Following our trip to my family’s homestead in Hiiumaa, my 2 teens and I spent the next three weeks on a road trip through the Baltics and Poland, ending in Berlin.
I didn’t start with a Baltic road trip in mind. I had thought we would spend 3 weeks in Berlin, house-swapping with the family Tallie stayed with during her school’s German exchange. But the German mother got a new job and could only take a week vacation, and we were faced with 2 weeks left to fill.
One option would have been a Paris staycation. But by this time, someone had already rented my apartment on AirBnb for the first week, so we had to go somewhere.
I looked at the map at what was near Berlin. Even though it’s in Germany, which borders France, Berlin’s a hell of a long ways away. To drive would take ten hours, no stops. (I know, I know. To Americans that’s nothing. But I didn’t want to spend 2 days of our holidays just driving, so…)
When I saw that Estonia was pretty much equidistant, I figured we could fly there then fly to Berlin and back to Paris. But then I saw what was in between: three countries I’d never been to. And, seeing they border Russia and Belarus, I figured a visit sooner rather than later might be preferable.
I checked out the highlights of each country, then studied the complicated network of trains, and decided to rent a car. But cars rented in the Baltics must be returned in the Baltics, or the price skyrockets. So I booked a flight from Paris-Tallinn, rented a car to drop off in Vilnius, checked out buses and trains for Poland and Germany, and booked a flight from Berlin to Paris. And we were on our way.
(For those who wonder how a single mom can afford to take her kids around Europe for three weeks, you should see my Excel spreadsheet. The first column is the surprising amount people are willing to pay for a 3-bedroom flat in Paris. The second column is our travel fares. Third is the cheap-o places I found for us to stay. Food costs are the same as if we stayed home because I don’t take my kids to restaurants since they won’t eat anything on the menu and we end up ordering French Fries. My game is to make the total of subsequent columns equal less than the total of the first column…and I always make it work.)
I’ve talked about Tallinn and my family’s homestead in Hiiumaa. I’ll pick up from our second full day on the island and go from there.
After what my kids considered an overdose of ancestors, we spent a day driving the circumference of the island, making deviations to see a few of the famous lighthouses.
Kõpu Lighthouse is a symbol of Hiiumaa and definitely the most well-known tourist site. It’s one of the oldest lighthouses in the world, and has been in continuous use since it was built in 1531. Built on the island’s highest hill, the shape is a square prism with the four buttresses aligned with the four cardinal directions.
It has a fascinating history, changing hands between countries during various wars and takeovers. The light was updated by a system bought at the 1900 Paris World Fair for three million gold rubles. Which is why this plaque is on the upstairs door.
We climbed the 123 steps and sat out looking at the view, which made clear just how forested the island was. Thick pine trees everywhere…it was truly beautiful. Then back down and fifteen minutes’ drive to the next lighthouse.
This time Tibor opted out of the climb and sat at the bottom digging holes in the ground with a stick. (You will see his preferred past-time several times throughout this trip. Digging is self-soothing, and it’s one of the only things he will put his phone down for.)
Ristna lighthouse was ordered pre-built from France in 1873. We didn’t count the steps, but it was much smaller than Kõpu. You can see from the photo what I was talking about with the never-ending forests!
By the time we got to Takuna Lighthouse, it was already closed to visitors.
Which we didn’t mind because there were more rocks to look at. Hundreds of rocks, out in the water, which looked like you could step from one to the other and go a long way out. Unfortunately, no one but me felt like doing that, so we drove back to our cabin.
For those who ask, “But what about Hiiumaa’s own Eiffel Tower? Didn’t you go there?” Well, it was located right down the street from us, but we got there just as the sun was going down and it was basically this abandoned tourist trap with the creepiest giant dolls everywhere and Tallie said, “God, no,” and we turned around and went home.
The next day we tried to take the ferry across to Saaremaa, but discovered that you had to reserve ahead of time because the ferry between the two islands is tiny and can only fit 20 cars. I did my best to talk Dennis, the captain, into squeezing us on, but even though he seemed to enjoy our chat, I was ultimately unsuccessful.
We ended up driving across Hiiumaa, taking the same ferry we arrived on back to the mainland, then driving down to Virtsu where we got the main ferry across. But I will tell you about Saaremaa in its own post. To finish up with Hiiumaa, I’ll give you this photo, which perfectly encapsulates the island in my mind. (Unending forests and massive “erratic rocks.”)
I will also give you a tip that some of you might not know, and which basically saved our lives on this trip. Most Baltic people speak English. But not in the little towns and on the islands. So how do you order lunch, or even know what you’re deciding from, when faced with this?
The Ukranian family who stayed with me last year showed me the Google Translate app. The actual app, mind you…not the web page. If you download it, choose the languages you want, and point it at something, it does this with the above food-truck sign:
Which, as you can see from “with vinery” and “cheese bumps,” is not perfect but is a hell of a lot better than the first option.
We used the app everywhere we went, with one of our favorites translations being this yogurt package.
Now that I’ve taught you a trick that allows you to travel anywhere in the world without being completely lost…or at least to be capable of buying mature sex! yogurt…I will save the rest of my Estonian Island stories and see you in the next installment.