Saaremaa, the island of contrasts

So today we packed everything into a red station wagon given to us by Andres from rent.ee and went to the island Saaremaa. The ride was a long 4 hours. The highlight was being on the ferry from to Virtsu to Muhu – the connection point between the mainland and our destination. The ferry was really cool! Not only about 60 cars fit into it, as it started its 20 minute ride, we went to the upper decks and enjoyed the view. The kids stayed in the covered lower deck that among with multiple food options also had impressively stacked children’s corner.

We were staying on the main city Kuressaare. It is a sleepy little town. Every restaurant option we tried – and we tried most of them in our two days here was great. In general, locals make startling contrast to the mainland folk, in terms of their girth. We particularly recommend the windmill tavern – a real very large windmill. As long as you clear your own table and order at the grill, the service will be fast. And views magnificent.

Fine, while I am on the topic,… restaurant Madhu, looks like a someone wanted to recreate their extended Goa vacation. A full stock of cheesy décor will elephants and glitz. Patrons wear earrings made from the thing on top of a can. And, suitably, Bob Marley provides ambient sound. But the food, and we covered the full ground here, was all different and magnificent. Almost forgot, the waitress who had “I’ve got my Zen, you motherfucker” attitude. Disconcerting, but added to the richness of the experience. In general, the service in the restaurants is quite awful. Maybe no one leaves tips, and they are all depressed? However, if you order from the bar or make the appearance of doing so you will get your food.

Final food note. The restaurant that is right next to the old city hall and the information office – the beautiful one,.. they serve a soup that is called something like Cheese and Bacon. Yes, it is. Imagine the rich stock of heavy cream with some cheese melted in and large pieces of bacon (with meat) languishing on the bottom, while croutons, their light counterpart, float on top. A few sticks of dill bring freshness to the lake of cream. Every spoonful says, “MORE and F.U arteries!”

The highlight of the town is the 13^th century castle. Very nicely preserved. Lots of winding staircases – every room had at least 2 exits. Sometimes 3 or 4. We were completely lost. On the bottom floor in the chapel there was a girl in an ethnic costume who was playing a bass. That’s was the nicest part. After that there was extensive exhibition that described the ravages Soviet occupation on several floors with gusto... To the point that period of Nazi control that was shown on a few meager displays started to seem like a welcome time in the history of the country. Here is a little tidbit that shed some additional light on how some Estonians tried to deal with Soviets during WWII. Taking aside any knowledge of history, the almost sadomasochistic zeal that they’ve used in that museum just made one really sad and angry. I would think twice about taking kids there if I knew. After that exhibit of mounted local animals and birds in the basement was just nauseating.

Another note to close in on the contrasts. Quite as expected, most locals do not speak Russian. English is a lot more popular here. I got the feeling that if you want a bit nicer service, start with English. But there is a lot of Russian tourists - at least half of the ones we saw were Russian.

On a happier note, we came back to our hotel Johan Spa Hotel, and spent a few hours going through some of the great water activities they offer: several pools, sauna, Jacuzzi, many different types of massaging showers. The hotel itself is adequate and reasonable value for the price, but the water part was awesome.