Altja fishing village, Lahemaa, Estonia

I've had this card in my favourites for ages, I'm really excited to finally have it! ...and the silly thing is, the postcard wasn't even the main point of this swap - Heidi was offering the Estonian Year of the Dragon stamp and I was interested in getting one. So yeah, this is a pretty awesome postcard, it even has a first day cancellation!



The card shows some sheds for fishing nets at Altja fishing village in Lääne-Viru County, in northeastern Estonia. Altja is also located in Lahemaa National Park (established in 1971). The park area covers 725 km² (including 250.9 km² of sea). It was the first national park of the former Soviet Union. Given its size it is one of Europe's biggest national parks. Its charter calls for the preservation, research and promotion of North-Estonian landscapes, ecosystems, biodiversity and national heritage.

The name Lahemaa originates from the most thoroughly studied and visited part of the North-Estonian coast, where four large peninsulas (Juminda, Pärispea, Käsmu and Vergi) are separated from each other by four bays (Kolga, Hara, Eru and Käsmu.) Lahemaa translates roughly as "Land of Bays".