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| entry created: Thursday 30 June 2005, 6:00am (NZ time) | |
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| Location: Märjamaa, Estonia |
| Local time: Wednesday, 9pm |
| Music: |
 We've just come back from a two-day adventure to Hiiumaa - Estonia's second-largest island, 22km from the Estonian mainland but with a rather Swedish history. It was Krista's parents' 25th wedding anniversary, and they wanted to get away from it all. Covered in 500-year-old churches and almost-as-old lighthouses, the sparcely-populated island was a mix of windswept beaches, endless forests, green pastures, gravel roads and no traffic jams (actually that almost describes the entire country!). Tomorrow (Thursday) we fly to London, where we'll stay for a few days with a friend, before heading on to Salzburg in Austria. I haven't seen my parents in over two years, so that's gonna be great to catch up again. They've already travelled through Italy and Greece, and will spend 10 days in Turkey once we fly back to Estonia, on the 19th of July. So, I'm off to take a tonne of photos in eastern Europe, but until then here's some shots from Hiiumaa...  Typical road-side scenery in Hiiumaa.  Kõpu lighthouse (finished in 1531) - the third oldest lighthouse in the world to operate continuously up to the present.  Orjaku bird sanctuary.  One of the 200 small islands (or 'islets') surrounding Hiiumaa, which are responsible for hundreds of shipwrecks.  Ristimägi, or 'Cross Hill'. Apparently making your own cross here out of naturally- available material brings good luck. The whole area is covered with literally thousands of crosses. A little spooky!  The stone maze in the foreground has been added to by visitors over hundreds of years. This is also supposed to bring good luck. Seems they're a superstitious bunch in Hiiumaa!  The giant barrel that we slept in. They were once used to transport grain etc.  They're pretty serious about their homemade beer in Hiiumaa. Here, Raivo and Tõivo demonstrate the technologically-advanced method of using a watering can to pour the beer. |
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