Ferry to Saaremaa and neighboring islands. Saaremaa: complete route and some tips. Tallinn Central Bus Station

Most Big city on the island, considered part-time resort, Kuressaare.

It is literally crammed with all sorts of mud baths and spas, so here you can not just relax, but also thoroughly heal - the sea air, healing mud and the mild climate of the island have an amazing effect on your health.

Saaremaa Hotels

If the goal is just to spend the night, then the island is full of small hotels or traditional huts for every whim. But it’s still worth taking advantage of not only the aesthetic joys of this wonderful island, but also practical, which includes the possibility of receiving a course of rejuvenation and healing procedures.

The healing mud of Saaremaa has been known since the 19th century - the entire aristocracy of Russia, Scandinavia and Germany came here to take mud baths. Modern spa centers offer significantly more services. In Kuressaare, we can recommend three spa hotels, the range of services in them is approximately the same, and they are located one after another, so the choice depends on personal preference and the thickness of the wallet: these are Meri Spa 3*, Ruutli Spa 4* and Saaremaa Valss Spa 2* . Aquatic centers including a jacuzzi, swimming pool, hydromassage and sauna, salt cave, different kinds massages (classical, aromatic, therapeutic), mother-of-pearl wrap in assortment.

In addition to the spa services, you can indulge in a little whim and take a room with a view of Kuressaare Castle and the bay.

Entertainment and attractions in Saaremaa

On the southeastern part of the island, right next to the sea, the first of the attractions awaits tourists - the bishop's castle. In the chronicles we found mentions of the castle dating back to 1380, but despite its age, it looks good - thanks to timely restoration. Now in the castle, instead of the residence of the Bishop of Saare-Lään, in whose honor the castle is called the episcopal castle, there is historical Museum. By paying 6 EUR for entry, you can spend hours looking at the intricate exhibits and wandering through the echoing halls.

The ruins of Maasi Castle are also recommended for viewing; they are located near the city of Orissaare, on a hill, right on the shore. The main thing when traveling there is to look at the signs along the road so as not to miss the right sign. Work has now begun on the restoration and restoration of the castle, but this will not prevent you from sneaking into the dungeons of the castle and wandering through the ancient corridors. Prices on the page are as of November 2018.

Kaali Crater

There is another one in Saaremaa - an extraterrestrial attraction. About 4 thousand years ago, on the island, the sky hit the earth's surface with a pillar of fire, leaving behind a huge crater. The alien guest turned out to be a huge meteorite, which loosened the soil of Saaremaa and scattered fragments around. The traces of this disgrace have now healed - a crater with a diameter of about one hundred meters and a depth of 20 meters now resembles a small lake, the banks of which are overgrown with trees and bushes. They called this place the Kaali crater, and if you are interested in looking at it, look for a sign on the highway between the cities of Kuressaare and Orissaare.

Saaremaa

Windmills of Saaremaa

This is where you can’t live without a camera, so if you’re going to the Windmill Museum, don’t forget about an extra memory card. All the mills have already abandoned the idea of ​​​​grinding flour, but this does not prevent them from looking good in the middle of the fields of the island. The spectacle is very impressive - as if a couple of centuries have been marked off on the calendar.

Panga Pank

In this place, which makes you tremble in the knees not only with its history, but also appearance, definitely worth a visit. The Panga cliff rises 21 meters above the sea - this is a coastal ledge from which in ancient times sacrifices were thrown to the gods.

The ancient pagan sanctuary has now been replaced by a lighthouse, but the stones and ancient cliffs still preserve the memory of the blood of innocent victims.

Despite the fact that there are many signs warning about the danger near the cliff, tourists still strive to look the abyss in the face. You shouldn’t do this - the gods haven’t received their victims for a long time. Follow safety precautions; signs will not be hung in vain.

Alas, but in one of the most beautiful places Baltic region, the island of Saaremaa cannot be reached directly from Russia. The thing is that the only Kuresaare airport on the island accepts only Estonian Air flights from Tallinn. The good news is that there are daily flights, so if you want to get there by air, everything is simple. From Moscow to Tallinn (flight time 1 hour 40 minutes), and then from Tallinn to Saaremaa (40 minutes). But not everyone likes this route; not everyone likes flying, and it’s a bit expensive. Therefore, I propose to consider more budget-friendly ways to get to Saaremaa. We will depart from Tallinn, because it is not difficult to get to the Estonian capital and there is no point in detailing the route.

