The first written records of Tartu date from 1030 which were approx. 976 years earlier than I visited Tartu the first time. Every time I come there I still have the same feeling inside of me as the first time because this is a place where time stands still and moves fast at the same time.

Walking in the city centre around the town square and the university gives me this calm feeling of joy and appreciation of the history that was. Many of the houses are well renovated and stands in the same glory as the day they were built as a proof of wealth and hope for the future.

The university was the centre piece in belief of the future. Almost 400 years ago on June 30st 1632, the King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden signed the Foundation Decree of Academia Dorpatensis which enabled the beginning of Tartu University’s history.

In the main building of Tartu University which I think is a wonderful building and was built in the years 1805-1809 in the classical style, you can find the oldest museum in Tartu University - the Art Museum. One of the small treasures is the Botanical Gardens of the University, which was founded in 1803-1806 and adds charm to the ruins of the Tartu town wall and the bastion on the right bank of the River Emajõgi.

Today Tartu is a city with a population of more than 100,000 and the second largest city of Estonia. Modern times have now arrived here with steel and glass office buildings and several shopping malls. There has also been built an enormous amount of apartment buildings, especially along the Emajõgi River, which connects the two largest lakes of Estonia, and flows in a total length of 10 kilometres within the city limits and adds freshness and colour to the city.

In the period from 2004 to 2007, there has been built apartment houses as investment in a large scale, almost an endless increase of prices on the houses were the main driver. But as many other places today a beginning recession have now left many of the projects empty, which is a shame in a country that still needs re-housing of some people from the old wooden apartments from early last century. Another factor of growth has been the young people move from the country side and into the larger cities like Tartu.  

I am one of the biggest fans of cafes, coffeeshops and things like that. And I have to say this is one of the best places I have seen here in Estonia. I heard about this creperie several years ago, in 2006 it was named best cafe by Silverspoon awards (thing that names best food places every year here in Estonia) and finally I got there on my trip to Southern part of Estonia last week. So it is a French creperie, situated right in the center of Tartu. It is very cosy, with arm-chairs and big wooden tables, sofas and small tables for two with wooden chairs. The service is very good, that is not very common for our country, and there is one cute tiny waitress who looks like she really belongs in Paris in some side walk cafe. The food is right. Galettes, crepes, quiches, different salads... I am not professional, I haven't been to France and I can't guarantee that it all tastes just the way it really should, but right now I am dreaming of that crepe with hot raspberries and ice cream....

If you are looking for a place that wouldn't be the most ordinary cafe/restaurant then you should pick restaurant-club Maailm. A little bit of hippie style interior makes you feel pretty comfortable. You can sit behind the table if you are planning to have something more to eat or choose to sit on couch if you plan to relax and have a cup of coffee. Maailm is certainly one of the most unique style of places in town. Prices are pretty average, some are even cheap. And the food tastes good. I've tried several different meals. Noodlewok with chicken tastes nice. I highly would recommend trying chocolate cake with ice-cream. It tastes really good! But unfortunately there are couple of downsides for the place... pretty often you can't get what you want. It can happen that you order two cafe latte's and soon the waitress comes back and says that they have enough milk just for one latte and the other person has to find something new. Same is with the meals. Once we asked for three different types of teas before we picked a one they had... Also the waitresses can sometimes keep you waiting for the menu because they just don't notice you sitting behind the table. But maybe that's what a hippie style of a place should be like :) a little bit of crazy and out of some things.

Tartu is, with its population of 101,246 in an area of 38.8 square kilometres, the second largest city of Estonia. Tartu situated 185 kilometres south of Tallinn, is also the centre of Southern Estonia. The Emajõgi River, which connects the two largest lakes of Estonia, flows for the length of 10 kilometres within the city limits and adds colour to the city. The first written records of Tartu date from 1030.

I have always enjoyed coming back to this little city. It is not that there is a lot to do, but maybe that why I like it. Tartu is an university city - it is actually besides being the cultural capital of Estonia its main activities. The city is very green like most of the places in Estonia. The city square or the town square is very nice. Since ancient times Town Hall Square has been the centre of Tartu, the main trading area of the settlement between the castle on the Toome Hill and the riverside port on the Emajõgi. The tradition was upheld for centuries. In the Middle Ages the seat of municipal power The Town Hall was erected.

The present building is already the third one on the same site. In comparison with the long history of Tartu its buildings are relatively new: very seldom you can see buildings which date back to earlier times than the last quarter of the 18th century which can be explained by numerous devastating wars and fires. The Great Fire of 1775 ravaged almost the whole central part of Tartu. After the fire Tartu began to obtain its present configuration and the present Town Hall was also built. The Town Hall of Tartu was designed by the then master ��" builder of the town Johann Heinrich Bartholomäus Walter from Rostock. The cornerstone was laid in 1782. Although the Town Hall was festively opened in 1786, the finishing touches were made until 1789.

