4. Tartu - Melliste - Võnnu - Järvselja

Aardla polder - Haaslava - Vooremägi - Kaagvere - Mäksa - Kastre - Melliste - Võnnu - Lääniste hillfort - Järvselja - Mehikoorma

95 km

At the southern border of Tartu in the borough of Tõrvandi, we turn left from the Tartu-Võru road. The road to Roiu goes downhill in the direction of the valley of Aardla which is not a fertile area having caused constant worries to the local people for several hundred years. Stunted brushwood of willows, birches and hagberry on both sides, discarded peat quarries, sands, constant floods. There have been years when it was impossible to make hay because the floods retreated only in the autumn.

In 1983 the area of 1,271 ha was ameliorated and the Aardla polder began to be cultivated. The polder area is one of the oldest sites of settlement near Tartu. The archaeological finds from the older Iron Age give evidence of human activity 1,500 years ago.

Near the Kurepalu road there are ponds belonging to the Haaslava piscicultural farm which supplies other similar farms in Estonia with carp. Haaslava is one of the oldest (1417, Haselau), fortified manors near the Emajõgi river. When the Northern War was over, Peter I gave it to count B. Deremetyev. The Livonian governor general, a well-known Swedish statesman Johan Skytte, being one of the owners of Haaslava deserves our attention. He was the founder of Tallinn and Tartu gümnaasium's (secondary schools) and Tartu University (1632, Academia Gustaviana). The Haaslava manor has fully been destroyed.

The village of Kurepalu began to develop in the 19th century. From a village of farm hands it grew into a centre of local life becoming a popular place for holiday-makers. The Mõra water reservoir formed as a result of damming up the river is one of the most beautiful water bodies near Tartu and people come here to swim. The borough of Roiu is at a distance of 3 km from Kurepalu. In the first half of the 17th century there was a water-mill and a cattle-breeding farm belonging to the landlord of Kriimani.

Nature lovers can go to Vooremäe, which is at a distance of 2 km from Roiu. Voormägi is an area of hills and hillocks with the height of 123 m. It is a richly forested area of changeable relief.

According to a legend the surface of the hill was smooth. It was like an egg. The Old Hornie was sleeping on it with his long tail wound three times round it. The wolves came and chopped off a part of it. The Old Hornie woke up and began to beat his painful tail against the ground - making the valleys and mounds. The thick forest which grew on them is the devil's kitchen where he cooks his meals before and after a rainfall.

According to another legend the Old Hornie wanted to hurl a stone in the direction of Tartu but it fell into the Emajõgi river near Ihaste. On top of Vooremägi there had been the Voore town ruled by a beautiful princess. She did not like her wooer, the neighbouring prince from Möldripalu. In revenge the young man ordered the town to be cleanly swept off the ground.

In the winter time Vooremäe is a popular skiing centre with cross country skiing tracks which have electric lightening for the darker parts of the day.

From Roiu we move on in the direction of Kaagvere. On our left there is the primeval valley of the Emajõgi river. The estate of Kaagvere was first mentioned in the chronicles in 1544. There are several buildings which are under the state's protection as architectural monuments: the 19th century servants' house, the round brewery, the governor's house, the gardener's house and the crop drying barn. Ancient walls surrounding the manorial complex are still there. The park and alleys please the visitor.

At the mouth of the Luutsna river one can find the remains of an ancient Estonian castle of Vana-Kastre. It is Tollimägi, a hill covered with high trees, where the castle was situated. After the German defeat in the Ice Battle of 1242 (on the ice of Lake Peipus) and the further Russian raids to Tartu in 1262 the Bishop of Tartu began to build foreposts down the Emajõgi river. The new fortification system had to defend the Bishop's residence in Tartu against unexpected Russian raids, the attacks coming from Lake Peipus. The only fort up the river was the Muuge (Kärkna) monastery at the mouth of the Amme river. The hill of Tollimägi was made higher and a wooden fortress with towers was built on it (Oldentorne, Oldenturn). It was first mentioned in 1342. Today the unequal relief of the mound covered with grass and the surrounding moats remind us of the bygone days.

After having covered five kilometres, we reach the village of Mäksa which is situated on the southern slope of the primeval valley of the Emajõgi river. The estate of Mäksa was first mentioned in chronicles in 1555 when it belonged to the family of von Meck. The manor and the park have survived. The manor has been reconstructed relatively little, the older part dating back to the 18th century, the newer one to the 19th century. The first garden (18th century) with terraces and ponds was following the natural relief. The few fragments of the lime alley surrounding the park have survived. In 1863-1900 Mäksa belonged to Nikolai von Essen (1839-1900) whose burial chapel is an architectural monument under protection. Near the village there is Lake Agali (13 ha, depth - 19.5 m).

From Mäksa we move on along a gravel road on the bank of the Emajõgi river soon reaching the village of Kastre where the population is less than one hundred people. In the 16th century there was the Bishop's manor. Only a small part of the remaining lime alley reminds us of the terraced park laid out between the river and the manor. The present free-style park dates back to the end of the 19th century. In the centre of the park we find the manor built in the Russian classical rural style with a mansard floor. Today it houses a home for senior citizens.

The territory we visit belongs to the oldest areas of settlement in Estonia. As archaeologists have stated, the first settlers of Tartumaa came to live here. On the Akali island on the marshland an ancient settlement was found. The island is only half a metre higher than the level of the wetland. The Akali settlement dating back to the earlier Stone Age and the earlier Metal Age is on the south-western bank of the Akali river, the tributary of the Emajõgi river. Finds of the excavations prove that hunters and fishermen lived at Akali in the neolithic period, i.e. from the middle of the third millennium to the middle of the first millennium BC. During the archaeological excavations a great number of fragments of clay pottery were found representing all types of ceramics used in different periods. There are stone, bone, horn implements, flintstones, pieces of amber jewellery). At present the settlement is covered by a three-metre-thick layer of peat.