Kuresaare Airport

Bus

Direct bus services Tallinn - Kuresaare depart daily, with a frequency of approximately 1 bus per 1 hour, from the central bus station of Tallinn, located at Lastekodu, 46. This is actually the very center of the city, so it will not be difficult to find it.

Despite the fact that the distance from Tallinn to Kuresaare is only 220 kilometers, the travel time, including the ferry crossing, will be approximately 5 hours.

Central Bus Station Tallinn

Automobile

If you are traveling by car, then leave Tallinn on the romantically named highway No. 4 (north of the city), get to highway No. 9, and then get to highway No. 10, which will lead you to the port of Virtsu, where you will need to take the ferry to Kuwaitsu port. There are many signs, the roads are good and relatively free. It's almost impossible to get lost.

It is worth noting that the ferry does not go to the island of Saaremaa, but to the island of Muhu. But this should not scare anyone, since Muhu and Saaremaa are connected by a dam.

Ferry tickets can be purchased on the spot or in advance online. At the same time, the advantage of an electronic ticket is that you will be loaded onto the ferry in a separate queue, which is faster. Although this is not so important, because loading and unloading is worked out to the smallest detail and does not take much time.

Ferry to Virtsu

Ferries depart every hour, and the travel time, including loading and unloading, takes 40-50 minutes.

After arriving at the port of Kuivatsu, you take the same highway number 10 and drive to Kuresaare. Road at average speed 80-85 kilometers per hour is noticeable in no more than 40-50 minutes.

Our main destination on this trip was the island of Saaremaa. The largest densely populated of Estonia's many islands. Although the word densely populated in this case can mislead the reader. You might think that tens or hundreds of thousands of inhabitants live here. In fact, about 30 thousand people permanently live on the island.

How to get to the islands of Muhu and Saaremaa

When we were just planning the trip, it seemed to me that upon arrival we would find ourselves almost desert island with rare dwellings and wild places. I was partly right. But only partly. In fact, Saaremaa is a completely civilized place with developed infrastructure and excellent transport accessibility. Suffice it to say that the island has its own airport, where regular flights are organized by Transaviabaltika. This is of course not huge liners, and small 19-seat jets Jetstream-3200 and yet.

You can buy plane tickets from Tallinn to Saaremaa and back directly on the airline's website.

Ferries are considered the real pride of the islanders. These seemingly not gigantic ships transport, it seems, the entire population of Estonia, along with all the buses and trucks, in one voyage. Having not yet completely moored to the shore, this “boat”, like a whale, opens its gigantic mouth and, touching the shore, like insects, releases “tiny” twenty-ton trucks, cars and midget passengers onto the shore.

To be fair, it must be said that the ferry does not run between the mainland and the island of Saaremaa, but between mainland Estonia and the island of Muhu. Muhu, in turn, is connected to Saaremaa by a bridge, or better yet, by an isthmus.

About the islands of Estonia

Estonia can safely be called island state, although it sounds very unusual. In the Baltic Sea, 1521 islands belong to Estonia. The largest and most populous is Saaremaa, which will be discussed further. Its area is 2,673 square meters. km, and the population is about 33 thousand people. The smallest island is Saarnaki - only about 15 sq. km., there are no inhabitants on it at all. At the smallest inhabited island Heinlaid has an area of ​​just over 15 square meters. km. Only 48 people live permanently. There is also the island of Vohilaid. It is notable for the fact that as many as 7 people live here. Most of the islands are located at a distance short trip by ferry from west coast countries. Boats and small ferries also operate between the islands. The most visited islands by tourists are Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, Kihnu, Ruhnu and Vormsi. During our trip we lived on the island of Saaremaa and made a short excursion to the island of Muhu.

