ESTONIA: TALLINN'S CHRISTMAS TREE

Top Photo of the Town Square this Christmas. A beautiful scene. Below, copied from my book, is a bird's eye view of the world heritage site Tallinn's Town Square.

Based on my book: OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA Amazon.com

Reissuing my Christmas post of last year. I don't think I can improve of this scene.

Just in time for Christmas is the story, likely a fable, of how Tallinn, Estonia has been identified as the site of the first Christmas Tree. Guidebooks and some historians cite 1441 as the year when in the Town Square of Tallinn the first Christmas tree appeared. Most historians dispute that, noting that the Christmas tree evolved over many years first appearing in Northern Germany in the 16Th century. It should be noted however, that Tallinn was home to a ruling German minority and the German merchant class dominated affairs in the old town square. There was also a custom for German Merchants to burn a tree on ash Wednesday. Is that the source of the story? No one knows. But Tallinn is sticking to its claim of the having the first Christmas tree in 1441; and there is a plaque in the ground at the town square where this took place. It is the site now of the yearly Tallinn Christmas Tree and the center of a growing Christmas market. Since so much about Christmas is based on myth anyway, why not Estonia's? Happy Holidays.

ESTONIA-MUHU-PIODE AND PADASTE MANOR

PADASTE MANOR'S LITTLE THEATER;ELYSEE CHECKING IF ANYONE NEEDS POPCORN

ONE OF SAAREMAA's OLD WINDMILLS

WHAT A FIND! 13TH CENTURY ROMANESQUE CHURCH NEAR POIDE.

(Excerpted from my book OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA: AMAZON.COM)

The following day we traveled to the nearby island of Saaremaa.
Connected to Muhu by a causeway across a shallow inlet, Saaremaa is
Estonia’s largest island, almost 1700 square miles. Saaremaa, like Muhu,
was declared a frontier zone during Soviet occupation; therefore, travel to
and from the island was severely restricted. Saaremaa’s population is less
today than in 1930 for three reasons: German and Russian deportations
of Saaremaa’s citizens for slave labor during WWII, an exodus of able
Estonians to nearby Sweden in advance of Soviet reoccupation in 1945,
and the frontier zone restrictions during Soviet occupation. That is
beginning to change as many people from Sweden and Finland have
discovered Saaremaa’s charm and comparatively low real estate prices.
The day of our mid-September visit was windy, chilly, and rainy. We stayed
away from the larger towns, visiting windmills and the ancient churches, such as the
ruined Poide, a massive 13th century medieval church now undergoing renovation.When one considers the final battle with the pagans was in 1227, this church being built not too long after is an amazing statement of the changed order.

Saaremaa is becoming a major summertime holiday destination.
Several new hotels have been constructed, marinas are under development,
the largest city Kuressaare has a population of over 16,000, and there are
plans for a golf course. The island is large enough to have this happen
without losing its charm, crafts heritage, and relaxing atmosphere, if
there is sufficient resolve and farsighted planning.
For our last night at Padaste Manor we could not resist viewing a
movie in the small, private theater. Elysee picked a CD from the owner’s
selection, drinks were made, chaise-like chairs adjusted, lights dimmed,
and we enjoyed a forgettable film in the fashion of faded Hollywood
moguls. Ah, the days of Cecil B. and Norma Desmond.

MUHU VISIT-PART FOUR-SOVIET STYLE OCCUPATION

BARRACKS SCRAWL. SOVIET SOLDIER'S SENTIMENTS OR RESIDENTS OF MUHU?



ABANDONED BARRACKS



READY LINE CONCRETE REVETMENTS FOR MOBILE MISSILE LAUNCHERS. ELYSEE ON THE WATCH!

