Sunday 28th - Yesterday evening I must have overdone things for my poor toe, as this morning it was quite painful. Today we just meandered around, so I could try not to overdo it. I know walking around isn't helping me to heal but I don't want to just lie around in the hotel room!
We started out by walking up the road to see St John's Church but unfortunately it was closed at the time we visited. It is quite impressive on the outside. It dates from 1330 but was severely damaged in World War II. The church has been reconstructed and the new spire added in 1999 and the church as a whole is reputed to be one of the best examples of brick gothic architecture in Northern Europe. We hope to go back tomorrow to see inside.
We went back into the main square and sat admiring the neo classical style buildings along the gently sloping cobblestone square. (Mind you, whoever called it a square doesn't understand geometry, because the square is actually rectangle!) The Town Hall is situated at the top of the square and is predominantly pink in colour. Right in front of the Town Hall is a fountain with a statue in the middle of it, depicting the sculptor's nephew kissing his girlfriend in the rain, under an umbrella. It made us think of the very famous scene in the movie Singin' in the Rain with Gene Kelly doing the wonderful dance in the rain.
All the buildings and lamp posts in the square are adorned with fabulous floral displays.
On our way down the sloping square (rectangle) we came across the Tartu Art Museum which is housed in a building with very distinct lean to it (not unlike the Leaning Tower of Pisa). The building did belong to the famous Russian Field Marshall Barclay de Torry, who successfully led the Russian army against Napoleon in 1812.
We walked across the Kaarsild pedestrian bridge over a river. The bridge has a supportive arch. The legend of this bridge says that unless you walk over the arch (not the bridge, but the arch) you will not be accepted as a student at the Tartu University. These days, the police fine people for doing this. It looks rather dangerous because there are no support railings or anything to hang on to!
We had a delicious tomato soup for lunch, in a cafe associated with a bookshop. This reminded us of a little cafe we found in Pärnu, where we had the best cups of tea. That cafe was also situated in a bookshop.
During the afternoon we visited the Botanical Gardens. They are not set in vast grounds but they have used the undulating terrain in an innovative way to display a large range of different gardens and colourful plants, in a peaceful environment.
It was an absolutely beautiful day with glorious sunshine and not a breath of wind. Unlike parts of Southern Europe we are not suffering from heat wave.
We are finishing the day with dinner in a very quaint pub near the university, which is housed in an old building with very high ceilings of 11 metres.
Monday 29th - Today was another sunny day, but by mid afternoon it was starting to get too hot for our liking.
We started out by strolling up the cathedral hill behind the university. In medieval times a fortress and cathedral stood on the hill but both were abandoned during the Livonian war in the mid 16th century. The cathedral ruins dominate the area and show the original grandeur of the building. Part of the cathedral has been rebuilt as a library. There is a sacrificial stone along one of the paths, which was the site of worship for pagan Estonians. There are a couple of bridges - the devil's bridge and the angel's bridge. Both are obviously quite different to each other. The angel's bridge has a myth that if you cross it for the first time, holding your breath and making a wish, your wish will come true. I did just that, wishing that my foot pain would go away. I am still waiting for my wish to come true!
We also passed by the old university observatory which was built in 1820. This building is now a science centre.
Today we also went back to St John's church and this time it was open. We could see that when they restored it, they kept as much of the original as possible. On one side of the nave the high pillars still appeared original, but the other side was new. Inside the church, hundreds of terra cotta figures, dating from the Middle Ages, are around the walls. It is believed that there were originally 1,000 of them.
Tomorrow we are off to Tallin, where the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt lives for about half the year. (He lives in Berlin the rest of the year).