Saaremaa

It’s worth writing a few words about the island itself, because Saarema is not just a part of the state of Estonia, but a special part of it. Special not only because it island territory– the islanders (Saaramites) consider themselves, if not a separate state, then at least a special part of Estonia with a special status. Locals even speak a special Estonian dialect. You rarely meet Russian speakers here, as do English speakers, by the way.

In its history, the island has changed “owners” more than once - Swedes, Russians, Estonians... By the way, the islanders have a lot of fun when tourists try to pronounce the name of the island the way it is written, that is, stretching out the vowel “a”. In fact, the name is simply pronounced “sarema” or even more often “sarem”. There is one city in Saaremaa that is considered the capital, or more precisely regional center- Kuressaare.

The island is replete with various attractions, the main of which is the Bishop's Castle in Kuressaare. However, besides the castle, there is something to see on the island - almost more medieval churches alone have survived here than in any other region of Estonia, and each of them is very interesting. In the same Pöide, the church amazes with its massiveness - it’s almost like a small castle. Here you can also see mills, which are collected in one place in the museum in Angla or scattered around the island and lighthouses located in different parts of Saaremaa. But all this will be discussed in detail in the following articles.

How to travel around the island

Planning a trip to Estonian islands, remember that just exploring Saaremaa will take more than one day, so you shouldn’t expect that during a regular vacation you will have time to see even the most popular ones.

The best way to get around the island is with your own or rented car. More extreme on a bicycle or bike. The least convenient, although possible, is by bus. The roads in Saaremaa are mostly asphalted and of quite decent quality, there are primers, but you can also move along them without difficulty or fear in an ordinary passenger car.

If you travel around the island by car, it is worth remembering that there are very few gas stations here and most are concentrated in Kuressaare, gas stations can also be found in the north and eastern part of the island and, perhaps, that’s all... At the same time, some places on the island seem completely uninhabited, It seems like a great success to meet a living person here. So you should carefully monitor the fuel level.

Where to rent a car on Saaremaa island

There is only one rental point on the island, which is located at Kuressaare Airport. Here you can choose the car you need.

Where to stay on Saaremaa island

To begin with, I’ll tell you where we stayed during our trip to Estonia. I wanted quiet place with a minimum of people in the area and preferably on the seashore. Well, at a reasonable price, of course. As a result, we found a guest house, or rather a complex of houses

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Well, let's talk about the main thing: how to get to the island of Saaremaa?

In ancient (read, “Soviet”) times, the island was located in the border zone and travel was strictly with passes. Strangers did not roam here - tourism as a phenomenon did not exist at all. At the same time, planes flew regularly, and the Raketa, a hydrofoil motor ship, sailed from Riga. At a cruising speed of about 60 km/h, the distance was covered in less than two hours.

Unfortunately, “Rocket” no longer exists, as does direct sea communication with Riga: the main transport is now ferries. And the journey to Riga or back takes at least 5 hours. But we’ll come back to this later, but for now let’s talk about airplanes.

The airport in Kuressaare has been modernized and, theoretically, can accommodate even hefty aircraft: runway length 2 kilometers. However, the potential is not used well: only small planes fly daily to Tallinn (ticket price from 26 euros; capacity up to 11 people) and to the island of Ruhnu (23 euros). The rest of the fleet is private and rare charters. For years now there have been talks about organizing direct air service with Riga, St. Petersburg and Moscow, but so far things have not gone beyond conversations over a cup of coffee. It’s a sin, and I’m trying to participate in this process, but I can’t boast of success.

Of course, they come into our harbors and big ships. But individually, cruises and occasionally - to the port of Veere, in the north-west of the island. Much more relevant - ferry service with the island via the Virtsu-Kuivastu crossing. The distance there is small, literally a few kilometers, ferries cover it in 20 minutes; They run every 40 minutes, give or take.

Open a spherical panorama by clicking on the picture

And everything would be fine if not for two “buts”. First: ferries do not operate at night (after midnight until five in the morning); I didn't have time - sorry. This causes a lot of trouble for the residents of the island, who need to return late in the evening or be on the mainland early in the morning. And second: in summer time There are frequent queues, so when traveling from afar it is better to think through everything in advance and reserve a place for certain time- bypass the queue. You can do this here: www.praamid.ee The cost of travel by car is 8 euros per car and one and a half euros for each passenger.

