Off to Tartu

 Sunday 

1 September 

Day 63

33 to go

We were awake just after 7am, before the 7.30am alarm began chiming. I read for a bit and then it was into the morning routine. We were ready for 8.30am, as planned and were out on the quiet streets, making our way to the train station. It was lovely and crisp outside and being Sunday, there were very few people on the streets, which made it even more enjoyable. 

Our train to Tartu was waiting for us on the platform and we were able to board, finding seats 15 and 16 in the first class carriage. We settled in, waiting to leave at 9.10am. Twenty minutes later, we were on the move, passing through the outer suburbs of Tallinn.

At 10am, we arrived in Tapa, after moving through the suburbs into intermittent farm land and then lots of forests. I was on look out for bears, but didn’t see any. We stopped at the stations in Tamsalu and Jogeva.

We finally pulled into the Tartu station at 11.30pm. With google set for the town hall, we began the 20 minute walk. We passed by St. Mary’s Church and then moved under both the devil and angel bridges. We skirted the edge of Pirogovi Park and then walked another cobblestone lane into the square. 

We took in the buildings and the kissing students statue, which sits in the middle of a fountain. The bells of the town hall began to ring in midday, putting on quite a performance, lasting over 3 minutes. This chiming happens every 3 hours from 9am until 9pm. We walked towards the river end of the square, noting the lop sided building, the leaning house. It is like this because they used wood for part of the foundation and it subsided. 

There were some installations to recognise Tartu as one of three European cities named cultural capital of 2024. We took in the view back over the square, before walking to the river front, taking in the bridge Kaarsd and checking on boats and the swimmers in the water.

Feeling hungry, we made our way towards the gunpowder cellars, but first we stopped by the Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde statue, (an exact replica can also be found in Galway) also seeing the father/son statue. The gunpowder cellars now house a restaurant. It is located within the grounds of Pirogovi Park. The large brick cavern, makes for an impressive eatery. It is in the Guiness World Book of records for the highest roof in a restaurant. 

We ordered our meals and drinks. Paul chose a traditional Estonian meal, smoked meat and mash potato in a bread bowl, while I had chicken schnitzel. We also enjoyed fried, rye bread. Paul’s meal was a carb overload! 

Meals consumed, we continued our meal exploration of Tartu. We walked up to Toome Hill where we could see the Tartu history museum building and the cathedral ruins. Unfortunately, unforeseen rain began to fall quite heavily and we had to take cover in the ruins. The structure dates back to the 13th century and was damaged during the Livonian War and the.ln was ravaged by fire in 1624. The choir end was rebuilt in 1804 and turned into the library for the University.

When it had subsided enough, we continued our walk, passing the memorial to Kristjan Jaak Peterson, a poet who would walk from Riga to Tartu University. It didn’t help him, as he died at 21. 

Once out of the park, we walked down the hill to St John’s church, a large red brick structure. It is the oldest surviving church, built in the 14th century. There are 1000 terracotta figures that inhabit the church. It was wrecked in WWII and restored and reopened in 2005. 

With the sun shining once again, we did a wander around the botanical gardens. This was a very peaceful place, with plenty of people enjoying the space. From here we returned to the river crossing at Vabaduse bridge and enjoying a walk along the tree lined path. We then returned via the Rahu Bridge. There was a large pig statue to check out in front of a substantial shopping district.

Kaubahoovi Park was full of action, so we wandered through, seeing kids being invited to try different sports and many stalls to keep them entertained. It was all very lively. We followed the road locating, Pahad Poisid, stopping in at the English style pub for a drink.

All done by 4pm, we started the walk back towards the station. There were plenty of interesting murals to take my eye. There was even a little fireman action. 3 trucks and ambulances arrived at an apartment building, sirens blazing. We weren’t sure what was happening, as there was no evidence of smoke or fire. 

We reached the station for 4.30pm. A bus pulled in covered in stickers, that was a sight. Our train pulled in, just as we set foot on the platform, so we were straight into our seats, ready for the two hour run home. It was eventful as the ride here. There was a double rainbow to be seen though. By the time we reached Tallinn in was 7.25pm. Everything was quite wet, so we think we dodged a wet day. We stopped at a supermarket on the way home, for dinner supplies and then it was back to the apartment for 8pm, ready to eat and fall down.