(From my book OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA, AMAZON.COM)

It’s ironic that my second historical interest on Muhu spans those
800 years, with the battle of 1227, representing the beginning of Estonian
subjugation, and a deserted Soviet air defense missile site representing
the final shaking off of Estonia’s foreign occupation. Muhu was off
limits to all but the island’s residents, for the almost fifty years of Soviet
Union occupation following WWII. In addition to Soviet paranoia that
someone might escape their loving embrace by sea to Sweden, Muhu was
a restricted site because of the Soviet military forces stationed there. The military site, which Elysee and I rummaged through, had been a Soviet
Air Defense Missile base. The air defenses on Muhu were likely planned
to guard the major Soviet submarine base at Paldiski, Estonia, and the
air approaches to St. Petersburg (Leningrad) about 250 miles away. The
missile site is for a self-contained battery sized unit of perhaps 200 men,
mess hall, barracks, administration buildings, concrete revetments for
the mobile missile launchers, and a maintenance facility. It is remote,
not only by being on Muhu Island, but, even there, set apart on the
island itself, surrounded with fencing, not another sign of a living soul
nearby. Unless one lived on the island, Muhu was off limits to visitors and
the soldiers who served there had not much chance to leave either. It
might have been close to “Mother Russia” but it was actually light years
removed. I had this imagined conversation of receiving an assignment to
duty station, Muhu.
General Commandant (GC) of the Soviet Air Defense Missile
School passing out orders to recent honor graduate, Lt. Ivan
Hadenov.
GC: Congratulations Lt. Hadenov for being first in your class you
are to be honored with an assignment to Estonia.
Lt.Hadenov: (Trying to contain his excitement and good fortune
at being assigned almost next door to Leningrad) Thank you
Honorable GC, I shall do my best for the Motherland, suffering
hardship, deprivation, and a soldier’s life for our Glorious Cause.
GC: Excellent. For the next five years you will defend the
Motherland with command of a front line Air Defense platoon.
Oh, yes, your platoon is on Muhu Island.
Lt. Hadinov: ( Fearfully) Muhu?
GC: Yes, Muhu.
Lt. Hadinov: (Breaking down) Muhu. Oh, boo hoo! Not Muhu.
From the bits and pieces of evidence, newspapers used for barracks
wallpaper, abandoned magazines, graffiti on the walls, it appears the
base was vacated about 1991. Elysee, in her self-proclaimed “army-ological”
dig found a small plastic container of uniform insignia. Some
maintenance records were found trampled into the dirt at the missile
carrier revetments. Indications are it was a hurried departure. It is not
clear if the departing soldiers or the local citizens destroyed all the
fixtures, but the prevailing story is the Soviets did not turn over their
properties with grace and dignity.

ESTONIA: VISIT TO MUHU-PART THREE-HISTORIC BATTLEGROUND

STONE MARKER AND THE BATTLEFIELD LOOKING DOWN FROM THE STILL EXISTING 1227 RAMPARTS

Excerpted from my book OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA AMAZON.COM


In addition to staying at an authentic manor house, I had other
historical interests for visiting Muhu. This island was the last mainstay
and defender of ancient pagan Estonian freedom, a freedom that
finally succumbed on this island to the forces of crusading Christianity
represented by the German knights and the Danish king. There had
been many confrontations between the two cultures, during the ever
expanding German and Danish influence in the first two decades of the
13th century. From Riga the German knights expanded by land northwards
into Estonia, while the Danes encroached from the sea, establishing a
settlement at today’s capital, Tallinn, which means Danish Town. The
native pagan Estonians sometimes accepted baptism as a convenience,
but later would reject their fealty to Christianity, and continued their
marauding ways, much to the dismay of the Baltic German knights.
Considering the Estonians untrustworthy, the Knights were ready for a
showdown. Having subdued most of present day Estonia, in February,
1227, a force of 20,000 warriors, led by the crusading Knights of the
Sword, marched over the frozen Baltic Sea and laid siege to the marauding
pagans in their stronghold on Muhu Island. It took six bitter winter days
of battering siege warfare for the Knights to finally breech the ice-slicked
twenty-five foot ramparts, and once through those defenses, showed no
mercy. No longer trusting in Estonian heathen promises, all of them,
men, women, and children were slaughtered.
Crossing over the ice once more the victorious force invaded the
last pagan Estonian stronghold on Saaremaa. Having witnessed the fate
of those on Muhu, the remaining Estonians asked for mercy, and were
granted their lives in exchange for Christian baptism and swearing fealty
to the ruling Knights of the Cross and the Danish king. This turning
point in Estonian history is marked by a simple monolith where the
stronghold on Muhu was located, the bastion’s stones long ago being
removed for other building purposes. Only the weed covered ramparts
remain to give testimony to the epic struggle that occurred there almost
800 years ago.