The ferries are new, built in 2016. Very comfortable. For tourists (as opposed to locals) this is another cool thing: on board there is a large bistro, a cafe, fast WiFi, a lot of sockets for charging devices, toilets, again. They can accommodate up to a hundred cars and a dozen buses or heavy trucks at a time.

Going to Saaremaa by car is the surest option: yes, the island is full of public transport plus there is car rental (from 25 euros per day) and bicycles (relevant when staying in Kuressaare; you can drive ten kilometers to the sea, pedaling, sunbathing and drinking a cold beer on the go - there are a lot of cool bike paths around the city). But a car is more comfortable: you can get to any place on the island, easily and quickly. Stay not only in the city, but also in a remote tourist village - there are plenty of them, and in the summer they are much more more attractive than the center. Getting from Tallinn to Kuressaare, including the ferry, takes 3 hours, from Riga - 5 hours.

At the same time, buses that run no less regularly can be cheaper: prices start from 10 euros; the line is served by several operators, including luxexpress.eu. In addition, there are Facebook groups offering ride-hailing from anywhere in Estonia for 5 - 7 euros: this option is most often used by students.

That, in fact, is all the possibilities. Although no, I forgot one more - on ice: when the sea between Virtsu and Kuivastu freezes, an ice crossing is opened across it. Only for passenger cars. But in last years winter is warm, so alas.

In August '41. Travel to the island of Saaremaa

The island of Saaremaa in modern Russia is not known to many. Meanwhile, historically, he played a very important role for our country in both world wars of the 20th century. A role, alas, unreasonably forgotten in the chronicles and historical textbooks of a great power... On the eve of the 76th anniversary of the first bombing of Berlin, we drove the new Skoda Kodiaq to Saaremaa to find the very place from where in August 1941 Soviet pilots carried out the most daring and desperate operation of the first year of the great war

text: Vladimir Makkaveev / photo: the author and Skoda / 08/04/2017

How to get to Saaremaa island

To get from Russia by car to the island of Saaremaa (or the island of Ezel, as it was called before), you need to overcome the Russian-Estonian border and cross almost the entire Baltic country. It is the border that in most cases serves as the determining factor when planning a route to Estonia. There are not many crossings, but the approaches to them make you think... If you travel from St. Petersburg, then the shortest route lies through Ivangorod and Narva and further along the Baltic coast to Tallinn. However, the Narva crossing is very busy today, you can stand here for many hours, so some St. Petersburg residents prefer to make a detour and enter Estonia through one of the Pskov checkpoints that are free on weekdays. When starting from Moscow, the Pskov option is all the more optimal, but here another question arises: what is the best way to get to Pskov - along the “Leningradka” or “new Riga”. This question was not raised before: high-speed Novorizhskoe highway definitely made the southern route faster than the northern one. However, this year, the global redevelopment of roads in the vicinity of Velikie Luki, endless repairs along the border with Latvia and new high-speed sections of the M11 toll highway have practically equalized these two routes in terms of time and labor costs.

From the Pskov checkpoint “Shumil Kino” to Virtsu, from where the ferry departs to the islands of the Moonsund archipelago, there is only 300 km left to travel, but taking into account provincial Estonian roads and speed limits, this journey will take at least four hours, or even more, since it’s a few kilometers away Another large-scale road repair with reverse traffic awaits you from Virtsu. You can use this forced stop to buy from your phone or tablet. e-ticket take the ferry to Kuivastu. The operation is simple, but it will significantly save time on standing in lines at the cash register and on loading. Happy e-ticket holders travel without a queue and in separate lanes. There is no need to print the ticket; the system itself reads the car number. In case of delay, the electronic ticket is automatically extended to the next ferry, which operate at intervals on average of 40 minutes to an hour.

The ferry ride to Muhu Island takes about 25 minutes. During this time, you can have a hearty snack in a very decent cafe on the middle deck or admire the views of the Moonsund Strait - the same one where the Russian Imperial Fleet took its last battle in the fall of 1917.

