There is an old film by the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, “Stalker”. The film tells about a strange place where dreams come true. It’s called “The Zone”.
The island of Saaremaa is this “Zone”. Here the dreams of those who want to escape into silence really come true. From the noise of big cities. But… for six months a year the island looks just like “The Zone” in the movie “Stalker”. Cold, windy and very damp place.
Saaremaa can love or hate. Tourists love. Because they come in the summer and early autumn. When the island is better than anywhere else on the planet. But locals sometimes dislike it: great remoteness from large cities (in contrast to Jurmala, located near Riga) and boring life from late autumn to early spring.
Saaremaa is unique in that 98% of Estonians live here and only 2% are from other nationalities. And some of them never in their lives (!) left their native island. First of all, residents of small villages. They have preserved the life, culture and traditions of a century ago. And this is just amazing!
The island is famous for the fact that here is the best preserved medieval fortress: here it is, in the picture.
Or here on this 360-panorama: bit.ly/2yY0ajV
In the castle also has a beautiful museum: I took a virtual tour there a couple of years ago www.castle.ee
During the Second World War, the island became famous for becoming the “Soviet Pearl Harbor”: in the summer of 1941, the first anti-Hitler coalition planes flew from the island to bomb Berlin.
But today the island is a quiet and peaceful place. There are no military bases or large industrial production left. Here foxes live next to people and eat from the same bowls with cats. Here produces curative mud, which was well known in Europe in the 19th century yet, and which treat almost all skin diseases. And here dreams about a quiet, peaceful life come true.
Here, as in the film “Stalker” Tarkovsky.