Where: Pieksämäki and Varkaus, Finland
What: “Travel Smart” series
But let us start our “journey” from the town of Pieksämäki. I brought only good emotions after visiting this town. It has some kind of a feeling of safety, and time does not seem to rush at all. It is the same feeling as I had in Porvoo, where it seems that time stops as you get to the old part of the town. It is very peaceful and beautiful.
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| K-citymarket (city center) |
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| K-citymarket and railroad station parking place |
Pieksämäki has
its own uniqueness and “face”. It is quite hard to say exactly where the city
center is, but it seems the town has two of them. One of them is near the
railroad and bus station. You can feel it is a very comfortable town. There is
a huge supermarket, K-citymarket,
right next to the railroad station, and there is a big lake right across the
street. People are happy to spend their free time on the shore and enjoy sunny
days in summer and skate in winter.
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| Pieksänjärvi |
Before we move
on, I would like to speak a little about the way to get there from Mikkeli.
First of all, if you are on the main speedway, which goes from Helsinki directly
to Kuopio through Mikkeli, you have to follow the road signs saying when and
where to leave the main road and to turn to Pieksämäentie,
which actually goes directly to Pieksämäki. Option number two is to get on Juvantie, which is headed to Kuopio, Savonlinna
and Juva, and to turn on Pieksämäentie. Option number three is to get to Prisma and get to Huuhkajankatu, keep going to the end of this road and turn right on
Launialankatu and go till the end,
then you will see the road sign showing directions to the above mentioned
destinations and the road numbers 5 and 72 (where 5 stands for Kuopiontie, and 72 for Pieksämäentie). So
once you turn left from Launialankatu to Salosaarentie,
all you have to do is keep going straight passing by the intersection.
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| Pieksämäki |
The road to Pieksämäki
might seem a little boring, but once you get to the town, you are going to like
the place. I should mention that while driving you might realize the road
changes its name to Mikkelintie,
which is funny because there is no certain point when it says so, it just
slowly changes its name. Keep going on Yhdystie
till you are on the intersection with Varkaudentie.
There is a road sign showing the direction to Varkaus. Well, turn left to get
to the city center of Pieksämäki and keep driving till you are on the bridge.
Then you can stop at K-citymarket on the right side of the road. The main road
you are on is Keskuskatu. It is
easier to find your way if you are stick to it. If you decide to make a stop at
the supermarket, you have a very beautiful and quite big lake just across the
road. Take your time and walk there. Unfortunately, I did not have that much
time in there and thus an opportunity to enjoy it the way I could, but it just leaves me
another reason to get back and explore more of this town.
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| Near the city center (Pieksämäki) |
If you continue
your way on Keskuskatu and see another road going to the right, Savontie, you might want to stop by and
grab a coffee at one of the cafés or just walk there. There are some nice
places even in a small territory. But if you continue walking, you will see on
the left there is a nice and good bar & café RiikaLinna with a night club Galaxy. There is a nice atmosphere in that place,
people feel very comfortable and relaxed. And it works almost all day long,
which is great. It is located right before Lampolahdenkatu.
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| Café and bar RiikaLinna and night club Galaxy |
You can continue
walking and explore more, but if you get back a little to Kauppakatu, you will see S-market on the left side, and the central
square on the right side. It is a very nice place with some cafés, shops and
stuff you might need. So, take your time to enjoy it.
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| S-market (Pieksämäki) near the city center |
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| Pieksänjärvi |
Well, now it is
time to move to the town of Varkaus. So, get on Keskuskatu and drive all the way till you
get to Varkaudentie and keep moving straight. And a few words about time, the
road from Mikkeli to Pieksämäki will take you approximately an hour, even less.
What comes to the road from Pieksämäki to Varkaus, it will take you just 30
minutes.
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| Wanha Warkaus / Vanha Varkaus signboard |
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| School |
When you get to
a huge intersection with a road going to Kuopio, you keep going straight and
getting closer to the bridge. There you can take good pictures, the view is
terrific. Once you are on the bridge you can see some road signs and
company names (and many signs in the town) will be using an old spelling, Warkaus instead of Varkaus. Sometimes it is also Wanha
instead of Vanha (it stands for
“old”). Getting to another intersection, you can see a railroad and bus station
on your left, some factories on your right and a road going to Joensuu ahead. For
now let us choose a road to Joensuu and explore some areas in Varkaus.
