Kiutaköngäs (Roadtrip Finland)

It's always hard to say farewell to friends, but we had to continue our journey to Kuusamo and Oulanka National park. Before our 3,5 h drive we stopped to get supplies and got lunch to eat in the car. Between Kajaani and Kuusamo you can already start seeing a big difference in the nature and the reindeer area starts just south of Kuusamo. After Kuusamo we had to stop to queue, due to a herd of over 100 reindeer on the road.

Our main destination of the day was Kiutaköngäs, which is a huge rapid in the Oulanka river, which flows from Finland to Russia. We parked are car at the Nature center and walked less than a mile to the rapid. Kiutaköngäs is impressive even when the water level is low. You still can hear the power of water. We enoyed the rapids for over an hour and started talking that we should come to Oulanka one day and do the Karhunkierros trail. The trail is over 50miles (80km). We would have to leave the hike for an other day and start planning a place to camp. We decided to continue driving to Kemijärvi and stay at the Kemijärvi campsite. First time during our roadtrip it started to look like it might rain. When we left Lahti the temperature was over 90°F (30°C). In Kemijärvi it was less than 60°F (15°C) and it started raining the moment we got the tents up. As the forecast promised rain for the whole night,  we decided to retire to bed.

Visiting Friends (Roadtrip Finland)

Today we only had a short travel as we were on our way to see friends in Kajaani. Maija and PJ moved to Kajaani end of last year to run and renovate the hotel Kainuunportti. We drove directly to the hotel where we met with their family. They gave us a tour of the hotel and showed us what they had accomplished in only 6 months and the transformation is amazing. The hotel has a welcoming and bright reception area with a small restaurant and golf store. Kajaanin golf has its offices on the hotel. The renovated rooms are beutiful and cosy. The hotel even has an Irish pub now. Both of them have done an amazing job and once all renovations have been finished the hotel is going to be one it most beautiful hotels in Kainuu.

After our tour we stopped by Maijas and PJ's home to drop some of our stuff and while PJ was preparing a Karelian stew UK style, we went to the beach in Paltaniemi and Maija showed us around Kajaani. The remaining of the evening we had dinner and the adults chatted until late at night, while the kids enjoyed their time playing. 

Road trip day 2 (Finland)

Today we spent the morning sightseeing in Savonlinna. The main thing to see in Savonlinna is the Olavinlinna Castle. The Castle is situated on a rocky islet in the Kyrönsalmi stream and was built in the late 1400. We admired the castle from the outside and continued our way to the market square to buy apple thins. The city of Savonlinna is beautiful,  but we had to continue our way to Koli. 

On our way to Koli we drove through Punkaharju, which is a beautiful ridge area around 30km east from Savonlinna. From Punkaharju we drove north towards Joensuu snd towards Koli. We stopped to our campsite in Kiviniemi (http://kiviniementila.fi ) first to put out tents up and we contunued a short trip to Koli  one of the National sites of Finland. Koli is an open view hill area 1138 feet (357m) over sea level and main view points are Ukko koli, Akka koli and Paha koli. We visited all three points and saw amazing views to the lake of Pielinen.

It started to be late so we went to buy some food and drove back to the campsite to have dinner. Unfortunately we had to have "fast" food as we were attacked by sand flies, so we retired to bed.

Roadtrip 2020 Finland

Our blog has been silent for over two years since our roadtrip in USA and our return to Finland. Last summer we spent mostly at home and in a Scout's camp. This year we decided to start our holidays travelling around Finland. Today is our first day on the road. We left Lahti around 2.00pm and we drove through Kouvola, Lappeenranta and Imatra to our first stop in Puumala. 

Puumala is along Finland's biggest lake Saimaa and has a bridge crossing an inlet. The bridge is famous for its elevator to a cafe and viewing deck. This summer a famous Finnish film star is selling Georgian Hatsapurs on Puumala's market square, so of course we had to stop and say hello to Ville Haapasalo. We have to say the Hatsapurs were delicious. We had a small picnic and visited the viewing deck and we continued our way to Savonlinna.

In Savonlinna we found our way to Vuohimäki camping site, where we put up camp and Krister & Kaj went to buy us some food and missing equipment.  Once they returned we went for a swim in Saimaa, had dinner and before brushing our teeth and going to bed we played few rounds of Uno.