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Text: Annereet PaatsiLayout: Triinu SarvPrint: PaarPhotoes: Tartu Countypublic photostock

Tourist information centre; tourist information

Hiking trail; lookout tower

Museum; manor house

Church; monument

Horseback riding; protection area visitor centre

Hotel; accommodation

Caravan stop; internet

Hunter’s lodge; scenic view

Tenting site; camp fre site

Natural features; archaeological place of interest

Historical place of interest

Filling station; beach

Now is the time to head towards the largest lake inside

Estonia: . It is situated in the centre of

Estonia and is bigger than all the other lakes in Estonia

combined. Holidaymakers and hobby fishermen can take

advantage of its many offers. The best way to get to know

Lake Võrtsjärv is by beginning with different visiting

centres called the Gates of Võrtsjärv. One such gate is the

belonging to the Centre for Limnology of

the Estonian University of Life Sciences. This is a nature

education centre where you can observe freshwater fish

and other freshwater inhabitants living in tanks or see

prehistoric fish and fishing equipment.

With a favourable wind and by booking in advance, you

can go sailing with the ancient wooden (kale – a

large-meshed trawl) that is peculiar to the Lake Võrtsjärv

area. In the olden times, the kaleboat trawled a bag net to

catch fish. Nowadays you can just enjoy the wind, the sun

and the stories of sailors.

If you are interested in nature, you can go on the

. This trail is roughly two

kilometres long and a great way to get to know the

Devonian red sandstone exposure and the local fauna, for

example the wetland birds.

During spring migration, the best place to observe birds

near Lake Võrtsjärv is in the fields and meadows of

with its roughly twenty thousand white-fronted

geese and bean geese and numerous flocks of ducks and

Charadriiformes.

Lake Võrtsjärv

Lake Museum

kaleboat

hikingtrail of Tamme exposure

Sanglapolder

The eastern coast of Lake Võrtsjärv boasts of the most

fertile fields in Tartu County. is like a

landmark to be seen from behind the cultivated fields. The

medieval brick walls are home to several historic gems,

such as the renaissance pulpit from the 16 century and

the chandelier dating from 1699, given as a gift by Charles

XII of Sweden, at least according to a legend.

As you walk in the surroundings, it is a perfect time to

reminisce the tough laws and life of medieval times that

have also served as an inspiration for Aino Kallas, a

prominent Finnish-Estonian author. Her story about

Barbara von Tisenhusen, a noblewoman of Rannu, takes

us back to the year 1553, when the Tisenhusen family

council decided to have young Barbara drowned in Lake

Võrtsjärv because she had fallen in love with a common

man; her brothers carried out the decision.

situated in the middle of bogs, is

nowadays known for its peat briquette factory. This has

actually been a safe place to live for a long time. The

church dedicated to St. Dionysius is evidence of the settle-

ment existing already in medieval times. The road goes on

towards Ilmatsalu through Kavilda prehistoric valley.

On the starting from

Ilmatsalu you can find the most exciting places for bird-

watching. There is also a picnic spot where you can rest,

should you get tired during your long walk.

After the bird-watching tour and picnic, you can head

back to Tartu.

The Rannu church

The hamlet of Puhja,

Ilmatsalu-Kärevere bird route

th

Your tour in Tartu County is over. You have seen and

experienced Tartu County from many different aspects,

but there is still much to discover. We hope to see you

again!

ENG

Tartu Visitor Centre/Raekoda Town Hall, Tartu ESTONIA

Ph/fax +372 744 2111info@visittartu.comwww.visittartu.com

Text: Annereet PaatsiLayout: Triinu SarvPrint: PaarPhotoes: Tartu Countypublic photostock

Tourist information centre; tourist information

Hiking trail; lookout tower

Museum; manor house

Church; monument

Horseback riding; protection area visitor centre

Hotel; accommodation

Caravan stop; internet

Hunter’s lodge; scenic view

Tenting site; camp fre site

Natural features; archaeological place of interest

Historical place of interest

Filling station; beach

www.visittartu.com

The tour of

Southern Tartu County

The tour of

Southern Tartu County

Travel Routes in Tartu County

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Travel Routesin Tartu CountyTravel Routes

in Tartu County

About two-thirds of the 147,000 inhabitants of Tartu

County live in the city of Tartu. The rest live in rural areas

and towns. It hasn't always been the case. For a long

period of time, Estonians were a people of land and

forest. In order to get to know the inhabitants of Tartu

County and grasp the earnestness and profoundness of

Estonians, it is necessary to take a glance at the landscape

and people around Tartu.

The versatile landscapes of Tartu County have much to

offer, whether you prefer to enjoy nature and scenery or

are more interested in the place's history. You can rest in

the tranquillity of marshes and forests, enjoy the sun

sparkling on lakes, or go sightseeing in places that have

played a significant role in the different stages of the

intricate history of Estonia, the border area between East

and West.

Tartu – Kambja – Luke mõis – Nõo – Tõravere – Peedu – Elva –Rõngu – Valguta – Vehendi – Rannu – Sangla – Puhja –Ilmatsalu - Tartu

Head outside of Tartu taking Võru Road (road No. 2).

T

. Its profound

indoors and outdoors exhibitions provide a good

overview of the history of agriculture and animal

husbandry in Estonia. The museum also organises cattle

breeding shows and celebrates days of Estonian national

calendar. Workshops give you diverse hands-on

information from baking bread to blacksmithing. When

you drive from the Agricultural Museum towards Lange,

you'll find the Estonian Aviation Museum, founded as a

private museum, with a couple of helicopters and an array

of training aircraft and fighters. The main building of the

museum houses about 400 high-quality models of the

aircraft that have played a significant role in aviation

history.

he Ülenurme manor in the outskirts of Tartu housesthe Estonian Agricultural Museum

Kambja is one of the oldest parishes in Tartu County.

