Tampere, Finland

 We left Helsinki for a 2 hour train ride to Tampere, Finland’s third largest city with a population of approximately 250,000 people. It was recently the site of the 2023 IIHF World Championship final which Canada won. The Finns love their hockey. We stayed right beside the NOKIA arena and wish we had realized it was on as we could have rearranged our travels to be here, but such is life! 

Besides staying by the hockey arena we also were across from the bus station which was still busy late into the evening because in Finland this time of year there is only 3 hours of darkness and not that dark even then. This picture was taken at 11:45pm. It gets a little dark by 12ish and then at 3am it is fully light again. It takes a little getting used to what time is it really? 

We spent a few extra days in Tampere as we were getting to the end of our trip and we decided that we didn’t want any more travel days. It was a lovely city to end our journey through Northern Europe.

It is situated between two large lakes and the town is separated by a big river which runs through the middle of town and is also used to produce power. All along the river are walkways with lots of places to sit and we would often have our lunch there as the weather was very warm.

The river played an important role in the history of the town since Finlayson Textile Company,

the largest textile factories in Europe were located here in the 1800s with many of their smokestacks still intact. 

Finlayson’s textile production was quite varied: the mill produced many grades of fabrics and an enormous selection of yarn, clothing fabrics, and interior-design textiles. These operations required a large number of workers. At the peak of the production, at the turn of the 20th century, the mill had more than 3,100 employees in Tampere. The company’s production along the Tammerkoski rapids came to an end in the early 1990s, and all of its production in Tampere finally ceased in 1999. 

After they outlived their purpose the city redeveloped the area into residential and commercial properties and it is a very pleasant neighbourhood. 

There were houses provided to workers that are still residences today…

And a church where we caught a wedding party just leaving…

We visited a museum that gave us the history of the Finlayson mills and it was quite interesting to give a glimpse of life in Tampere at that time. 

One of the most intriguing displays was a miniature of the mills complete with people and machines of that time.

In this museum complex there was also the Finland Hockey Hall of Fame which Don really enjoyed. He tried his hand at scoring but with no luck! 

The Finns consider Jari Kuri to be the greatest Finnish hockey player to ever play in the NHL, here is his jersey…

Tampere is also considered the Sauna Capital of Finland with 55 public saunas in the city. One afternoon we took the bus to visit one of the oldest in the city established in 1905. It was a beautiful day so we go into the coolest sauna at 120 degrees and when someone throws water on the coals it immediately goes up 10 degrees and it feels as if you are burning.

After that you go jump in the lake which is 11C and then sit in the sun. You do this as often as you like and I must say after the first plunge it is refreshing and I can see why the Finns love their saunas. 

Don was the first in…

And this was me scrambling out after my first dip…it was cold! But after 3 or 4 dips it is wasn’t too bad! 

Since we had hot days here everywhere we went the Finns were out enjoying the sun and water…

There was also a very interesting Lenin museum in Tampere as it was the site of the first meeting of Lenin and Stalin and where they drew up plans for the new Soviet Union. 

Tampere with all of its’ industrial workers was ripe for a workers revolution so was very supportive of the founders of the Russian revolution.

Stalin and Lenin…

With Finland and Russia being neighbours there has been an on off relationship with each other, sometimes friends and sometimes enemies. 

This museum explored this relationship as well as the lives of Lenin, Stalin right up to Putin. 

Anyone want to be Lenin’s driver? 

Like most all of the other cities we have visited on this trip Tampere is also a very green city with lots of parks and trails to explore…

This group were listening to a musician give a recital in the park…

Wide tree lined streets everywhere…

Lots of fountains…

This park was not far from the Center of town and was huge…

Just another day on the trail…

On one of our walks we climbed an Observation Tower to have a look at the area…

Here you can see one of the lakes where Tampere is located, Finland has over 188,000 lakes and Tampere is the beginning of the Lake District.

Some scenes around the city…

Some of the older buildings in the Center of town…

This was the Workers Monument…

Lots of farmers markets…

Newer residences by the river, again with lots of walking trails nearby…

Lots of naked men around the city…

The theatre built in 1912…

The main square outside of City Hall is a outdoor cafe with lots of food trucks…

People enjoying the afternoon sun…

Brightly decorated streets…

After a relaxing stay in Tampere we took the train back to the Helsinki airport for our flight back home. This trip took us across 6 countries in one of the most interesting regions of the world we have visited. We have been very impressed with Northern Europe, with strong governance, generous social programs and an overall good standard of living. These countries often come out on top of the World’s Happiness Index and it is easy to see why. People we stayed with, people we met all told us they pay high taxes but they trust their governments to provide what is needed and more. Overall, another great trip in the books!