VISIT TO MUHU-PART 2 PADASTE MANOR

SEAHORSE RESTURANT-ELYSEE BEING SERVED

MANOR HOUSE BEFORE RESTORATION

A MULTITUDE OF BREAKFAST CHOICES

OWNER MARTIN BREUER JOINING US FOR BREAKFAST

Excerpted from my book OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA Amazon .com


Padaste Manor put us in a playful mood. There were not many guests and one could easily imagine the place was ours. We frolicked through our surroundings examining the livestock including the sturdy Scottish Hebrides cattle so suited for that place; giddily thinking about using the hot tub at night when the lack of pollution and ambient light allows the heavens to shine so brightly;plucking wild berries; strolling through the former parkland, some awaing patiently for their turn at a revival, and standing before the great manor house, built in 1875, which has been restored since our visit. Padaste Manor appears understated, yet the knowing eye reveals an extraordinary attention to detail, quality, and care for its heritage. Food is important at Padaste.Our service was attentive and leisurely paced. All the dishes were of excellent quality and locally grown products are used wherever possible. Some of the dishes we had for starters were mushroom soup made from locally harvested wild mushrooms, moose carpaccio, and smoked eel tortellini: entrees consisted of locally farmed ostrich filet, ginger glazed Estonian quail and duck confit,; and deserts of oven-warmed chocolate cake and lingonberry confiture. Breakfast was not ignored either. Bedside ten different teas, six jellies, a wide selection of fresh bread, each table was set with a three tiered, slightly chilled, selection of cheeses, meats, fish, and fresh sweets, plus a choice of breakfast entree, such as eggs on toast points, sweets and carafes of fresh coffee. The owner Martin Breuer wisely kept his chef under wraps least he be stolen away. Dining at Padaste is an anticipated adventure, highly rewarded.

VISIT TO MUHU-PART 1

The view from our room


Breik is always underfoot


The wonderfully peaceful marshlands


Saltwater hot tub great for stargazing


Or take out a boat into the bay, fish or just relax


(Excerpted from my book OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA available at AMAZON.COM)

One criteria Elysee an I look for when selecting our summer home location each year is the opportunity for nearby excursions. Estonia offers ample opportunities for a few days of very interesting travel. We waited until September to visit Estonia's islands to avoid the summer crowds, allowing the tourists to get back to work and their children back in school. Yet the weather promised to still be pleasant.

Our plans called for us to visit Muhu, Saaremaa, and Parnu. I know, it sounds biblical like Meshach and Abennego. Muhu is, however, a small island off of Estonia's west coast, one of 1,500 islands that together make up a tenth of Estonia's land mass.

We departed Tallinn mid-week by car for a short hour-and-a-half drive to the ferry landing at the small village of Virtsu. From there a thirty minute ferry ride took us to Muhu, a small island of about 125 square miles. Although most ferry riders pass through Muhu on to the causeway that takes them to the much larger island of Saaremaa, we had booked into Padaste manor as our base of operations for the general area.

I was drawn to Muhu from having read about the Restoration of Padaste Manor, located on the island's south shore. Amongst the 1,000 or so Manor Houses from Estonia's Baltic German past (see my posting on Palmse Manor), Padaste Manor had the reputation of receiving a quality restoration, becoming a small first class hotel and spa. For example, Padaste Manor is a member of the Small Hotels of the World marketing group, but mostly relies on its web-site (www.padaste.ee) and word of mouth from its clientele. By staying at Padaste we hoped to gain a better appreciation of Estonia's historic past.

We arrived about noon on a calm day, almost no traffic in this lonely marshland corner of the small island, few guests at that time, a large, lazy, welcoming dog, and we were immediately enchanted. Gracefully received at the front desk and shown to our two level suite in the restored carriage house, we could hardly wait to explore this remote corner of Estonia. Tranquil, serene, soothing, relaxing pick your own adjective, they all fit Padaste Manor. Situated on an inlet, surrounded by marshland, wide views over the natural pastoral setting uninterrupted by other buildings, it is a place of enormous peace.

