I’m about to leave tomorrow but I’m finally blogging about Estonia! It’s lovely. I’m totally influenced by the fact that I’ve had beautiful weather. But I think I’d have liked it anyway. 

I started, after those long train and bus rides, in Tartu. I guess technically I started in Valga but I was literally there for an hour (took a walk to the river with a traveling French just-graduated student who was backpacking for several months before settling down to the “real world”). Thank God the bus and train stations are basically in the same place and they have free lockers (but for-fee toilets?). 

Tartu is the main Estonian university town. They’re thankful to the Swedish king (who’d invaded Estonia) Gustavus II Adolphus for establishing the university there in 1632. Sadly he died that year but the work was started. Of course initially no Estonians could go — only the elite Germans and Scandinavians could, but eventually they allowed an Estonian in and the rest is history. 

The school is gorgeous. They were even given the land above it — Toome Hill — by (Russian) emperor Paul I (later assassinated— I’m getting the feeling that giving to Tartu university does not always work out well?), who felt they ought to make it like an “English park.” It’s a huge green area, now public, with the remains of an old cathedral from the 13th century, old university buildings including an observatory, monuments and beautiful views.

Ok I also neglected to take pictures of all the steps. Take it from me. It was a legitimate hill. These are two bridges that span the road below from the hilltop.

I’d never heard of the school but at a coffee shop on my last morning in Tartu, I met Ella, on her jr semester abroad from WVU, who was there this year. She’s majoring in international studies and minoring in Russian. Great place to do this. Of course her classes are in English. 

I had signed up for one of my favorite “free” tours and was confirmed but I suspect I was the only attendee and the guy asked if it was Ok if he just sent me an audio tour. It’s totally better than nothing and after all, my main day there was a Monday when museums are all closed. It was actually great. Of course I got lost several times but all things considered I did better than usual. He provided maps and photos as well as audio commentary and I felt pretty plugged in. 

I told him I was pretty interested in history so he talked about the history of Tartu. He’s actually ethnically Ukrainian but if I got it right, some great great grand grand grand (! Maybe not this many?) granddad was one of the tsarist Russian invaders who took over and settled in Tartu. And he talked about how much he loved it. 

He had a lot of anecdotes and I have all of his files on my Google drive so if any if you are going to Tartu, I can share with you! I actually went through the hassle of sending Stas a tip through PayPal (sadly he got less since they charge a lot of fees and give a terrible exchange rate)… but he seemed appreciative and gave me a bunch of suggestions for eating and drinking in Tallinn. I’m actually in the bar he recommended but more on that later.  

To finish on Tartu, it’s pretty small. I ended up eating and drinking in all of the top recommended places according to trip advisor and everyone else! Maybe it’s sorta limited there. 

I ate my first meal at an old gunpowder cellar (Püssirohukelder) !??! Totally unpronounceable name. But it’s in the Guinness book of records because it has the highest ceiling for a pub … and yes it used to actually store gunpowder. It’s built into the hillside. I sat in the upper level…

It’s the second place on this trip where the wait person actually advised me not to order more food as he thought I’d be full with the main order — and could always order more if still hungry. He was right. It was good. Warmed smoked fish on greens. Basically a salad with fish. But a nice change from all the carbs. Though it came with (dark rye) bread which was also good. 

That night I did laundry and once the drying rack was up, my apartment was pretty much full! But it was fine for just me. And the next morning I got out early to get a coffee and pastries from the equally famous Cafe Werner — hotbed of intellectuals and just around the corner from another nice TI center. I think the TI woman liked my commitment. She was great about helping me figure out how to get to Tartu. And when I could not stop sneezing and nose-running (for which I kept apologizing), she offered me a PILE of paper towels. Ah, a moment about the weather change. It was finally warm. Like 70s.  

I mean I actually turned on the AC in my unit!!!  Everything was blooming and my Zyrtec was no match for the pollen. I know. Bitch bitch bitch…. Too cold. Too snowy. Too rainy. Too hot. Too blooming. But seriously. People were in shorts and I left all of mine at Luca’s. And whatever was in their air was making my allergies crazy. My eyes are getting itchy just thinking about it. 

After my coffee and pastries (both savory and sweet) I did my prerecorded tour. Lots of stuff to see. I even ended up at the university botanic garden despite my bad allergies. I wanted to sit in the gazebo but a class or something was meeting in there. It was full and they looked serious inside.

Overall, it was a worthwhile visit and I’m glad I spent two nights in Tartu… but that was also enough. I actually qualified for a discount at my airbnb because I had an extended stay!?  I guess most people think one day is enough. 

To continue on my famous food places … my airbnb was outside old town on a busy street but bordering a “cool” area called Karlova. It’s older with those wooden houses they’re all obsessed with here.

Anyway there’s a famous bar, “Barlova” so after my audio tour and, of all things, a late lunch in a BAVARIAN restaurant (I mean there were terrible German language pop songs playing … and I was the only one eating inside the cellar restaurant because it was beautiful out but my allergies were so awful I wanted to eat inside…). I was craving sausages/wurst and I figured I ought to go to the source? It also had good ratings considering it was German. (Btw every place I’ve been to has a ton of “Italian” and pizza places but I cannot bring myself to go to them.) In any case, I wanted to walk the ‘hood but after yet another oversized and strong blonde beer in the German place, I had a cider and then walked back a different route. It was definitely a groovy spot well loved by locals.

The next morning I had time before having to get to the bus station so I went for a morning coffee at my last “on everyone’s list” cool spot, Karlova Kohv (I have figured out that kohv and kohvic have to do with coffee!). This is where I met Ella. They have a lot of different beans and roast their own so they’re serious about coffee. It cost more than coffee in Latvia and Lithuania but less than AMS so all was good. 

So now I’m almost caught up! I’ve been four days in Tallinn but it’s been more easy going!? Though I’ve taken a TON of photos. But once again time to get washed and packed up — I leave tomorrow for Helsinki!!!

So I’ll blog about Tallinn and my farewell to the Baltics from my ferry.