Kaali Lake, Estonia

Ive written about Saaremaa before, but this Estonian island doesnt cease to amaze me,

This time im presenting you Kaali, which is a group of 9 meteorite craters. Formed in the 7th century BCE, it is one of the most recent craters created by an impact event and the only known major impact event that has occurred in a populated area.
The crater on the card is referred to as the main and the biggest one.

And to my liking, some mythology interfering too!

One day a young man stepped up to the God of Sun and claimed that he was Phaeton, the son of the God of Sun himself and an earthborn woman Klymene. The young man had doubted his high parentage and demanded affirmation. The God of Sun admitted it, and, as an affirmation, promised to carry out his fondest wish. The boy, who had often admired sun disc's journey across the firmament, uttered an unexpected wish: he wanted to drive the sun chariot across the sky.

Hearing that, the God of Sun regretted his easily given promise. He tried to persuade the youngster to wish for something else, but without success. The boy, taking no heed of the menaces he was told about, had his will. At first the drive came off quite well and Phaeton felt himself almost the lord of the sky. But then the things took a tragic turn: the spirited horses, feeling that the reins were in weak hands, became frisky and sheered from the right direction. The youngster lost power over the horses, who now dashed up to the skies, now turned right down to the Earth so that forests and fields there caught fire, rivers and fountains evaporated and dried out.

When the cries and lamentations from the Earth reached Jupiter's ears, the latter, in this emergency, seized his lightning bolts and punished the irresponsible charioteer. The blazing Phaeton shot through the air and fell on the Earth into the mysterious river of Eridanos, which no mortal eye has seen. Phaeton's sisters Heliads, daughters of the God of Sun, Helios, sought out their brother's grave to bemoan him there. The mourning sisters were turned into poplar trees on the banks of Eridanos

and some very nice stamps...the first one is a definitive from 2007, showing a Wig Knapweed. The second and the fourth one are from 1997, a Christmas stamp and one with Folklore costumes respectively. The third stamps is from 1994, representing the International family year.

Sõrve lighthouse, Estonia

A lovely lighthouse card sent by Janek

This is the Sõrve lighthouse, on the Saaremaa Island in Estonia.
Height from bottom 52m, light altitude 53m.
The history of one of Estonia's best known lighthouses begins in the year 1646. Since then, a number of lighthouses have been established in this location. The present tower made of concrete, was built in 1960.
It replaced a square stone lighthouse built in 1770 and subsequently destroyed during the fighting between the Russians and the Germans in 1944 during World War II. On 1945 a temporary wooden lighthouse was built to serve during the period between two permanent lighthouses.

Janek used two lovely lighthouse stamps as well...the one on the right was issued in a set of two on 2006, representing Tallinn Leading Line Lighthouse, while the other stamp is from 2005 again from a set of two, representing Norrby Leading Line Lighthouses.

the stamp on the very left is from a set of 3 issued in 1993, commemorating 75 years of the Estonian republic.

thanks a lot Janek! And I hope things are ok with you!

Saaremaa, Estonia

Here is where Janek again comes to stage....this time with this amazing amazing postcard of a lighthouse...more over, its from my wish list...do you know that special feeling when you go to your wishlist album and under the postcard you write 'received'?! Well, its a feeling one of a kind :)

This is the Kiipsaare lighthouse of Harilaid. 

In a reverse to most stories about global warming and erosion damaging our lighthouses, an inactive lighthouse in Estonia, the Kiipsaare Lighthouse on the island of Saaremaa, has actually straightened up due to erosion. The tower, constructed in 1933, began to list to one side (due to erosion) around 1991. A comparison of photos taken in 1981 and 1990 shows that the coastline had eroded at a rate of three meters (about 10 feet) per year. As the water edged closer to the lighthouse, the waves slammed the tower, and sucked the sand from underneath the base. A story in the Batic Times says the return to the straight and narrow was first noticed by a keeper at a nearby nature preservation center on January 25 of this year.

Well, if it has the same destiny as the leaning tower in Pisa, then its not gonna fall down any time soon. It will be a pity if that happens...but if it does, i will be glad to have this memory of it :)

And last, but not least, please take a look at the awesome stamps...again a matching stamp with a lighthouse!! Lovely, just lovely!!

Janek, thank you for everything!

Saaremaa, Estonia

A card from Estonia showing the island of Saaremaa.....mmmmm, an island....

Saaremaa is the largest Estonian Island, located in the Baltic Sea, belonging to the west Estonian archipelago.
Its capital is Kuressaare. It has around 39.000 inhabitants.
An interesting fact i read about it: In 1946 Saaremaa was declared a restricted zone, closed to foreigners and to most mainland Estonians. It remained a restricted area until 1989.
Does this mean that the inhabitants of Saaremaa were actually isolated from the rest of the world?
Restricted....that sounds equally to forbidden.....forbidden intrigues the feeling of mystery and the desire to actually break the rule and do whats forbidden...yeah, something like Adam and Eve concept, or Pandora....just that by breaking into a forbidden land wont actually bring eternal consequences to the rest of the world :)))
Interesting....got me intrigued...