In adition to the fine accomodations and first class cuisine, Padaste Manor offers its own full range of diversions. A world class spa with all the treatments, hot tubs filled with salt water, a small dock where thier boats can be taken out into the bay, horse rentals can be made at available stables elswhere on the island, and a cinima room that can accomodate about ten viewers. Guests can even arrive by helicopter.

And, if you get lonely, there is always "Briek", the worlds most pampered dog, constantly underfoot, willing to walk with you a short way but not on the gravel path, and always showing up when food is served.

(More about Padaste Manor in my next posting as we set about to explore Muhu.)

VIINISTU AND JAAN MANITSKI

(Excerpted from my book Our Summer in Estonia: Amazon.com)

One of the delightful aspects of the lifestyle we espouse, going anywhere in the world each summer and renting for at least three months, in lieu of owning a second home, taking cruises or going on tours, is the accidental, spontaneous, occurrences that lead us to discoveries and people that otherwise are never experienced by the general tourist. Our coming home from Lahemaa National Park and deciding to detour north to the Baltic coast and the village of Viinistu is a classic example. A small guide book obtained at the Estonian national museum KUMU mentioned the location as the site of an unusual development, the creation of a museum exclusively for Estonian art. What makes it so extraordinary was that at the time we stopped, Viinistu could not have had more than 100 residents, and is located "totally nowhere."

Arriving late in the day we rushed to the site of the Viinistu Art Museum, in an abandoned fish processing plant. We were the only patrons. Inside, the building was enormous, twenty five foot ceiling, temporary lighting, walls recently whitewashed, and not all of them at that, and a dampness from sea beginning to set in for the night.Yet the walls were already displaying a large number of comtemprary art pieces.

A picture shows Elysee sitting on concrete suitcases, an outdoors art installation, with the museum building in the background. You can just feel the remoteness of this extraordinary place for a museum. The suitcase exhibit reminded me of photographs in the Estonian Occupation Museum of abandoned suitcases, left behind by Estonians who were being transported in freight cars to labor camps in Russia. Only notified the day before they were ordered to pack up their things, and later finding out only one case would be allowed.

This place, this idea for an Estonian Art Museum, is the vision of an extraordinary Estonian Jaan Manitski.

Jaan had been born in Viinistu during WWII. His father was a fisherman. As the Russian were advancing west, during 1944-45, pushing the Germans out of the Baltics, knowledgeable and capable Estonians, taking advantage of the chaos, tried to flee the country. They knew what was coming. Russian occupation. Jaan's father put the family on his small fishing boat and fled across the Baltic Sea at night to Finland, and later continued west finally settling as a refugee in Sweden. That's where Jaan grew up went into business, and became successful as the business manager of the colossally successful Swedish singing group ABBA.

With Estonian independence Jaan returned to his birthplace and immediately began to make a difference. He was their first Foreign Minister, bought and resuscitated a major Estonian newspaper, is restoring an historic island off the coast, opened a restaurant in his birthplace Viinistu and has a goal of building a major museum dedicated to Estonian art in the former fish factory.

Elysee and I were privileged to spend the late afternoon with Jaan, drinking a few glasses of wine and listening to the story of his remarkable life. Here's to Jaan. I salute you once more.

The pictures are: Inside the museum and Jaan with Elysee on the Baltic coast, and although you cannot make it out Jaan's island is in the background about a three Km away.

LAHEMAA NATIONAL PARK-PART TWO-PALMSE MANOR

From the top: Sagadi Manor, Palmse's greenhouse, the brewery now a guest house, and the Baron's office with his Major General's uniform and the handmade map of 1864.



(Excerpted from my book Our Summer In Estonia, Amazon.com)

The first mention of the location Palmse dates to 1287 when it was mentioned in connection to properties belonging to Tallinn's St. Michael's Nunnery. The Cistercian monks traded their rights to the land to a Swedish family in 1510, and through marriage it devolved to the von der Phalen family in 1676. Palmse would remain in the Phalen family for 250 years, until the new Estonian Republic dissolved the Manor House system immediately following WWI, in 1919.

