Week 31
Joensuu, Finland

At the moment I have one student visiting us from the Netherlands. Additionally, we have another student visiting the department from Korea. If one lives in Joensuu, I consider important to visit Koli at least once. Then, I propose to our guests to go to Koli last Saturday.

Our party was of five, each one from a different country (Netherlands, Korea, Iran, Finland and Mexico). We were 3 ladies, 2 gentlemen and one of us is visual impair. We had really a blast and we were blessed with the weather.  Here a glimpse of the places we visited:

1. First mandatory stop is Ukko-Koli

If one drives directly from Joensuu to Koli to stop firstly here at Ukko-koli has different advantages:

• The view there is outstanding and one can start to get familiar with the scenary
• One finds the a Koli Nature Centre Ukko
• One can get into the Sokos hotel.

So if someone has the need to eat,  buy a souvenir or go to the restroom all it is possible to do it here, before continue the adventure 🙂

2. Hiking downhil towards Saama harbor

Next we hiked downhill until reach Saama harbor. During our hike it rained but only a little bit, it did not affect us. After a nice walk, we reached Saama harbor, where we ate salad and meat soup. As always when one eats in the country side, the meals are just tasty.

The nice landscape helped us also to recharge.

3. Koli Village.

After recharged ourselves at the Saama harbor, we went to the Koli village. Often one drives through the village to reach Ukko-koli, but now we purposely stopped and walked through it. Unfortunately, we were late to visit the local museum, but we were able to ask in the tourist information about places to visit in the region. We were told of two new locations I wasn’t aware previously: Pirunkirkko and Rasävaara.

 

4. Pirunkirkko

We drove to Pirunkirkko. It took us a little bit of time to find it, as we were not 100% sure were it was, but we found the place relatively soon. Once we were in the parking area, everything was well signed. It is a nice walk.

The cave is not long and it has a dead end. It is an interesting cave to explore. Personally, I found it so authentic. We really have  A LOT of fun on this spot.  Some people of our group even found a “rabbit hole” where they tried to escape 🙂

We were really having a lot of fun.

5. Hattusaari

The next stop, based on an advice of Erkki – leader of the EdTech Research group – we went to Hattusaari. We actually aimed to drive to the end of the island, but it is a long one so we stop to enjoy the view at the bridge.

6. Rasävaara

The following stop was Rasävaara, time to go up to the new tower. The view is again magnificent, and now one can see also Ukko-koli from here. It is worth the hike to see the landscape!!!!

Views from the top of the tower:

Before heading back to Joensuu, we stopped to meet the construction of the future cottage of Prof. Erkki Sutinen, which will be also the future writing-research retreat of EdTech.

After this stop, we drove back to Joensuu.

It was a full intensive day at Koli! and I must admit, we had  A LOT OF FUN!!!!!  Thank you to all the participants! 🙂

Below the location of the areas that we visited. The screenshots are taken from http://issuu.com/koli.fi/docs/retkeily_ja_palvelukartta