The Town Hall of Tartu was built at the time when the style of Early Classicism reached  the Nordic countries, including Estonia, replacing the earlier styles of Baroque and Rococo. The contest between different styles is also reflected in the Town Hall of Tartu. The three-storeyed  building with a high hip-roof and a ridge tower follows the traditions of Baroque urban palaces in the Netherlands . The Town Hall of Narva, built in the 17th century, was inspired by the same example.

The tower of the Town Hall of Tartu, which was completed in 1784, is in the Baroque style and it is accompanied by the Rococo cartouche on the tympanum of the main façade. In the design of the walls, especially the interior walls, the Neo-Classicist style, being most fashionable at the time, was prevailing.

The Town Hall had to perform several functions simultaneously and this is why its planning was extremely economical. In the vaulted cellar and on the ground floor of the left wing there was a prison together with the room for its guards. In the right wing  - where a pharmacy has been open since 1922 there was the city board of weights and measures.

When you are in Tartu you should visit Karlova, with its more than 400 wooden buildings. In big and wealthier cities of Northern Europe such settlements have given way to more modern stone buildings a long time ago but fortunately, they still exist in Tartu. The design of these houses will make you smile and I am sure that you will wish yourself back in time to when these house were new.

For all of you carrying around your laptop like all other Estonian cities Tartu is wonderful - thanks to techsavvy locals and the demand from the student crowd, downtown Tartu is absolutely covered with wireless internet zones (WIFI spots) and use at most of them is free. Just look for the WIFI symbol in this guide´s cafe´, bar, hotel and restaurant listings to see which palces have the service.

Last Monday the materials I have to read for entrance examination became avaliable. So now I'm trying to work them through. The good thing is that they aren't as hard as I thought they will be but then again I don't find them easy to read either.

I've also tried to work on my portfolio but haven't got much luck with it. I mean, I know what I've done but writing that all together is taking pretty much time. I so wish I would have done it on these days when I had thought about writing down a portfolio. It would have made my life much easier right now. But well.. I still have some time. Today is the 1st of April and I have about 20 days to go... 20 days... damn, that's actually seriously short time and I have many other things to do as well... oh well.

As a bad thing I've cought some cold and that doesn't make my life easy as well. Trying to study with flu is not cool, not to talk about the fact that I look really horrible and tomorrow I have to go out and the day after tomorrow as well. There are some gigs I can't miss, have already bought the tickets and stuff. Which reminds me that I should go and take that medicine to help me get over the flu.

I so hope next time I'll update this journal on the evening before leaving to Jyväskylä!

Oh, and did I mention that there were 207 first choice applicants out of whom they'll choose 40... really, don't forget to wish me luck! :D     

Tartu is a university town

i arrived in tartu after a 3.5 hour bus ride from riga on sunday morning.  i was really excited to get here as the book really made it sound like a hip place to visit and that the place would be full of atmosphere and charm.  im not sure now if i was reading the right section.  according to the book tartu is a spiritual capital of estonia with small and quaint streets.

i got the the hostel and found out i was in a wee cosy house all to myself which was ace.  its pretty cool for 1 or 2 but at full capacity at 5 it would but horrid.

i took off into town to see what was on offer.  my first stop was raekoja plats where the town hall stands.    the town hall was built between 1782 and 1789 and stands at the top of the square looking down to the (dirty) river called the emajigi.  the town hall is bright pink and looks really good.  in fornt of it stands the kissing statue, a couple kissing under a umbrella which is a good sight, im not too sure of the meaning behind it.  apparently the clock was added at a later date to try and make the students on time for lessons!

i headed to the waterfront and caught a glimpse of the kaarsild bridge, which wasnt anythnig special.  i then took the path that followed the river and walked through the trees and passed a few monuments dedicated to writers of the area.  i then came onto the statue of liberty in tartu.

i went off to find st johns church.  the church dates back to 1323 and stands out for its red brick work.  it has been resorted since a soviet bombing in 1944 but the process took over 16 years.  the building stands high and is pretty impressive i can be seen from all over the town.

i took a walk up to toomemagi which is a park in the town, taking in angel bridge and devil bridge if my map reading skills were ok!  i was pretty excited to see these as the names give away a good image but again i was a bit disappointed. through the park i came across the old observatory and some church ruins also.

im sure tartu is a lovely place and does has everything the book suggests.  perhaps i just did get to see it at its best, especially as i dont think the students have returned yet.  its not somewhere id go back to but if youre in the area its worth a day trip just even for a quiet day out.

next stop tallinn, estonia.

It has always been good weather when I have been in Estonia and I tend to forget that the vinters are quite cold - I think one of the reminders is when I see a icerink in the middle of a shopping mall. Estonia has warm summers and really cold vinters - this vinter was an exception - it was cold but only very few times - I remember Kaija mom called and said that it was close to minus -30 degrees celcius.

In Estonia the shopping mails have everything that you can buy in a normal mall everywhere in Europe - the only thing I really wonder about is how tey can afford this - because their wages are not that high yet even though they are growing fast. A mall like this one where they have the skating rink will be open 7 days a week all the year around - in that sence they are very tourist friendly.  

Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia and the city where my girlsfriend is coming from. An enormous amount of student have been studying in this city and most of the people a have met and who knew anything about this wonderful country know this city.

Tartu is a city of 100.000 inhabitants and has both a old and a new face. The road down from Tallinn to Tartu is straight and narrow and the traffic goes really fast - it is a stretch of 180 km and it usually will take you 1h45 - 2h to drive depending on how you drive and when it is.

The road down goes mainly between woods, farmland or open country. There is a fair amount of police on the way down so don't push your rental car too much - it is expencive enough as it is - because one thing I don't think is cheap in this country is the rental cars - typically you end up paying 100€ a day for an ordinairy car.

There is a lot of cafe's on the road an as you can see - the Estonians are not without any form of humor. I just love the Hollywood sign on the hill behind one of the cafe's - I guess the sign is 1 meter high - but it is just great.    

People i met here who contributed to, and improved my trip:

So i managed to organise my Russian visa in Tallinn, thus decided i'd spend 5 days having a quick look around Estonia and made my first stop in Tartu. To be quite honest i dont know why i bothered! I stayed in a really great hostel called Hostel Pepleri with on suite, kitchen and cable tv in the room for 300EEK. However, having a single led to me meeting nobody.

Not to be put off, i ventured into Tartu and walked around all the 'sights' that were recommended. Unfortunately i did this in 2 hours and spent the rest of the day updating my travel blog and seeing how slow i could walk from place to place! I think my favourite area was the botanical gardens although the area on Cathedral Hill was also quite pretty. I had planned on staying 2 nights but decided one was more than enough. For dinner i ate at Wilde Irish Pub, which was pretty good value for money.... i had a Russian soup and chicken and rissotto dish for around £5.00.

Liis (HC - inbetween)

August 24

So I left Tallinn by late morning and got into the bus with Bianka (hc:flowerpower) advice and did the ride to the hitch-hiking spot, which was after the airport in direction of Tartu. There is was already funny as there was more people doing HH as well. so I walked further along the road at the exit of the city where an ark welcome the people to Tallinn by telling the hours and their speeds. I waited quite a longer time, about an hour, which was not too bad but not best either for a country having the reputation of being an easy hitch-hiker land.

It took a while but I got my ride all the way to Tartu, crossing the no man's land in between with a british guy working in Tartu and getting someone at the airport. She had also travelled to Canada for long and the discussion and laugh went quite on, it was a cool ride especially with all the attempt to over pass slow cars and trucks along the tiny 2-lanes highway.

Once in Tartu, We arrived through some muddy road surrounded by wooden building which were pretty cool and they left me in the center of the town which has a wonderful architecture. I finally found the zum-zum cafe where Liis sometimes work but none manage to contact her, so I walked further until I got into the park along the river and started to eat my estonian danish bread awaiting the meeting point I had with her a few hours later.
Lying on the grass against my bag, I suddenly see a girl approaching me and asking are you Canadian. It appeared she was too, from Montreal and just back from a 2 weeks voluntary camp in Tallinn and now travelling a little before leaving again. We finally hanged around and went downtown to a terrass where they didnt serve us but it was no matter as the time to walk to the bus station to meet Liis arrived. So I invited Marie-France to join us for the evening and she did. So we joined Liis, walked to her place to drop my bag and have some tea before leaving back in the evening downtown and stop by the internet where we made Marie-France a HC member (HC=mariefr).

As we talked we also decided to do a part of the road together and as she was planning to leave pretty early the next morning to catch the bus to Riga around 6ham. I just said cool, sure I join too.  Liis managed to contact some members in Riga who would host us and we got a shelter for both again on last minute notice! We went out for a drink but still didnt hang out late as Marie-France and I would have to meet up at about 6am at the bus station. So by 11hpm I was already back with Liis at her place, packing my bag and putting it next to the door, cheering at the 3-legged cat and getting some sleep.
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August 25

I woke up pretty much on time, shortly prepared and took the sandwich Liis prepared and by 5h45 I was away walking to the station with the tomatoes and cucumber Liis gave us for the road. I arrived on time and Marie-France did as well not long after. We waited as the first bus arrived and was dumbly a mini-bus, but with the number of people awaiting it looked obvious they couldnt all get in and so we didnt. There was another bus 30 min later which arrived and we rushed into it for the same price. We took place and the ride went all great, crossing the border we noticed there was another canadian on the bus (probably with the huge group of german people that was attempting to board the mini-bus too). One funny thing is a young family that had forgot their passport and called someone to have them brough to the border... we understood his stress and so when we asw him walking out the bus to cheers at the guy who was waiting and handling him the passport.

But there was also some France people with whom Marie had worked at the voluntary camp, so she could talk with them. Once arrived in Riga we sticked with them and as I was the only one who had been to Riga we walked a bit to go have lunch and went to the John Lemon. Hop we were in Riga