Palmse (meaning palms) is an excellent example of one of the largest most successful, highly regarded Estonian manor house operations. It was very, very large! A handmade map on display in the Baron's office, dated 1864, shows that their landholdings at 26,736 acres (10820 hectares.) That's forty square miles! The Phalens had over 1,000 peasants working the land, and were reputed to have excellent relations with them, not incurring any rebellion during their long 250 years tenure, although the relationship was clearly master and servant.

The Phalen family history serves as an excellent example of the Baltic German families service to the King or Tsar, their industriousness, and why they were allowed to remain in Estonia by foreign rulers. Carl Magnus von der. Phalen served the Tsar as a cavalry Major General and saw service during the Napoleonic war. His son Alexander built the first railway building in Tallinn and was a founding director of the Baltic Railway Company operating between Tallinn and St. Petersburg. His son Alexis, studied paleontology at the University of Tartu. The family was noted for its brewery, and several generations of Phalen botanists experimented in the family orchards and greenhouses.

The manor house has undergone a complete renovation although none of the furnishings are original. The Phalens removed all their belongings when the left for Germany in 1923. At that time the land was divided among ten families and the manor house was taken over by the Defense League, otherwise the Estonian armed forces.

Not far from Palmse is their neighbors the von Fock's. They occupied Sagadi manor house (1793) built in the French country style, operating 11,735 acres with about 750 peasants. I mention this second example because it so impressed me that there were over a thousand such estates, some larger some smaller, mostly continuing their German lineage. Most of these estates have long been divided and the houses left to deteriorate. There are a few cases where the former family has won a claim with the new government, and their property confiscated in 1919 returned.

LAHEMAA NATIONAL PARK-PART I-PALMSE MANOR

PALMSE MANOR 17TH CENTUARY
(Excerpted from my book Our Summer in Estonia available at Amazon.com)

Mid-week and mid-summer, a perfect time, with few tourists around and most people at work, to leave Tallinn for a day in the country. We decided on a day trip to Lahemma National Park and Land of Bays, which lies about 70 miles (100km) east of Tallinn and halfway to Narva, a major Estonian city that borders Russia. The park spreads about 40 miles along the northern coast and was designated a national park in 1971. It remains mostly unspoiled , very forested, with a few small villages and the site of some of the most extraordinary manor houses/estates from the bygone era when the Baltic-German barons were the landed gentry.

The main reason the park even today is so well-preserved and in a state of nature is due to the Soviet system's paranoia should anyone escape their "workers Paradise." Very few Estonians and no foreigners were allowed near the coast, for fear they might have been tempted to make a break for it and swim the 50 miles across the open sea to Finland! While on the subject of Soviet madness, I might as well mention at this point, that the former fishing villages along the coast remain depopulated, and the fishing industry disappeared during Soviet occupation out of concern for border security.

Thus, mid-week, late-July we set out with a light breeze and mild temperatures for an almost traffic less one hour drive to Palmse Manor. But before introducing Palmse Manor, I need to explain a little about the Baltic Germans for those who are unfamiliar with Estonian history. Without going back too far, suffice to say, that during the 15th and 16th centuries, and the rule of the Livonian order, Estonia became widely populated with landed barons, mostly of Germanic origin. These Baltic Germans pretty much ruled the land, even during later centuries when Sweden and Russia ruled the country. The barons were talented, good administrators, kept order, sent their sons to Stockholm or St. Petersburg for education as the case may be, were industrious farmers and businessman, served the King or Tsar in many capacities, and "captained" their armed forces. By the mid-nineteenth century there were 1000 such manor house estates in Estonia. Considering that a medium sized estate would have about 750 peasants working the land, and perhaps another 100 artisans and servants engaged in Manor industries and household services, it is easy to see the importance of this system, which engaged a third or more of Estonia's population.

Palmse Manor, our destination, tells the tale of this unique centuries-long period of Estonian history, reminding us of the servitude it represents, and keeping in mind that this was one, although a large one, of over a thousand such enterprises.