Saare County
The biggest island of Estonia, Saaremaa (area 2922 sq km, pop. about 40,000) is a well-know holiday spending place with peculiar nature and many sightseeings. Saaremaa succeeded to maintain its unique style primarily to its location and isolation. In the ancient villages you can still find buildings with cane roofs and stone fences; beautiful national customs and peculiar way of speech have been preserved.The most interesting sights of Saare County :The Town Hall - a Baroque building with a strict, simple and majestic form was built in 1670; the building was erected on the initiative of the Swedish big landowner Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie; the original look of the building was restored in the 1970-s; the Town Hall Gallery and Tourist Information are located here and there is a restaurant in the cellar.
The Old Town of Kuressaare - deriving from the 17-19th century has been nicely restored and full of sightseeings. It is one of the most beautiful town centers in Estonia.
Vilsandi National Park of international importance, belonging to the highest category of the birds' reserves, has been derived from one of the first nature reserves of the Eastern Europe in the Islands of Vaika, established in 1910. In Vilsandi and the islets tens of thousands sea birds halt, feed and nest.
Viidumäe Nature Reserve (1873 ha) was established in 1957 to protect rare species and associations of plants. Here is the only growing place in the world for the famous endemic species - Saaremaa yellow rattle; from other rarities mountain zigzag clover, whitebeam etc. can be found here. You can walk through the study track of 2km, starting from the center of the Reserve together with a guide.