MOONSUND

Between Russia and Germany in the First World War there were fierce battles in the Baltic. To the credit of the Russian fleet, which survived the shame of Tsushima, from 1914 to 1917 the Kaiser’s battleships never managed to fully establish themselves in the Baltic. This became possible thanks to the wise actions of the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vice-Admiral von Essen, and the batteries of Cape Tserel on the island of Ezel. The dramatic events that unfolded in these places were later described in Valentin Pikul’s novel “Moonzund” and filmed in the Soviet film of the same name starring Oleg Menshikov, Evgeny Evstigneev, Nikolai Karachentsov and Valery Gostyukhin. The Svorbe Peninsula, with Cape Tserel jutting deep into the Irbe Strait, became a key Russian position in the defense of the Gulf of Riga. Here among the overgrown grass sand dunes and today there are concrete bases of the guns of the famous 43rd battery, commanded by Senior Lieutenant Bartenev, who became the prototype of the Pikulevsky starley Artenyev.

The battles for the archipelago reached their climax in October 1917.

The denouement came on October 16 in the Moonsund Strait: the Germans broke through into the coveted Gulf of Riga, but, despite the defeat, the Moonsund Battle did not become the second Tsushima for Russia, rather the opposite.

As a result of the operation, the German fleet occupied the Gulf of Riga and the Moonsund archipelago, but this cost it nine ships sunk and the actual loss of combat capabilities on whole year, while the Russian fleet lost only two ships. One of them, however, turned out to be the squadron battleship "Slava", sunk in the Moonsund fairway, just one and a half kilometers away south of the route the ferry that takes our Kodiaq to Muhu Island.

The battleship Slava was sunk in Moonsund just 1.5 km from where the ferry passes. In the 1930s. Estonians dismantled Slava for scrap metal

Muhu, the third largest of the Moonsund archipelago islands, can be crossed by car in 15–20 minutes. But if you want to be curious and plunge into the life and history of the island, you can stop by the museum on the way open air- the ancient Estonian village of Koguva.

Loading and unloading the ferry takes just minutes

A 2.5 km dam connects Muhu with Saaremaa - the most large island Moonzunda. It will take at least several days to go around and examine only the main attractions of Ezel - the Kaali meteorite crater, the ancient Angla mill complex, the high cliffs of the Panga Peninsula and, of course, the Russian batteries at Cape Tserel. Not to mention the capital of the island itself - as if straight out of the pages of American novels of the 19th century, the amazingly cute town of Kuressaare with its medieval castle, in the donjon of which there is a museum of the Soviet occupation. But today we are more interested not in the tourist attractions of Saaremaa, but in the forgotten field airfield 10 km northwest of Kuressaare...

“MY PLACE IS BERLIN...”

After the fall of Tserel's batteries, Russian, or rather now Soviet, troops returned to Saaremaa only shortly before the start of World War II, on the eve of Estonia's annexation to the USSR. The construction of new batteries began on Tserele, and on the outskirts of the village of Kogula the field airfield “Kagul” (as it was called in Soviet military documents) was built, which at the end of the summer of 1941 was destined to write one of the most glorious pages in the bleak history of the first year of the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War...

Saaremaa Island - attractions

The majestic Kuressaare Castle

At the end of fiery July 1941, the People's Commissar of the Navy, Admiral Kuznetsov, unexpectedly reported to Stalin about the possibility of bombing Berlin from the island of Ezel. From Saaremaa (which by that time was already deep in the rear of the Wehrmacht, but was still not occupied by the Germans) to the German capital in a straight line across the Baltic was only 850 km, which theoretically allowed DB-3 bombers to fly to Berlin and return back. Against the backdrop of the collapse of the Red Army, the idea of ​​bombing Berlin in August 1941 looked fantastic and delighted Stalin. The 1st mine and torpedo air regiment of the Baltic Fleet Air Force, Colonel Preobrazhensky, was urgently transferred to Saaremaa: they were in a hurry, since the Germans could any day remember about the island they had recklessly forgotten in their rear.

The wooden houses of the capital of Saaremaa seem to have stepped out of the pages of a 19th century novel.

