the observation tower (📷3); like many other bog plants it takes most of the nutrients it needs from the air, not the poor soil. Sympetrum danae | the black meadowhawk is fond of bog pools; this specimen was sunbathing poolside, also near the observation tower (📷4). Also seen, the caterpillar of Ceramica pisi | the broom moth (📷5). Not seen: an abundance of birds, vipers, badgers, wolves, boar, elk or bears—all of which are said to be present here.
Rummu karjaäri ja Murru vangla | Rummu Quarry and Murru Prison represent a Soviet-era limestone quarry and prison complex, where inmates were required to perform hard labour. The quarry was abandoned in the 1990s; when the pumps were turned off the site flooded with groundwater, submerging both industrial buildings and part of the prison (📷1). The 70m high “hill” you can climb is actually a spoil tip, primarily mining waste and ash—the byproducts of limestone and Vasalemma marble excavation that took place here for decades. Subsequent erosion has carved ravines and ridges (📷2); can anyone else set the cat in this image? Visitors come for the post-industrial landscape with its turquoise waters and a host of water-based activities in summer (📷3); this includes snorkelling over the underwater ruins and mining equipment. The prison fully closed in 2012 and is now a museum—but more in the “preserved state of abandonment” sense than conventional exhibits (📷4). Some areas look like the aftermath of a riot, with no attempt to clean up.
Tallinn
We first visited Estonia’s capital Tallinn in 2002, on a group tour called “Treasures of the Tsars”; it was where we boarded an overnight train to Moscow. Almost a quarter century later, we’re back! Having run out of gas making pizza the previous evening, our first stop was a camping store to swap out our 907 bottle. To explore Tallinn we parked in Noblessner (10 €/ 24h), a former submarine shipyard that, with its modern urban redevelopment, gives off Auckland waterfront vibes. We had morning coffee watching a German cruise ship arrive (📷1). There’s a well-serviced marina here now (📷2), as well as a maritime museum/ seaplane harbour with huge ships on display (including an icebreaker). Some of the waterside residential apartments are architecturally interesting; we admired these projecting balconies with enclosed winter gardens (📷3). The adjacent district of Kalamaja is known for its rows of big, multi-storey wooden houses (📷4). En route to the Old Town we passed through Balti Jaama turg | Balti Jaam Market, a large multi-floor selection of quality produce, eateries, clothing, antiques and other flea-market wares you likely don’t need but may find yourself inadvertently browsing.
Tallinna Vanalinn | the Old Town of Tallinn is UNESCO-listed as an exceptionally well-preserved medieval northern European trading city on the Baltic Sea. The city was internationally known as Reval for centuries after Scandinavian and German settlers arrived on the heels of the Danish conquest of the area in 1219 CE, until Estonia’s independence in 1918. Reval developed as a key player in the Hanseatic League during the 13th to 16th centuries. We began with an orientation from the Patkuli and Kohtuotsa viewing platforms. Towers/ spires visible from the latter include the 12th C. Oleviste kirik | St. Olav’s Church (📷1); Raekoja plats ja raekoda | Town Hall Square and Town Hall—the spire seen here behind a golden rooster weathervane, with a modern skyscraper backdrop (📷2); and Püha Vaimu Kirik | Holy Spirit Church (📷3). We next wandered towards the medieval Toompea loss | Toompea Castle, which now houses the Estonian Parliament (📷4).
Directly facing Toompea Castle is Aleksander Nevski katedraal | Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, an Eastern Orthodox church built 1894–1900 (📷1); photography inside is prohibited. Raekoja plats ja raekoda | the Gothic-style Town Hall with its adjacent Town Hall Square is a popular setting for outdoor dining and people watching (📷2). In this view looking down one of Tallinn’s many coarsely-cobbled streets towards Niguliste muuseum | Niguliste Museum (St. Nicholas’ Church) is the Cat’s Well (📷3); legend has it that locals threw cats into the well to ward off evil spirits—possibly a response to a fatal methane gas incident in 1674 CE. In proximity to said well we found a fine and atmospheric restaurant serving pan-fried white fish and slow-cooked elk shoulder in plum sauce (📷4).
The 14th C. Viru väravad | Viru Gate is how many visitors will arrive into the medieval Lower Town (📷1); quite a bit of the city’s defensive structures has survived, including nearly 2km of wall and 20 defensive towers. Near the gate is Katariina käik | St. Cathrine’s Passage, featuring picturesque stone arches that stabilise adjacent 15–17th C. buildings (📷2) and known for its concentration of craft shops. Raeapteek | the Town Hall Pharmacy is first mentioned in 1422 CE and still functions as a pharmacy over six centuries later (📷3). Although well outside of the Old Town, we also walked to Kadriorg, a Baroque palace and park built by Tsar Peter the Great of Russia as a summer residence, now an art museum (📷4).