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| Near the S-market on Taipaleentie |
Basically, it is
not far where I would like to invite you, first of all, you are on Taipaleentie; the road number is 23. Go
till you see Taipaleen kanava
(channel) and there is a parking spot in there for people to take pictures. It
is beautiful. If you continue going
ahead, you are going to get to Joensuu.
We are about to discover something about Joensuu in our next “chapter of
the journey”, so for now we get back to the city center. Once you are on
Taipaleentie and you are headed to the city center, just right after you have
the lake on your left and right, search for Wahlinkatu,
it is a small turn to the left. There is a small S-market with a parking spot. But get across the Taipaleentie and
see some unusual things on that side. If you walk to Ahlströminkatu, you are going to see some interesting buildings. If
you turn right to Kauppatori, you
will have Scandic Hotel Oscar on your left and the square on you right. As for the
hotel, it is quite unusual in design, but confusing as well. The plan of the
hotel and its territory is not comfortable at all, especially if you arrive
there for the first time. There is no real sign where the entrance is, if you
go from Taipaleentie. So you could only guess or try every door. It seemed not
nice at all, but the inside of the hotel is amazing. It has its charm and
uniqueness.
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| Scandic Hotel Oscar (one of the entrances) |
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| Square in front of the Scandic Hotel Oscar on Kauppatori |
Get back to Ahlströminkatu
and walk till you see Wredenkatu. There on the left side you will see a funny
bus stop; it has a shape of an ice-cream. I do hope it will be there for long.
While walking there, you are going to pass a lot of interesting buildings and
nice cafés. You can stop by and grab a coffee or tea. If you walk straight
ahead, you will get to the park, where local citizens are spending their free
time. But it is not the only place.
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| Varkauden Seurakunta (intersection of Ahlströminkatu and Kauppatori) |
First, you have
to return to Taipaleentie, and get back to that intersection with Relanderinkatu. Turn right there and you
will get to the railroad and bus station. If you go straight on Relanderinkatu,
you can get to K-citymarket, Lidl, Prisma, and other big stores and
supermarkets. But if you continue going on this road, you are going to get to
the road leading to Kuopio. My impression right on that street was that I
appeared somewhere in the United States
or in Canada. Maybe, I had this impression because it was
quite wide and it reminded me of small towns or suburbs of North America.
Maybe, it just has a little of that spirit… who knows… If you walk on Kauppakatu, you can take a coffee in a
café or eat pizza, you will definitely find something for yourself.
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| Café on Kauppakatu |
And also visit
another shore of Varkaus, where people spend their free time. It is just on the
right side if you walk on Kauppakatu from Taipaleentie. This shore is bigger
than the previous one, and it has some places for kids and more stuff. Take your time to walk there and breathe
fresh air. Varkaus is located among water, which makes it a little longer in
size than Pieksämäki. Basically, if you have a chance to walk and enjoy both of
the towns, do that! It takes time but it will give you so many good memories.
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| Vuoriselkä (lake) |
What comes to
the way back to Mikkeli, you need to go back to the intersection with
Taipaleentie and turn right to get to Valtatie.
From there it takes you 2-3 minutes to get to a big intersection with the
speedway to Kuopio, there you need to take the second turn to the right (follow
the road signs!) to Mikkeli. From there on the road is simple and pretty rapid.
In the next “chapter” we will go to Joensuu
and explore its beauty. So, enjoy the ride and get ready for more!
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| Vuoriselkä (lake) |
Kirill “Traveler” Malyutin
About Travel Smart series:
“Travel Smart” is a section,
narrating about different countries and good travel tips, advised by the
author, Kirill Malyutin. The series contains recommendations, including selected
places to visit, character accommodation, and reasonable
shopping. Simply get inspiration!
All stories of the series → О серии «Travel Smart»:
«Travel Smart»
– раздел, в котором автор Кирилл Малютин рассказывает о разных странах и дает
необходимые в путешествии советы. Серия включает в себя рекомендации по
посещенным автором местам, характерным средствам размещения, а также разумному шопингу.
Вдохновитесь приключением!
Все выпуски серии →Read also / Читайте также:
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