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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
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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 [email protected]
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)
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