On the evening of August 7, 11 DB-3, straining to accelerate along the Cahula dirt strip, rose into the Baltic sky and rushed west - towards the setting sun. Some of them went off course, eventually bombing Königsberg and Kolberg: navigation in the pitch-dark Baltic sky was too difficult. But four DB-3 groups of Colonel Preobrazhensky (led by captains Grechishnikov, Plotkin and Lieutenant Dashkovsky) by 1:30 a.m. reached the outskirts of Berlin and from a height of 5500 meters brought down the first weapon of retaliation in the history of the Patriotic War on the carefreely illuminated capital of the Wehrmacht. “My place is Berlin! Completed the task. I'm coming back! - a few minutes later, Vladimir Krotenko, gunner-radio operator of Preobrazhensky, transmitted to the base. All 11 aircraft did return safely. And in the morning, the stunned Germans announced on the radio that “up to 150 British planes tried to bomb Berlin at night.” But this was only the beginning... In a month, from August 7 to September 5, 1941, while Wehrmacht units were rushing to Moscow, Red Banner Baltic Fleet pilots made nine raids on Berlin from Saaremaa. Having carried out a total of 88 combat missions, they dropped 620 (21 tons) bombs on the capital of the Reich. Five pilots of the regiment led by Preobrazhensky and five long-range aviation pilots of the Leningrad Front were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union...

The church where the Preobrazhensky Communist Party was located in August 1941

So why was the heroic epic of the bombing of Berlin from the island of Ezel in August-September 1941 so unfairly forgotten by Soviet historians? There is still no official answer to this question. But I think two tragic facts played a key role in this. The first of them is entirely on the conscience of the “father of nations”: having felt the taste of the first victory, Stalin began to demand that bombers fly to Berlin with at least a ton of bombs under the fuselage instead of 750 kg. DB-3 with worn-out engines, and even from the unpaved strips of Cahul and the neighboring Aste airfield, were not able to lift such a weight. But Stalin, as we know, who understood aviation better than anyone else, sent the chief tester of the Air Force, Vladimir Kokkinaki, to Saaremaa with a categorical order to “force the sailors to take off with a ton under their belly.” Result: two planes crashed during an attempt to take off and a burned-out crew - Preobrazhensky’s regiment did not suffer such losses in one day even in the skies over Berlin. It is not surprising that the USSR preferred not to remember the heroic epic of Saaremaa after the war. Moreover, part of the flight and technical personnel of the airfield could not even be removed from the island: by mid-September there were no aircraft or fuel left on Ezel. The fate of those remaining on Saaremaa is still unknown. On October 4, 1941, the last radiogram came from Ezel: “I’m closing the radio watch, I’m going into battle, the last battle... Farewell, goodbye.” At 16:10, communication with the heroic garrison of the island ceased forever.

Colonel Preobrazhensky and his navigator Captain Khokhlov

The regiment's flagship navigator, Captain Khokhlov, in his DB-3

EPILOGUE

Contrary to expectations, finding that very field airfield “Cahul” turned out to be not so difficult. The concrete post-war runway of Soviet jet aircraft, preserved on the edge of the forest, helped. But of course, nothing remains of the 1941 field airfield itself, the runway of which was located on the same field a little to the left. Perhaps standing on the edge of the “take-off” old church, which housed the Preobrazhensky command post in August 1941. It was then that the dome was removed from the temple so that bombers would not touch it during takeoff and landing. Before the collapse of the USSR, in memory of the heroic events of 1941, there was at least a memorial concrete slab on this field. But after gaining independence, the Estonians broke it and dragged it somewhere into the forest. Locals admitted that they came across it a couple of times, but could not remember where exactly... We managed to find the only monument to the heroic pilots who flew from Saaremaa to bomb Berlin in August 1941 at the Kogul cemetery, where several crews that crashed during takeoffs and landings. Among others, the name of Lieutenant Nikolai Dashkovsky, the commander of one of the four crews that dropped the first bombs on Berlin on the night of August 8, 1941, will be written on the gray stone. Returning from another flight, his DB-3 was just a little short of reaching the Cahul runway: it ran out of fuel...

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