Saaremaa

Having enjoyed our volunteer experience in Spain, we decided to embark on another volunteer program in Estonia. We found an interesting project on Saaremaa, Estonia's largest island, located just off the west coast. We stayed in Kuressaare (population 16,000), the island's largest city.

Our host was trying to start a wool cooperative on the island and our project was to help put together a business plan, as part of an application for EU funding. Despite a large number of sheep on the island (approximately 11,000), the locals currently have no place to process the wool that is sheared from their sheep; however, many have shown interest in seeking a local solution.

Before we could commence the report writing, we had to get an understanding of both sheep and wool. Several days were spent visiting local farms with our host and learning about the farmers' wool-related needs. Fortunately, we quickly took a liking to the sheep.

The locals we met were very kind and we enjoyed learning about Estonian farm life. After touring around one of the farms, we were very excited to be presented with a snack of locally made food. On the table we found: bread, honey, lamb pate, milk, pickles and coffee (everything came from the farm, except for the coffee). At the end of our visit, we were also each given a pair of homemade socks, this was truly a local experience!

Apart from our volunteer project, we found some time to visit a few of the sites on the island, the best of which was the Kuressaare Castle. The castle is the best preserved castle in the Baltics, originally built in the 1200's, but reconstructed in its present form in the 1400's.

Overall, we had a great time in Saaremaa, but after having eaten at almost all the local restaurants in the span of five days, we didn't mind getting back on the bus and heading back to Tallinn, the big city, for Passover.....more to come on that in a later post.