Update on Estonia

This update is backtracking to catch up on details of our travels around Estonia. We departed from Saka on the Gulf of Finland to travel to Tartu, the second largest city in Estonia, but the largest in terms of student population due to Tartu University founded in 1632. During our journey we stopped at a local museum in Iisaku which gave us an insight into the lives of rural Estonians up to 150 years ago. We continued down the shore of Lake Peipsi, the largest body of water in Estonia and the fourth largest in Europe. We stopped for lunch at Mustvee in a local pub which was preferable to eating at one of the many stalls lining the shore of Lake Peipsi selling smoked fish.

Shore of Lake Peipsi at Mustvee. We continued on to Tartu and found our accommodation with little trouble thanks to our GPS and settled in before touring the city. We found it to be small enough to discover on foot and a very attractive place with its university and many small cafés and cellar bars.

Our guest house accommodation in Tartu, Tampere Maja, the Old Town dwelling is one of the oldest buildings in the city.

Tartu University and nearby mural.

Town Hall Square in the Old Town with the Kissing Students fountain. The first night we went to dinner at the Pussirohukelder (Gunpowder Cellar) the world's highest pub that is a former gunpowder vault that was carved into a downtown hillside in the mid-18th Century - the cellar also had a tasty house red beer that can be ordered by the litre.

The Gunpowder Cellar from the outside. The following day we had a tour of the A. Le Coq Brewery. It was a VERY detailed tour which lasted over 2 hours and I thought it would never end (so I could have a taste of the finished brew!!). I must admit it was a very good tour, but at one stage we were 95 metres above the ground walking on see-through walkways and for one not particularly fond of heights, I was petrified!!!! The brewery produces 65 million litres of beer each year along with many varieties of flavoured mineral water and other soft drinks.

Views at A. Le Coq Brewery, Turtu, Estonia. We also visited the KGB Cells Museum, housed in what was the regional KGB headquarters in the 1940's and 1950's. Apart from the lock-ups themselves, the museum has extensive exhibits on deportations, life in the gulags and Estonian resistance movements.

The KGB Cells Museum, housed in the basement of Turtu's infamous 'Grey House'. Apart from the history we did enjoy Tartu with its vibrant student population; we did have a forgettable meal at a Russian restaurant on our last night but followed with a great night at Moku, the smallest pub in Tartu located in a cellar. I had my first draught Newcastle Brown Ale since my early travelling days in London over 30 years ago and it tasted great.