The Tartu Observer / April 2025

1 / Sketchy Stuff: In a Taxi

2 / Observe a Tartuvian: Lachlan Bell

3 / Culture Recommendations: Maamess, Olev Subbi, Supilinna päevad in April

So you gave up having a personal car in Tartu. Indeed, you can reach most places in 20 minutes on foot or by bus. However, sometimes you might be in a hurry. Or tipsy and tired. Or you might need to take a newborn to the perearst on a cold winter’s day. Then you need a ride.

This is “In a Taxi” - my 11th work in the series “How to Tartu”, where I explore some common Tartu phenomena. I base my writing and digital drawing on experiences, observations, statistics and research. For example, it took me 443 Bolt rides and many more traditional taxi rides to make this one :)

→ You can see the artwork in a larger format (as well as some discovery tips) on the ‘How to Tartu’ home page howtotartu.ee.

A big reason why I do what I do is to give people who might come to Tartu some visualizations of what life’s like here. Today, I speak with Lachlan Bell, a student, an artist, and a follower of @sketchingpaas on Instagram, who moved to Tartu last summer from Australia.

Lachlan, I assume you, an Australian with Estonian roots, had quite a perception of what Tartu could be. Now that you've lived here for the best part of a year, what do you say? Is Tartu what you thought it would be?

I was lucky enough to have visited Eesti a couple times before making the big move, and especially fortunate to get opportunities to visit Tartu during my time in 2017, 2019 and 2023. I had family live here for a bit and heard general stuff from other friends about living in Tartu but honestly was going into it blind outside of the touristy perspective I had.

What has surprised you the most?

Being here since July during the Capital of Culture Year - now the homesickness has hit hard and I realise this town is as big as the suburb I grew up in Sydney. Tartu is quaint but also dense for the size, there’s a lot of museums and cultural institutions given it’s population. The biggest shocks have been the number of dead-pan staring I’ve received on the street, but also the friendliness and welcoming nature of everyone here, it’s hard to shake some stereotypes you grow up internalising.

What are your favourite places in Tartu for food?

My guilty treat is I love the little pizza slices you can get from the Coop and Rimi. I really used to love getting lunch at the Pööripäev restaurant at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum when I interned there, and I always used to get fantastic pirukad from Käkk on my way home or during Uni break. Kebab Corner near Ka ubamaja goes hard too.

What are your favourite places in Tartu for drinks?

There’s the classics - Barlova, Pühaste, Möku, Kivi, Pirogov (the bar and the park) but also the stranger lesser known ones, like Õlleministeerium, or Werner, or this one called Promm, which you need someone inside to let you in. But to be honest, drinks here are so cheap compared to Australia, buying them from the shops is probably the most economical.

In your opinion, which neighbourhood is Tartu's most boring neighbourhood?

Like I mentioned earlier, Tartu feels like one big suburb to me, but if I had to chose it might be Ülejõe. You’ve got these massive dorms chock-a-block with students but where’s the pulse? Also in the City Museum exhibition there’s like nothing exhibited as part of it which made me kind of sad.

What is missing in Tartu? What would you add to Tartu?

More affordable cafes for students, more non-institutional venues for art and drag and pop-up shows, non-academic reading/poetry/whatever collectives. There’s this amazing cohort of international students here with so much to offer and contribute to this town, and I’d love to see more intercultural, community-building projects too and opportunities for public-art programming (in the same vein as Stencibility or UIT Festival).

Oh and some Vietnamese, Thai or Indonesian restaurants please.

What's your general favourite place in Tartu? Why?

It’s gotta be Emajõgi beach - on both sides - it’s so so nice in Summer, and I have very fond memories of last year spending time there. Walking along the banks especially on the Supilinn is one of the cheapest forms of therapy I reckon.

Finally, please share your favourite story about getting to know Tartu or Tartuvians.

Oof, I mean...maybe just a word of advice but the dating pool here is kind of small, so always be aware of who might know/dated whom.

→ Visit Lachlan’s home page and his art projects

→ Lachlan’s also a University of Tartu International Student Ambassador

As a regional centre on trade routes, Tartu has a long history of markets and fairs. For example, in the 19th century, the city was immersed in the annual Jahrmarkt for three weeks every January, attracting traders from near and far. Out of the current fairs, probably Maamess has the strongest multi-national trade vibe.

This three-day (April 24 to April 26) and almost 50,000-visitor-attracting fair is not only for agriculture, forestry, farming and gardening professionals but actually offers a nice buzz for families with kids and people interested in locally produced food.

Estonian master painter Olev Subbi (1930-2013), was born and raised around Tartu, lost his father to Soviet terror and was himself deported to Siberia for seven years. His nostalgia for childhood summers (and other things lost) affected his colorful, harmonic, explorative and melancholic art. “Olev Subbi. Striving for Perfection”, a major exhibition of his works is open in Estonian National Museum from 22 March to 12 October.

Every year, Supilinna päevad (Supilinn Days) is the first really outdoorsy big festival in Tartu, thus opening the season. Organised by Supilinn’s long-standing neighbourhood society, it has two core components: platsipäev (Saturday, 26 April), a fair-like celebration by the river, on the festive ground with the traditional Estonian swing, and open yards’ day (Sunday, 27 April), when many Supilinn yards open up as one-day kodukohvikud (home cafés), attracting many merry visitors.

→ Keep on exploring Tartu and Southern Estonia, find events at kultuuriaken.tartu.ee and Tartu2024.ee!