This summer
we skipped long trips by plane and let our VW Golf lead us to near
destinations.
We have a
family cottage in Eastern Finland and headed there to stay there for a week in
the beginning of July. On our way the weather was not at all promising, heavy rain
showers and temperature between ten and fifteen degrees.
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| Having a break with Harri and Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi |
When we entered there the sky turned blue – this is the normal and magical phenomenon in the area happening in seven p.m.
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| My cottage look |
There we met my daughter and daughters of my sisters. The latter ones met me as Anukatariina for the first time and took the situation very naturally. After some days also my other daughter came there with my grandkids, followed by my eldest sister and my wife’s daughter. The weather didn’t turn very warm but it was possible to do some activities as fishing and sauna bathing with swimming in a lake.
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| Kids vs. fishes 1-1: One tiny perch first caught and then escaped |
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| On the ridge by the lake |
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| Burning lupines to avoid them to conquer the roadsides. Their roots were bigger challenge though |
The big event was the 70
th wedding anniversary of my parents. They still live in their own apartment though their locomotion has naturally got slower. There were more than 20 people celebrating, maybe more their offspring together than ever.
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| My father |
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| Wedding day cakes |
After the
event we had planned to stay some days at the cottage but the weather turned
wet and cold again so we just cleaned the places and delivered biological waste
to Kitee town waste sorting centre and continued our journey.
The plan
was to go the western coastal area of Finland from Raahe to Pori, the area we
both have somehow neglected so far. The forecast promised us much better
weather in west which also persuaded us to go on. To get to Raahe from Kitee it
would take some time and we left Kitee only at 4 p.m. So we had a break to stay
overnight in Runni Spa Hotel near the Savolean town Iisalmi.
Runni is founded
in 1904 and it is famous for its healing water with lots of iron and other
minerals. We came there rather late and just in time for the supper before the kitchen
closed. There was a grand piano in the restaurant hall so I asked if I could
play something after having permission I played one piece and was asked to play
something more – which I naturally did.
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| The old spa building |
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| Jazz at Runni |
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| Tasting Runni mineral water |
Runni Spa is situated by a little river and we walked the path on the banks of it. On our way we crossed the river along the suspension bridge. My wife thought we would get back by crossing the river in the other place. As we walked further it turned out there is no other bridge available near enough and even the path disappeared. So we came back the same way we went there. The Runni mosquitoes seemed to like my wife and gave a plenty of itchy souvenirs to her skin.
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| By the river |
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| Crossing the river |
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| The unburned Midsummer night bonfire |
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| The old boat shed |
The landscape of eastern Finland is filled
with hills. As we got to west the landscape became more even with lots of
swamps and fields.
Raahe is
situated by the sea, about 100 kilometers south to Oulu. By the sea is somewhat
relative expression in the western coast of Finland: Because of the ice age the
ground has been pressed down and even now, thousands of years later it is
lifted almost a centimeter in a year. The effect is strongest just in the areas
we traveled. That’s why the old towns can be quite far from the sea though
they have founded as harbor towns. Most of the towns we visited were founded
in 17th and 18th centuries by the Swedish kings and
queens – Queen Christina’s administration was very active in this branch.
Raahe has been founded by a governor of Queen Christina, Per Brahe. It still have its old
wooden city left, though the condition of the buildings is rather poor compared
with some other cities we visited. Maybe the housing bureau of Raahe is too
lazy to make people keep the houses in shape.
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| A view of old Raahe |
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| The Raahe main square, Per Brahe behind me |
The place we stayed night was very charming in the center point of the old town. It was a combination of cafe and hotel with four rooms. The building has been originally a trading house and the hotel rooms for the staff and the traders who stayed there before going back to their own place. Everything in the building was somewhat in old style, except the bathroom which naturally had modern WC and shower.
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| Cafe at our Raahe residence |
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| The yard of our Raahe residence |
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| Supper in the yard of our Raahe residence |
Nex day we
headed to south along the coastal line. The first place to mention is Kalajoki,
which is famous for its dunes by the sea. Nowadays the area is full with
tourism that makes it no so attractive. The weather was sunny with hard and chilly
wind and this fact dispelled our wishes to go to swim very effectively.
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| The windy Kalajoki beach |
South of Kalajoki we also visited another beach area Vattaja. Vattaja has been closed area because it is next to army shooting area so tourism has not spoiled it, yet. In the end of the peninsula there is a picturesque fisher village and the nature with sandy beaches and forests seem to be almost intact.
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| Vattaja fisher village |
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| Vattaja waves |
The next
town was Kokkola. Its Swedish name Karleby seem to refer to some of the Swedish
Carl kings but actually means the Swedish ‘man’ (=karl)
It has been
founded in 1620 by Gustaf Adolf the second to an old harbour place. It has its
modern centre but just behind it it has its old town. The old town in Finland
means wooden houses from 17th, 18th and 19th
centuries. The condition of the houses were significantly better than in Raahe.
