Southern Estonia

Despite being a relatively small country, Estonia has a lot of history and a lot of beautiful places to discover. After our visit to Saaremaa, we were back in Tallinn for a couple of days for a Passover Seder, then traveled south to Tartu, Estonia’s biggest university town.

We ended up enjoying Tartu more than Tallinn, mainly because the “old town” seems more oriented towards locals than tourists, so restaurants are more authentic / less stereotypical. As well, Tartu has some beautiful parks mixed amongst the city and the parks are dotted with sculptures, ruins or other points of interest.

We were also in Tartu for Jon’s birthday (April 11) and enjoyed a great home-curated lunch from the Tartu market, including a variety of herring and salmon, as well as some moose salami, coleslaw and home-made pickles (which were good, but not up to Ellenzweig / Tupholme standards).

We also toured the A. Le Coq Brewery in Tartu, definitely a non-Estonian name (Mr. Le Coq was a Belgian) but the leading producer of beer in Estonia.

After Tartu, we rented a car and toured around the countryside, including Viljandi, birthplace of Kristi's step-grandmother and home to another great park and castle, and we ended up spending the night in Parnu, a beachside resort town.

We finagled a sea-view room in Parnu and the weather crept up into the mid-teens, so we took a great walk along the beach / boardwalk and explored some of the other highlights.

We returned our car the next day to Tallinn and spent our final night in a hotel that also houses a pool / spa facility, with about 6 different hot tubs, multiple saunas, steam rooms, etc. - a relaxing way to end our stay in Estonia.