At Kastre we turn southward, to the south-west of Võõpste, where in the valley of the Melliste river we reach Melliste.

The ancient Estonians built their stronghold on the hill of Lingutusmägi. In the western and northern sides of the stronghold there were earthen walls. According to a legend people had carried building materials to the top of the hill, making the slopes steeper. When enemies surrounded the hill, the defenders started throwing and slinging stones on them. The name Lingutusmägi (hill of slinging) came from it.

Another legend tells us that the people who lived in the stronghold were evil and malevolent. As a punishment, the whole settlement fell underground. You are not allowed to cultivate the land on top of it, only a forest can grow there. If you break the order, you can hear the muffled voices saying: "Don't disturb!"

On the hill of Lingutusmägi we can see a cairn "I cover the evil spirits with stones". Each visitor throws his or her stone on it. In the neighbourhood there were ancient sacrificial springs (Silmaläte in the village of Mäletjärve and Põrguvaluläte in the village of Poka) and sacrificial groves (Annemägi and Kulbimägi in the village of Mäletjärve). Estonians were pagans before Christianity reached them.

At the distance of 10 km from Võõpste there is the borough of Võnnu. The landscape relief has given birth to numerous legends connected with Kalevipoeg. The hollow land near the church is his furrow. When he cleaned his plough, he created the hill of Suitsumägi.

The most interesting historical monument is the largest rural church - St. Jacob's church on the bank of the Luutsna river. Already in the 13th century there could be a religious parish which was first mentioned in chronicles in 1361. The altarpiece "Crucifixion" by O. von Moeller (1871) deserves the visitor's attention. The altar was built in 1884, the organ (one of the best instruments in Estonia) in 1895. The bells date back to 1766. In the church you can see a tomb monument to R. von Nolcken who perished in the Battle of Borodino (1812). The monument is an outstanding piece of art by the sculptor F. Trisconi from 1813 depicting a marble column, an urn and a mourning female figure. Several buildings of the parsonage are 19th century architectural monuments. The church is surrounded by a 2 ha park laid out at the beginning of the 19th century.

Among several people from Võnnu connected with Estonian literature, the most famous was the poet and literary scholar Gustav Suits (1883-1956). His birthplace at the Lääniste road can be recognized thanks to a grove on the roadside.

To move on from Võnnu, we take the south-eastern road. At the distance of 5 km we see the Ahja river (total length - 95 km) winding in the swampy flat valley. On the bank of the river there is a lengthy village of Lääniste. On the western bank there is a hill of an ancient stronghold - the type of Kalevipoeg's bed. An old Russian graveyard from the 19th century is on the top of it.

Järvselja, fully surrounded by fens and swamps on each side, is at the distance of 46 km from Tartu. The map of Livonia issued by Rücker in 1839 marks only one single farm at Järvselja. In 1912 the landlord of Kastre built his hunting lodge amid the thick Kastre-Peravalla forest.

Järvselja is widely known because of its various types of forest stands - wonderful pine and spruce stands, aspen, birch and elm-tree marshy forests. The Järvselja Forest District administrates all in all 11,325 ha of land, 6,595 ha being under forests. A big part of the district land is under the reserve of the Emajõgi Suursoo Wetland. The most valuable stands (2 ha) are near the centre of Järvselja at Lake Selgjärv. Here we can see a pine stand with 200-year-old trees reaching the height of 40 m. Spruce stands have also very high trees - the record height was 45 m. During all these years many foreign species have been introduced - larch from the Kuril islands, Siberian silver fir, Chinese walnut, aralia, Amur cork-tree, eastern yew, American lime, etc. In 1968 an arboretum was founded to display more than 60 foreign species of trees (Far-Eastern larch species, pines, walnuts, birches, hagberries, hawthorns, etc.). There is a special untouched forest district where the visitor can get an excellent idea what primeval forests could look like, what a forest is like when human activity does not reach it - the ancient tree-trunks are covered with moss, lichen hangs on the branches, fallen trees are mouldering under a carpet of moss.

From Järvselja we drive to Meerapalu passing Ahunapalu and Paralepa. The whole area is sprasely populated. The writer and artist Jaan Vahtra (1882-1947) describes Parapalu in the following way:

"Plots of firm fields are between marshes and forests. On the islands amid marshes there were few farms, tiny tenant farms at the edge of the dry land. In the forest you could see the cottages of men who came to fell trees. On the shores of the lake, where one could find firm ground, small houses of fishermen were clustering together."

From Parapalu we go to the northern-most settlement of this stretch of Lake Peipus shore - Meerapalu. The road is built into the fens and marshes of Pedaspää and Meerapalu. There is a small harbour of Laaksaare. From Laaksaare it is possible to go by boat to the island of Piirissaar. The winter ice road to Piirissaar starts here.

Having visited Meerapalu, we return to Parapalu and only 11 km separate us from our destination - Mehikoorma. The road is parallel to the shore of the lake, on the other side there is marshland. We reach Mehikoorma, the centre of the Meeksi rural municipality.

Mehikoorma is one of the oldest settlements on the shore of Lake Peipus. It was first mentioned in the historical chronicles in connection with the Ice Battle on the ice of Lake Peipus between German knights and Russian troops in 1242.

There is a Russian orthodox church (built in 1934) and an ancient cemetery (1770). Among the later buildings we can see the highest lighthouse on Lake Peipus shores, the new Border Guard Station, a harbour. The view from the top of the lighthouse is enjoyable - the village, sandy beaches, glittering waters of the lake, the Russian shores and the houses in the village of Pnevo (Haniva), only at a distance of two kilometres.