Day 163 – 164 July 27th -28th 2017
Tallinn to Tartu – a slightly bumpy human time despite smooth transport connections. We glided through the number 40 bus, the number 4 tram and the bus to Tartu without a hiccup. Still a bit bumpy because I did not get breakfast till about 1pm, Chris was concerned about connecting transport and having the right money. Both of us being a tad stressed does not work.
The money issue escalated when we were standing on the tram money in hand with no idea how to pay – dramatic music plays – and an Inspector got on. Coming from Victoria, Australia we were extremely worried. I observed Swedish tourists held up and hounded by our transport “police” because they did not understand the transport system and had not paid correctly. No second chances there. Friendly music – we were shown the way we could pay the fare and on we went.
In quick time we got to Tartu – quickly found a café in a bookstore near the “Bussi jaam” (bus station)– I love that name.
After food – we found our bed for the night. A booking at the Looming Hostel – in an old building with lovely worn stone stairs and quirky quaint decoration. Promoted as the first eco-hostel in Estonia. Who could help commenting that times had radically changed when Chris decided this was the best hostel in Estonia! An added bonus was a relaxed music concert on the roof top one evening.
Next morning its up and off. Me with map in hand and navigating – only later to discover it was from the wrong starting point. I hid it well – yes we missed the KGB museum but we found the old buildings and then the old town and fortunately the ever helpful Tourist Information Office.
Tartu is a university town- minus its students right now. The streets were incredibly quiet – a small local beach was the only spot people seemed to have congregated, and congregated enmasse. As on many other occasions we realised in Estonia unlike Australia summer is so short you make very good use of it.
Wandering vaguely following the map lead us to the main square with Kissing Couple fountain and Leaning house of Tartu built in 1793 and said to have sunk when the building was built half supportedby the old city wall and the other side by poles.
On to a delightful bronze statue of a pig that appeared to be marked for its cuts of meat. The food market was very tempting but not quite the time for food shopping. We did notice the different kinds of food stalls here – delicious looking baked goods, a stall with pork of all kinds, a whole stall of different types of smoked fish including one small dried variety served like an ice-cream on a stick and apparently a great beer snack.
Leaving the river we strolled up the hill through University dormitory areas and university buildings to the top. Again accidentally map reading (on my part) had us in the wrong part of town but brought us to the top of Toome Hill.
We were delighted to find lunch at a small café in the park where we could eat a delicious chicken schnitzel while watching a wedding party nearby. Schnitzel and salad 4 Euros right beside the museum housed in Tartu Cathedral alongside which the remaining original towers of the Cathedral are open to climb
After lunch a bit of brain stimulation in the University of Tartu Museum – again I was fascinated by the human physiology and history that included
Explanations of Archeogenetics which adds the relatively recent addition of ancient DNA studies to archeology.
One exhibit displayed the bones of a wealthy local person who had Gout and a person probably poor whose bones showed evidence of poor nutrition.
