The International Club brought our little group of Erasmus students to the amazing Island of Saaremaa for the weekend on the 16-17th of September.
At the departure, without any surprises, we waited for both Italians and Gauthier. After driving for one and a half hours, we made the first stop in Haapsalu. We walked by the promenade along the sea and then visited the charming old town with castle ruins. We also had the opportunity to eat the best traditional cakes of Estonia in a cute café.
The fantastic bus driver brought us to the harbour and our trip to Saaremaa could start. We arrived at the spa hotel and directly went to visit the Castle of Kuressaare. The guide was a very kind woman who was passionate about this subject and shared it with us.
After that we had spare time, to enjoy the spa or just to chill. We then got ready for the restaurant, when leaving we waited for Gauthier again. A king who after all arrives in a taxi. The restaurant seemed to be a typical Estonian pub. We had some nice hamburgers except Jan who had some excellent spicy pasta.
We then had the opportunity to experience a traditional Estonian wedding. The buddies gave each of us a role with specific things to do. Valentine and Jan were our amazing bride and groom. In order to respect Estonian traditions, we had “a few” drinks. At the end, we took the party to the “Club Diva”.
The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel before leaving to Kaali meteorite crater – one thing that makes Estonians proud. It was really impressive and the first time for all of us to see something like this. Then we moved to Angla windmills. A guide explained us the history and working process of the three different windmills. It was really interesting. We were then invited to go to the cottage and enjoy some Saaremaa’s bread and its butter.
When we got back in the bus the next stop was a farm. There we saw a lot of animals: ostriches, kangaroos, lamas and zebras etc. We were so surprised to see all these kinds of animals. Finally, we drove to Tihuse in order to have lunch at the ranch before meeting the horses. We then each got a horse and had an hour-long ride around the forest. Luckily for us, it was really sunny. We had some fun, especially with Mathias who broke his pants while riding the horse. At the end of the day, we drove back to Kuivastu, the harbour where we took the ferry back to Tallinn.
We would like to personally thank the buddies Charlotte, Laura-Liisa and Liisa for making our trip memorable!
– Val2
Authors: Valentine Kunnas and Valentine Auquebon
Photos: Chervil Tan
Editor: Kärt Mättikas