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| Kokkola old town |
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| Kokkola old town |
The
population of the coastal line is mostly Swedish speaking. Raahe is still
Finnish, Kokkola is both and the proportion of Swedish speaker increases until
it gradually decreases after Närpiö.
Our next
town destination was Pietarsaari. We chose the route through the archipelago between
the towns. On our way we drove through Luoto, a tiny and peculiar place. Many
of its inhabitants belong to a religious group that seems to have their own thoughts
of the world. The real hit there is silver water drinking. The other norm there
is avoiding vaccination which has led to a measles epidemic, imported from
Jerusalem. When we went through the main village we noticed the Lutheran church
Pietarsaari
has been founded by Count Jacob de la Gardie in 1652 under reign of Queen
Christina. The Founder has his name in the Swedish name Jakobstad, the Finnish
name refers to Per Brahe. Pietarsaari is a bit smaller than Kokkola and
definitely more Swedish speaking.
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| Pietarsaari market square |
Compared to
these two the next town Uusikaarlepyy is a miniature. It has been founded by Gustaf
Adolf the second in 1620 to replace the problem of Kokkola: The missing harbour
because of the ground lifting. The plan didn’t seem to work very well in long
term evaluation, the town has not increased to a modern city. But on the other
hand it is a picturesque attraction for us tourists.
We stayed
our next night in Jutha next to Uusikaarlepyy. The name Jutha is famous of the Runeberg
story of the general Döbeln in the so called Finnish war against Russia in 1809
where the Swedish army won the Russian troops just one more time – shortly after
this Russia conquered the whole Finland for the next hundred years. Our
sleeping place was an old manor but I didn’t find any mentions of general
Döbeln staying there.
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| Another bridge problem: This time it should have been there but it was under construction. So walking back by the other side of the river failed again. |
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| The Jutha manor - we stayed the night in the other building |
Next day we
first scouted the nearby villages. Munsala is one of the best examples of
coastal Swedish landscape.
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| Having a conversation with the Munsala poor boxes man |
As we drove farther from the centre of Munsala we
noticed that there were lots of beautiful but obviously abandoned pheasant
houses. We have got used seeing such in Eastern Finland where people tend to
escape to better living conditions but this was a surprise for us. Maybe it is so easy to go to Sweden for Swedish
speakers so the houses will be abandoned.
Vaasa is
the biggest city in the Swedish speaking area and because its importance it
also has quite a lot Finnish speakers in its inhabitants. It has been founded
in the year 1611 by Charles the IX. The old city has burned almost totally in
the 19th century and the new one has founded nearer the sea – guess why!
Because there is not much historical things to see in Vaasa we just drove
through it and concentrated to the archipelago in front of it.
Raippaluoto
is one of its islands. There is a huge bridge leading to it. It is called The
Ole Norrback bridge because a former minister was very active in its building
activities. In Finland we call this kind of activity the bridge drum policy,
getting extra votes for something concrete just for one’s own ward.
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| Raippaluoto bridge behind me |
Raippaluoto village is also very pretty. Its small wooden church seemed to have some evaluation out of the rectangular concept which made it even more attractive.
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| A view from the Raippaluoto church yard |
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| In Raippaluoto crooked church |
Our next
destination Närpiö is famous for its tomatoes, a majority of domestic tomatoes
comes from there. The other famous thing is its ancient oriented dialect, even
many Swedish speakers have difficulties in understanding it. The third thing to
mention is the Church area with lots of red cabins for the people who stayed
the night before the sermon.
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| Närpiö cabins |
The next
town Kaskinen is famous for being the tiniest town in Finland. It has been
founded by Gustaf the third in 1785 and seems to be a failure, it has not
increased until a pulp factory was founded. It still has only about 1200
inhabitants. The centre of the city is practically wooden and with no modern
business buildings.
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| The hectic Kaskinen city main street during the rush hour |
Near Kaskinen
is our next destination Kristiinankaupunki. It has also founded by Per Brahe in
1649. It has stayed a little town and preserved its look beautifully with very
narrow streets and all of its modern business buildings built in separate area
and even in the way they also look old.
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| Kristiinankaupunki street view |
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| Posing with TaruNina in the corner of the narrowest street in Finland, The Cat Whipper's Street |
We stayed the night in Kristiinankaupunki. Our friend TaruNina offered us the whole second floor of her wonderfully reconstructed old house. She also was our guide to absorb more of the history and culture of the city. The next day she also was our company as we attended the Kristiinankaupunki fair where the population of the town suddenly increases to tenfold.
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| Kristiinankaupunki market place - that day the whole center was a market place. |
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| The old church of Kristiinankaupunki with its not so upright tower |
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| Improvising in the old church |
We
continued our journey to south by driving near the coastline to Pori. Pori city
was too familiar and too normal to us to get any new inspirations so we skipped
it and headed straight home.
