Blogs from Tartu, Estonia, Europe

Auto oli koko päivän parkkipaikalla. Jukka pääsi aiemmin liikenteeseen, ja tapasin hänet sitten Toomemäellä, tuomiokirkon raunioiden vieressä kahvilassa. Käveltiin kasvitieteelliseen puutarhaan. Museot jäivät väliin - olihan maanantai. Syötiin lounas kasvisruokalassa, ja sitten käytiin kahvilla. Ennen hotellia huomasin että olin hukannut Gogon huivini, jota olin pitänyt lippalakin alla. No sitä ei löytynyt enää mistään. Testasin täälläkin Boltin toimintaa, kun kävin yhden paikallisen nettitutun luona. Ajattelin ensin kävellä takaisin, mutta tulinkin sitten linja-autolla. Se taisi maksaa 1,5 euroa. Illalla käytiin vielä oluella ja syömässä Pahad Poisid -ravintolassa, suomeksi Pahat Pojat. Ravintolan seinällä oli kuva siitä, että siellä oli ollut viime vuonna paikalla katsomassa jalkapallo-ottelua samaan aikaan presidenttejä monesta maasta: Viro, Suomi, Puola, Latvia, Islanti. Alun p... read more

Tartu in eastern Estonia 15 August 2014 We arrived in Tartu at about 7.00pm, found a park next to a park and cooked dinner at 'home'. The next morning was overcast and jumper weather but by about mid-morning the sun was out. We learned that Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia with a population of 100,000. It is a Hanseatic city and a university town. Dating back to 1030, it is the oldest city in Estonia. We decided to do a self-guided walk around the town as we had a booklet which was very helpful on describing the features of the town. We discovered that the town was full of monuments and sculptures. We loved the Botanical Gardens, the Town Hall Square and the ruins of the Cathedral. I have put detailed captions on ... read more

We should have known better when we saw that the restaurant had only one other customer! Having spent a cold, wet evening in Cesis, and an equally cold and drizzly morning walking round a lovely park and the old and new Cesis castles (the new one now being a museum), we drove on to Estonia, passing the deserted Latvia/Estonia border control buildings with no one to care who we were or where we were going. We saw several black and white storks alongside the main road and, after mile upon mile of Latvian forests and grassland, more of the fields now contained crops. It was warm and sunny when we reached Tartu and we found a much nicer room for two nights than we'd had the previous night, which is why we were lulled into thinking ... read more

Arriving in a town on a Sunday, when there is a bit to see in it is not the best. Not here in Estonia anyway. All museums are shut on Mondays and Tuesdays and reopen on Wednesdays, usually at 11am. And so, I arrived in Tartu on a Sunday. Not the best day obviously but it does make for more imaginative planning for Monday and Tuesday. So yesterday I ran around Tartu trying to find these dotty orange cups they have here in hostel (B&B)Terviseks. They're lovely bone china, nothing fancy but ever so joyful to look at and feel so nice in the hand. Apparently this is what every household had as they were manufactured somewhere in the Ukraine. Unfortunately, all the second hand shops I visited only had clothes. What else to do? Oh ... read more

Well, 2010 is passing slow, April is here and Mai is just a matter of time, but March was one of my best months so far, due to several reasons.... The snow started melting and we had positive temperatures FINAAALLLLYYYY!!!!!! Now in April we still have some snow here and there but at least i dont have to scratch the windshield every morning for 20 minutes....Spring is almost here (summer in some parts of the world) and i am back to life, days are getting longer and nights are shorter and shorter....the Baltic Summer will be here soon... As a migrating bird that i am....i also started moving around. First stop...Romania, for one week of business meetings, but besides that i had time to meet some of my friends, my lil' sister and to enjoy ... read more