HIIUMAA

Hiiumaa is the second largest island in Estonia. It is beautiful, the nature alone makes up for the fact that everything is closed until May. I mean all the main attractions like museums and light houses are literally closed. They should put up a sign in the harbour: Open May 1st until September 15th. 

But as I said, the nature is still worth the trip. 

I went to Hiiumaa for a two-day holiday with L.S and K.V and we had a lot of fun. I will try to write it down in a chronological order for you and for me. Ten years from now, this might be my only reference for this trip.

Our holiday began at 10 a.m on a Wednesday with a ferry ride to the island. It went quite fast, only a hour and a half. There was some ice that slowed the ferry down, but generally it was good. I was afraid I might get sea sick, because I do have that tendency, but we survived.

The minute we arrived on the island, everyone was in a hurry to speed away from the port. I don't like that mentality, I mean really? You NEED to speed to nowhere? 

Our first stop was Kärdla, it's the town of the island. Small. Smaller than Haapsalu. I mean the whole population for the island is smaller than the one in Haapsalu. We went to the tourist info centre, the girl working was surprised to see people in February. It's funny how they expect to just slumber through the winter. And then there's three girls from the main land making "Here We Are" ("Siin me oleme") references among themselves.

I got my first souvenir from the info centre - a magnet for my mother. She collects them. We also went and did some sight seeing with some small shopping. It was cool. Everyone was staring at us, because, like I said, they expect no visitors during winter. 

After Kärdla we went to find a light house and the memorial for the children who perished on the Estonia (like Titanic, a ship that went down with too many casualties and still kind of  a mystery, 1994). This little mission got us lost in the woods for some minutes. We also found an old CCCP military spot with a creepy tunnel. I will add pictures later.

In the end we found the light house, took some selfies and rang the bell. Very emotional. And then we walked amongst some crosses in Ristimägi. Made one myself to add to the countless ones.

After all that slow driving, we were hungry, so back through Kärdla to find a pizza place. The location was hilarious. Hard to find something when you're expected to drive through the airfield. Like, I never thought that was a thing. But, Hiiumaa has this one of a kind eatery. The pizza was good, big and we packed it up for dinner. 

Then we went to see some smaller sights. 

First thing on our list was this rock that was on our tourist map, like you have to see it. NO! you so do not. It's as big as the ones you're supposed to drive by and it is located in the middle of someones pasture. We had to climb three electric fences and dodge cow pies the entire way. So, Fuck You, Kukka stone! Not worth the mud or acrobatically performed exercises.

After the stone, we drove to see a cliff. Usually the cliffs in Estonia are by the sea. This on is in the middle of the woods. I was the only one in the group who climbed down some slippery stairs to see it. It's debatable, whether it is worth it or not. I did it mostly for nostalgic reasons, because I had been there once before, back when I was like 8 years old.

When we reached the main road, after the cliff, it was getting darker. So we decided to head towards our hotel and see all the things in between. We saw a mansion, that really needs some TLC. Also, we witnessed a beautiful sunset while hiking towards the southern most corner of the island, Kassari. I'm not sure if Kassari is technically a separate island, the two are quite attached to each other. 

The sunset was truly awesome and we all agreed it was the highlight of our trip. We were almost mauled to death by a raccoon (the Estonian version, kährik). That was exciting.

Then it came time to locate the hotel. I'm not going to go into details how the signs were all messed up and how they had made a mistake with our reservation. We got a room, drank some wine, played Cards Against Humanity and watched Fluffy. Oh, and we also slept.

New day, new adventures. 

We continued our trip with a heading towards Kõpu, the main attraction, a big light house. It was closed of course and the fence around it didn't allow any walking around it either. Also the military museum was closed. And Ristna light house. We did walk on the beach by the light house and saw some really amazing nature. Estonia can really surprise you, if you give it a chance.

Then we were back towards Kärdla. Had some soup and a hot chocolate. 

We still had some time to kill before the ferry back to the main land, so L.S got to practise her driving. It was interesting. Let's just say that she needs some more practise. Like hours worth. But not the worst experience I've had in a car. 

On to the ferry, back to the main land and straight to the car wash. 

So, that's the trip. It was good to get away for a few days and just relax. We had a good time, I think, and already made plans to go back when it's open. 

Next week I will maybe write about Deadpool, after I see it on Monday. I hope I'm not disappointed.

'till next time, y'all!

Rex.