The bus trip from Tallinn was almost missed as I mistakenly thought it was leaving at 1.45 instead of the 1.30 that I swear was declared on the website and in my diary where Id written the time to remind myself. It took two and a half hours to reach Tartu, which is Estonia's second largest city and also, from what I gathered in a trip earlier in the year, the University party city.
Upon arrival Tartu looked busy - really busy. There were stalls in every park, stages in various squares - all a part of the Hanseatic Festival that was occurring. I picked up a leaflet showing all the activities for the period of the festivities and found Lost Harbours mentioned. The sun felt stronger than in Tallinn, the heat was not offset by a cold sea breeze. The walk across town to Genialistide Klubi felt longer than usual, dodging families and tourists whilst the heat relentlessly beat at me. Eventually though, I found myself in the cool confines of one of my favourite Baltic venues sipping a cold beer and contemplating the show ahead.
Mari Meentalo and Ivo Naries who played a wonderful set of folktronica before me.
There seems to be a plethora of great graffiti in Tartu, this is just one example.
William Must Hunt playing his tender, Nick Drake esq songs outside Genialistide Klub the next day, definitely worth spending an extra half-day in Tartu for. I caught up with him in Riga two weeks later for another outdoors show at Noass on the old docks.
On the bus journey back to Riga the heat of the weekend vanished under waves of rain as we passed through storm ridden forests on the border of Estonia and Riga.
A big thank you to Kaido, Juhan and Astrud for organising the shows and helping out over the weekend.
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