Kuressaare Bishop's palace and around

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so this was Kuressaare on the full second day - with sunshine, after day of arrival when I ended up rreading my book and then spending the rest of the evening in the Vinoteek (see separate bibulous account) - Barbara said I thought was A. A. Milne - had to Wikipedia that one, as I thought he was the bloke who wrote Winnie the Pooh and other stories (or maybe he did that AND wrote about food for the Sunday Times!).

Anyway finally down to the Kuressaare Bishop's Palace - it is about the only real attraction in Kuressaare when it comes down to it - the island Saaremaa (have to watch the number of "a" and "r" and "s" consonants etc in these names) has enabled it to remain one of the only exactly well preserved medieval castles in Europe apparently. It is definitely a 2 hour job getting around there - and they have a nice cafe up in the highest roof space with great views - it could hardly be in the open air as it would likely be wet 10 months of the year or freezing - one thing about Scandinavian shopping malls - they tend to be glass roofed, no doubt so in winter its not all too dark and dismal. Being here in summer is one thing - but for 6 months of the year, as the woman at the Parnu hotel was telling me this afternoon - it is absolutely cold and miserable.

the castle is relatively bare inside as befits a bishop's austere manor so to speak. Some things concerned me somewhat - there was supposedly a room for prisoners with no floor - but with hungry lions underneath - and the use of that was?? I thought it was only the ROMANS who fed CHRISTIANS to the lions?? (nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition ey Monty Python?). There was excellent section of the museum exhibition relating to WW2 - first occupied by the Germans - then they left when Russians swept in - and the Russians were flying bombers from there fairly early to bomb Berlin in 1941 (an aspect I did not know) - there were Communists already there of course so they fitted in with the Russians etc. Anyway the shots attached are of the castle from the outside - doing these small shots with the small camera makes them easier to upload and for web viewing I hope they are OK.

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Photos

Kuressaare Castle 1-front
reasonable view of the portculliss here

Kuressaare Castle- outside the moat
2 choc box bldgs, now part of luxury accommodation

Kuressaare Castle outside moat - choc box 2
luxury visiting apartments they say

Comments

[Huddo]

Room for prisoners.
Boy, picture perfect postcards here on those photo's. Did not know about the Russkies bombing raids either. Love Huddo and girls.