Unipiha manor

manor park of Luke

The history of the local church dates back to the beginning

of the 14 century. The church with its slender steeple is a

fine testimonial to the perseverance of the Estonian

people. Having been destroyed many times in wars, the

church has always been rebuilt. The memorials in the

churchyard remind of the Swedish period, when the first

full Estonian translation of the New Testament (1686) was

completed and one of the first Estonian-language schools

was established in Kambja. The new schoolhouse is

situated right beside the church. There is a memorial

dedicated to the soldiers who fell in the Estonian War of

Independence and a new memorial erected in 2011

dedicated to Estonian families on the memorial hill in the

nearby cemetery.

On your way to Luke you pass the . The

manor was once owned by the Russian poet Vassili

Zhukovski (1783–1852). Many facilities have been

destroyed. The only things left in the manor park are a

granary with an interesting design and the remnants of a

romantic grotto.

The awaits us in its full glory. Your

senses will be filled by the sound of running water, clouds

reflecting in the pond, velvety green grass, strange lime

trees and romantic ruins. All this surrounds the dollhouse-

like gardener's cottage housing the information centre,

cafeteria and a small exhibition about the history of the

manor. The whole ensemble is open to the public and the

gazebo in the shade of trees is the perfect place to have a

picnic. Family days, concerts and theatre shows are

organized here on weekends.

th

Nõo hamlet is nowadays an important local centre.

Tartu Observatory Tõravere

Vapramägi

Peedu

The Nõo St Lawrence Church has stood here since the

second half of the 13 century and is the best-preserved

medieval fortified church in Southern Estonia. It has

archaic cross-shaped pillars, secret stairways and

magnificent arches. The church is open to all wayfarers

during summer.

As you continue on Tartu–Valga road towards south, you'll

see the domes of in across

the fields. Here you can view the largest telescope in the

Baltics (the diameter or its reflector is 1.5 metres) and take

a guided tour in the observatory, but you'll have to book

your visit in advance. Groups can start visiting the

observatory again in late summer of 2012 and visit the

Stellarium, find out about the current achievements of

Estonian scientists working in the field of astronomy and

cosmology, and see the virtual planetarium.

From the Tõravere hill you can see a relatively high

forested hill against the skyline. This is (Brave

Man's Hill), a preserved forest park with a rich cultural

heritage and several nature and hiking trails with

signposts and information boards. The Nature Centre of

Vapramäe displays an exhibition on the topic of environ-

mental education; you can also ask information about na-

tural resources of the nature reserves situated in the area

and book a guide to take you on a nature discovery tour.

A curved road through the Vapramäe forest will take you

to Peedu. On the precipice of the Elva River you'll find

Kerikmägi – one of the smallest ancient fortresses in

Estonia that was inhabited during the first millennium AD.

On the opposite river bank there is a summer village with

an interesting cultural history, old summerhouses under

trees and the old watermill that gave the village its

name.

th

Elva

Rõngu hamlet

town owes its birth to the railway construction a bit

more than a hundred years ago. Here, you can enjoy

silence and clean air, beautiful wooden architecture,

green gardens and cool lake water. Between 1960s and

1890s, summer guests came all the way from Moscow

and St. Petersburg, the metropolises of the Soviet Union,

to enjoy the idyllic Elva. The railway station built during

Tsarist Russian times after a standard design has been

renovated and now houses a hiking centre, where you can

see an exhibition on the history of Elva and nearby sights

or get useful tourist information.

As you drive south from Elva, you reach ,

which was built on the crossing of old war and trading

routes and is a typical Southern Estonian village with its

church, school and shops. Rõngu also has a special sight –

the crooked tavern ( ). The classicist central part

of the building was built of yellow bricks in the 1820s.

Initially it was a perfectly straight building. The

architectural historians suggest that the decorations take

directly after the main building of the University of Tartu.

The wings added to the building several decades later

gave the tavern its crooked appearance.

Kõver kõrts

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The tour ofSouthern Tartu County

The tour ofSouthern Tartu County

Hill forts, burial mounds, sacred groves and the legends of

our giant hero Kalevipoeg are signs of an ancient era of

freedom in Estonia. Stone forts and fortified churches

along with manors in green parks stand as silent witnesses

of the long German rule. Orthodox churches and project-

wise identical community centres and railway stations

reminisce of the Russian Tsarist period. The Old Believers

living on the western shore of Lake Peipus remind us of a

fraction of the complex history of the Tsardom of Russia

and the Russian Empire.

centres and abandoned state

farms surrounded with fields that are left of the Soviet

times may cause controversial and perplexed feelings.

During your tours, you can rest your weary feet in the cool

shade of medieval churches or recreation areas alongside

the hiking trails. This might give you an idea why there are

still quite a few Estonians who prefer to live among the

woods and fields, far away from other people.

The Emajõgi River divides Tartu County into northern and

southern parts. This river flowing from east to west is also

an important waterway and trade route. The oldest

settlements of Tartu County were situated on its shores,

and in medieval times, the river was an important

Hanseatic trading route. Furthermore, the Emajõgi is the

reason that the city of Tartu came into existence as a

trading post where the river and land routes met. Tartu lies

in the place where the otherwise wide floodplain on each

bank of the river is narrow, thus offering an easier

possibility to cross the river. The Emajõgi River is the

symbol of Tartu County and has greatly shaped its

settlements. Because of the Emajõgi, we shall divide the

county tour into two parts.

The huge multi-storey kolkhoz

(Soviet collective farm)