The Festival of the White Lady
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2010
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7
9
Trip End
Aug 18, 2010
Haapsalu, Estonia
Saturday, August 14, 2010
We arrived in Haapsalu via bus as the now former train station is no longer in use, just like most of Estonia's railway infrastructure. When we arrived there we realised that the train station had been transformed into an outdoor Estonian railway museum. Many old, crumbling trains and some in perfect condition were resting on the old, unused and rusty tracks. The canopy of the train station is simply beautiful and reminded me of the film Belle Epoque in which the train stations had been designed for the aristocracy.
We head into the town centre following signs and we realise that there is an unusual number of people in wheelchairs. After looking at the book we are reminded of how in the mid 1800s the local mud had been publicised to have curative properties and today most of the hotels offer mud treatments.
Haapsalu has a combined Castle and Cathedral that were built in the 13th century and we are told in the Castle of how Peter the Great came for shelter to the Cathedral and how it was found inappropiate by the bishops that him and his wife would sleep together in God's house and not in the Castle. We chose our visit to Haapsalu taking into account that during this time of the year they celebrate the Days of the White Lady. The legend based around her figure tells that a medieval maid used to enter the cathedral dressed as a man to visit her priestly lover and that when she was discovered she was killed there and that her ghost is still there. A Jazz festival, theatre representation of the legend and more take place during these days to commemorate the event. In fact they were rehearsing in front of the castle when we were visiting.
After visiting the grounds to the festival (the castle’s grounds) the climb to the north tower was worth it to have a full view of what Haapsalu could bring us.
Leaving the castle behind we headed to Africa Beach (Aafrika rand) and then we went north to the Promenaadi where most of the hotels are placed, just in front line of the sea, and where we found Tchaikovsky Bench. Tchaikovsky apparently stayed in Haapsalu in 1867 while he was working on his first major opera. Further along the road we find the lakes Vaike Viik and Suur Viik and Paralepa Beach....a beach which does not look like a beach at this moment but more like a marshland that has gone after control and full of hungry mosquitoes.
