Today we crossed the Artic Circle rather unspectacularly, but the next hike at Pyhä with its 2 billion-year-old mountains was truly fascinating. Northern Finland – Reindeer area! And here they are, often next to the road – No bump, no line on the ground, no warnings, … Maybe I need this cap: “I’ve crossed Arctic …
In Northern Karelia the Oulanka NP is famous for its 80km long hiking route called the bear trail. We did the little bear trail “Pieni Karhunkierros”, which was a 3 hour circular route. The landscape was spectacular, nothing else to expect in Finland! We had been to Kuusamo the day before to do some shopping, …
At Hossa, we did a tour around a lake which is squeezed in between rocks, something different to the flat lake district we had been travelling through. The National Park is called Kansallispuisto, but the area is better known as Hossa, I wonder why ;-). We had spent the night at a parking …
A very rainy day was perfect to make some kilometres to the North. We stopped at a visitor centre which informed us about Finnish carnivores and come past a couple of interesting places. – We were driving at the Via Karelia, a road leading up through Finland close to the Russian border. Mostly with tarmac, …
What a sucessful day! After we went for a hike to the rapids of Ruunaa near Lieksa, we visited Karelian houses and Edi found this wonderful boletus. The day ended of course at another camp fire. We had spent the night at the River Lieksanjoki, where we had a campfire in the evening. (Campfire Nr. …
South of Lieksa we visited the home of a famous Finish artist after we had explored the Patvinsuom NP close to the Russian border. The Finish sculptress Eva Ryynänen (1915–2001) lived in a cottage south of Lieksa. She started to carve things from wood already as a child. With 18 she was accepted by the …
At the almost completely flat landscape of the Finish lake area, some little mountains give you suddenly a completely different perspective, like the view from the Koli mountains. The Koli is a 347 m high mountain on Lake Pielinen in North Karelia. Despite its modest height, it rises significantly above the surroundings. The famous view …
On the way to the Koli National Park we stopped in Joensuu to visit the North Karelian Museum. Afterwards we found a lookout point and a nice place at a lake for the night. Traditional shoes made from birchbark Joensuu town hall Karelian dresses Wonderful birch forests On the way to the Koli mountains we …
In Savonlinna we were lucky to get there during a medieval market. We also visited the castle, before we went into the woods again and found the perfect campfire spot. At the beginning of the 14th century, when Finland was still part of the Kingdom of Sweden, the Treaty of Nöteborg laid the border between …
We had left the coast of the Gulf of Finland and were on the way North to the lakes Finland is so famous for. We reached Lappeenranta on the southern shore of the fourth largest lake in Europe, Lake Saimaa. First we went to explore the old fort, the harbour and the city before we …
