NordenBladet – Kajaani in Central Finland is the centre and capital city of Kainuu area. The town with 37039 inhabitants was founded in the 17th century when the industry and trade of tar produced from pine trees started to flourish. The town was founded in the year 1651 by the Swedish attorney general Per Brahe. In later days the town’s economy has been run by timber and paper industry, until the Kajaani paper factory that had been working from 1907-2008 was closed down. Kajaani has reached the headlines with the oil catastrophe, namely in 2012 there was an extensive oil pollution and 110 000 litres of oil poured into the river and drifted to Oulujärvi.
Kajaani is actually a junction for trade roads and with an interesting location, surrounded by hundreds of little lakes. For hikers, cyclists and canooers this is a pleasant spot to go in for sports. The lovely little city centre with the shops and the town hall that was built in 1831 both contribute to the coxy feeling.
We spent in Kajaani one day and one night. We were in the most expensive hotel of the neighborhood, yet the night was a nightmare. People were shouting in the hotel hallways until late at night, dogs were barking and the insect repellent that had been sprayed to the hotel wardrobes, was breathtaking. Hadn’t it been a perfectly wonderful and friendly reception-lady earlier on welcoming us and checking us in the hotel, we would probably have decided to go somewher else. We were thinking to ourselves, whether the hotel star-standards that have been awarded still hold after a few years and wheather there is someone in charge of maintaining the initial standards?! The hotel facade and the reception floor were wonderful and freshly renovated, yet the hotel rooms were as if from another era. However, the breakfast in the hotel was very-very delightful (among the best during the entire journey)! For example cold salmon – my favourite! Yummmm… For children there was a large selection of various food that they could serve in Moomin dishes. Ahh, how I like the Moomins. Such a nice and friendly family, and the entire Moomin-world image is so friendly and nice. By the way, Ivanka Shoshana affectionately calls me Muuminmamma, she herself is Snork Maiden and Estella Elisheva is Little My – this is our game. A few years ago we visited the Moomin world in Naantali and the surroundings of Turku – Väsk island, the Finnish president’s summer residence in Kultaranta, etc. I posted many blogs about that (see HERE) 🙂
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But what then is there to do in Kajaani? When you search online for Kajaani sightseeings then the list is rather short. The more interesting tourist magnets-sightseeings that have been brought out are Kajaani town hall, Kajaani and Paltaniemi church, the ruins of Kajaani stronghold (Linnankatu 27, Kajaani 87100), Kajaani art museum (Linnankatu 14, 87100), and Kajaani town theatre (Kauppakatu 14, 87100 Kajaani), the Pietari Brahen monument and Hoyrylaiva Kouta (address: Kalkkisillantie 4, Kajaani 87200), the ship that takes tours on Oulujärvi. Urho Kekkonen who during the years 1956-1982 was the Finnish president, was born in Lepikko farm Pielavesi village where at the age of 11 he moved to Kajaani. In the kajaani park that is located between Koivukoskenkatu and Kirkkokatu a monument has been erected in his honour. In the same park (on the address Väinämöisenkatu 18, 87100 Kajaani) there is also the “Isänmaan puolesta” memorial.
Having driven through all of western Finland and northern Finland this way and that way, one could say that central Finland and western Finland have a very different wealth standard and architecture. As it often is, the western side tends to be wealthier and the eastern side less well off. Many little towns in Finland have in a way frozen, the re is little of the Scandinavian welfare and wealth really in those places – like for example Puolanka and Pudasjärvi that have been described in the previous travel post (see HERE) and quite many other central and eastern towns in Finland, too. Also, it is rather strongly felt in Kajaani that the town would not suffer at all from a nice financial boost. In order to attract tourists in the town and keep the interested, I guess it would be necessary to promote the town far more. Certainly there are a lot more pearls in that region to be discovered. Overall, I am super overwhelmed about our road trip and I am already planning new jpurneys. It is possible to see so many places! At some point I would like to see the eastern side of Finland (Nurme surroundings, Joensuu region, Ilomantsi region, etc). Finland is a safe country and it is convenient to travel by car there. The next blog post will take us to Kuopio!
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