3 March 2018 / leggypeggy

Tartu tourist office helps us find a great lunch

beer, Guinness Book of World Records, pig, restaurant, sculpture, self-drive, soup, Tartu, tourist office, town hall, travel

The vast Püssirohukelder—or the Gunpowder Cellar—has a ceiling 11 metres high

Tartu in Estonia was a great reminder of why it pays to drop in to the local tourist office when you arrive in a new town. Last year, Poor John and I did a self-drive tours around Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, and we often visited tourist offices to find out about the top places to stay, see and eat.

For example, staff in tourist offices in Finland suggested that we visit a weird sculpture garden hidden near a highway rest stop, and try a vety—a unique sandwich served in Lappeenranta. What rewarding stops they were.

We only had a couple of hours in Tartu, so went straight to the tourist office. The woman there told us about a few places to visit around the town square and, more importantly, she told us where to have lunch.

Tartu’s lovely main square is surrounded by tempting restaurants and we’d have probably settled for one of them, until the tourist woman suggested the Püssirohukelder or the Gunpowder Cellar. It was just up the hill and beyond where we might have walked.

Entrance to the Gunpowder Cellar

The restaurant is in one of Tartu’s most historic buildings.

In the late 1700s and in an effort to fortify the city, Catherine II of Russia ordered the construction of a gunpowder cellar. Work began on the site of an earlier fort which still had existing thick brick walls. The cellar was completed in 1778, and gunpowder was stored there until 1809.

Over later years, it was used to store beer, university carriages, fire-fighting equipment, kitchen equipment, building materials and vegetables. At one stage, the University of Tartu used it for research projects.

It’s been a restaurant almost continuously since 1982.

As you might imagine, the place is huge. In fact, it is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest pub ceiling in the world, at 11 metres (36 feet).

Estonia beer

Salmon cream soup

One of their signature dishes is cream of salmon soup in a bread bowl, and that’s exactly what we ordered. Poor John said he’d drive on to our next destination, so I had a beer too. Both were excellent and the service was great.

Before heading out of town, we visited some of the sights, including the Town Hall and the bronze pig in front of the Tartu Market.

The sculpture, by Mati Karmin, was unveiled on St Anthony’s Day, 17 January, in 2008. Old Estonians believed that Midwinter arrived on St. Anthony’s Day. It was also the day they accounted for all household provisions. People ate pig’s head or ears on that day. Luckily we never saw either on a menu in Estonia.