Home to Estonia's University, Tartu is seen as Estonia's intellectual and cultural center.
Tartu (also known as Dorpat or Yuryev) is a Hanseatic city and a nice old university town. It's the second largest city in Estonia with a population of 100,000 and can be considered to be the centre of South Estonia. The city is about 1000 years old - the oldest in the Baltics.
The Emajõgi River, which connects the two largest lakes of Estonia, flows for the length of 10km within the city limits and adds colour to the city. The first written records of Tartu date from 1030.
Being a student town, English is pretty widely understood. As usual the older people are more likely to only speak Estonian and Russian but most can understand you if you speak clearly.
The flagship industries include biology, medicine, technology, furniture industry and the brewery A. Le Coq.
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