Lahemaa National Park
A short drive east of Tallinn, Jägala juga | Jägala Waterfall is the highest natural waterfall in Estonia, with an 8m drop in the Baltic Klint (a 1,200km long limestone escarpment). The sedimentary layers beneath the falls are c. 500 million years old. The rock overhang forms due to non-uniform erosion of softer, deeper strata; this undermining process causes the falls to recede upstream by 20cm each year.
Jägala juga
Further east, the Viru raba õpperada | Viru Bog Nature Trail in Lahemaa rahvuspark | Lahemaa National Park passes through the stunted pines and peat moss that are the product of a process that began replacing a lake here 5,000 years ago (📷1). We opted for the 5.5km circular route once the rain cleared. It’s fully accessible up to the observation tower, and then narrows (📷2). There are certainly more pools here than at the three bogs we visited prior. Again, wild swimming is supported (📷3), but overall we weren’t feeling at one with nature here—due perhaps to the constant background hum of motorway traffic, or the booms of artillery from the nearby army base. Still, no bog is boring and there was a shedload of sphagnum to admire up close (📷4). In the forest section we identified several birds: Parus major | the great tit (📷5); Turdus philomelos | the song thrush; and in a creek Bucephala clangula | the common goldeneye duck—whom we’d first met on Saaremaa.
Where are the animals?
Did you know that few animals are able to live exclusively in peatlands? Larger animals like elk or wolves may use peatlands temporarily for shelter or foraging, but peatland specialists are typically smaller and highly adapted: insects e.g. the ringed boghaunter dragonfly; small mammals e.g. bog lemmings; and birds e.g. the yellow rail. Most animals are challenged by the bog’s acidity, low nutrient levels and perpetually wet conditions.
🤔 Curiosity
One of the coastal villages in Lahemaa National Park is Käsmu, first mentioned in 1453 CE. It’s moved with the times though; the small harbour offers a floating sauna—a recent twist appealing to tourists in modern harbours and resorts across the Nordic and Baltic regions (📷1). Prior to WWII the village was more populous, with most occupied in catching Baltic herring and flounder, although shipbuilding on Käsmu beach took off in the late 19th C. The Sea Museum site (📷2) once housed the Käsmu Maritime School, producing a disproportionate number of sea captains, whose white houses became a village feature. A geological feature of Käsmu is the large number of erratic boulders in and around the village; they were transported here from Finland and Sweden by glaciers, deposited when the continental ice shelf retreated ~10,000 years ago (📷3). Käsmu has been a summer retreat since the mid-19th C. and we had the impression many of the current buildings are seasonally occupied/ used as seaside baches (📷4).
Up early and pre-coffee we took the 1km Oandu koprarada or “Beaver Trail” on the Altja River, but saw no signs (beaver had been reported here in 1995!). After coffee we began a new hike on Käsmu poolsaar | Käsmu Peninsula, the smallest of four within Lahemaa National Park at 6km in length and 4km in width. We parked at the northern end of the village where the 15km circular Käsmu Hiking Trail begins (the red route). Grateful for a weather window we soon came to a pretty pebble beach (📷1); the island is Saartneem, which can be accessed in suitable conditions outside of seabird nesting times. Boulders protruding from the sea served as perches for several bird species, including goosander ducks, great cormorants and this juvenile Oenanthe oenanthe | northern wheatear (📷2). Cygnus olor | the mute swan preferred the marshy areas, where this juvenile was having some “me time” (📷3). The pebble beaches began to turn sandy as we continued west along the shoreline (📷4).
The beaches kept coming and we admired those with coarse golden sand (📷1&2). It’s ~4.5km to the point (Cape Palganeem). We met fellow walkers there who said they’d seen a family of sea otters several hundred metres back. We backtracked but didn’t spot them. The western shoreline of the peninsula was different in character, with stony beaches and less variety than the section between the village and the point. As the weather had deteriorated we cut in early from the shoreline path, joining a forest track. The lichen Cladonia stellaris was abundant in clumps on the forest floor (📷3). Before returning to the van (and hot soup) we transited part of the biggest boulder field in the Baltics; some of the larger stones even have names (📷4). 13km/ 4h return.
Eastern Estonia
Sinijärv | Blue Lake (📷1) is one of a group of seven known as Äntu järved | Äntu Lakes. This swimming spot is known for its bluish-green hue (due to a lime-covered bottom and reflection of the surrounding forest) and its clear waters (we saw small fish—unlike in bog pools). Our goal, however, was a much bigger lake: Peipsi-Pihkva järv | Lake Peipus. We overnighted at an RMK (state forest) campsite at Kauksi rand | Kauksi Beach on the northern shore (📷2). With a surface area of 3,555 square kilometres Peipus is the largest lake in Europe forming an international boundary—with Russia across the water (📷3). With choppy waves, broad long sands and mollusc shells at the water’s edge you could easily imagine this as a seaside spot. On the western shore at Kallaste rand | Kallaste Beach is an admittedly underwhelming cliff of Devonian red sandstone (📷4); it runs for 930m and reaches 8m in height. In full wet weather gear we took the 4.5km Alatskivi matkarada | Alatskivi Hiking Trail around an artificial lake; we saw a heron.
We found a lovely little campsite on the western shores of Lake Peipus, in the village of Nina. We’d been travelling the “Onion Route”, linking villages settled by Old Believers (religious refugees who fled Russia in the 17th C.) who famously sell strings of onions grown in the sandy lakeside soil. That evening we had a visit from Vulpes vulpes | the red fox (📷1); in the morning our host came bearing onion cakes (📷2). Towards the southern end of Lake Peipus we entered Setomaa, a cultural territory that is the traditional homeland of the indigenous Seto people (it spans Estonian and Russian borderlands). Seto Talumuuseum | Seto Museum of Farming, about 1km from the Russian border in Värska, is a small collection of relocated buildings exhibiting the farming practices of the Setos. We lingered in the barn with a working oven (📷3); in the “cat spot” on top of it was a cat—naturally—and on its warm flank staff were air-drying apple slices to snack on between tour groups (📷4).
Seto Museum of Farming keeps live animals, but due to the spread of foot-and-mouth disease across Europe visiting the animal barn isn’t currently possible; we nevertheless admired the traditional stick fences (📷1). For lunch we enjoyed a hearty Seto variant of goulash soup with an unexpectedly soft and flavourful dark bread at the farm’s restaurant (📷2). In normal times you can drive from this recreation of a wealthy 1920s farm to Saatse Seto Museum, uniquely passing through Russian Federation territory without a visa—providing you don’t stop. These are not normal times, however, and although the detour fully within Estonia is only 22 min, that museum was closed (📷3). Instead we continued south, gaining a view of the border crossing at Koidula and across the rail tracks into forested Russian territory, to Obinitsa. Obinitsa Muuseum | Obinitsa Museum hosts an exhibition on the “Life and Songs of Seto Women” (📷4). Setos are a Finnic people and linguistic minority, historically Orthodox Christians; their polyphonic singing or leelo is UNESCO-listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
We looked over the architecturally-interesting Estonian National Museum in Tartu, built atop a former Soviet airfield. Tartu tähetorn | Tartu Old Observatory is Estonia’s first observatory, completed in 1810 and now a museum (📷1). The “pearl” of its collection is Fraunhofer’s refracting telescope (📷2). This instrument was used by German-born Russian astronomer Friedrich Struve to measure how far away stars were, with its superior optics (Fraunhofer was an optician by trade) and a micrometre attachment—a device for calculating angles inspired by cobwebs in the telescope of Gascoigne in 1640 CE. Struve began his famous triangulation survey from the observatory in 1816—subsequently named the Struve Geodetic Arc. Together with two other triangulation points, this undertaking elevates the observatory to the second of Estonia’s UNESCO-listed World Heritage Sites (the other being Tallinn’s Old Town). Angles/ distances were calculated in a chain of 258 linked triangles across 2,810km of the Tartu meridian, passing through 10 countries (Finland, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova). Completing his measurements in 1855, in a blow to flat-Earthers Struve established the size and (spherical) shape of Earth. The Town Hall and Town Hall Square are the heart of Tartu, seen here from the park on Toomemägi | Toome Hill (📷3). The city is regarded as Estonia’s “intellectual capital” and celebrates this (or risk of infectious mononucleosis?) with a 1998 “Kissing Students” fountain in the square (📷4). The University of Tartu was founded by the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus in 1632, making it one of the oldest in northern/ eastern Europe.
Karula rahvuspark | Karula National Park in southern Estonia was the setting for our last hike before crossing back into Latvia. We chose the circular Rebäse maastikurada | Rebase Landscape Trail as it promised views over rolling hills. The trail begins/ ends with Tornimägi Hill, at 139m the highest “peak” in the Karula Uplands. This soggy trail offered mud and mosquitoes, passing through a couple of swamps (📷1), winding around a few small lakes (📷2), and surmounting a number of hills—some forested and some churned-up cow pasture (📷3). The rounded hills formed from debris deposited by retreating ice ~12,000 years ago. Native Pleurotus pulmonarius | the lung oyster was our fungi small of the day (📷4). A 7km/ 2.5h loop hike; muddy/ soggy and overgrown, but well signposted.
On to Lithuania then—via a transit of eastern Latvia.
