Travel The World / Joensuu

As I have said, I am the worst Finn in the world. I actually haven't travelled in Finland much because I usually go abroad any chance I get. Well, this weekend I am trying to change that and I will go to Joensuu for first time in my life. My friend just moved there and it is also her birthday, so I really must go there.
I figured that I will learn about Joensuu before I go and I want you to do this with me. This way we all will be a bit smarter after this. Of course this is not much news to other Finns but I figured people in other countries read my blog too, so it will be something new and fun to them.



What do I know about Joensuu. Not much. Besides that they have better shopping than my crappy city. This is what Wikipedia tells about Joensuu:
Joensuu is - as the name of the place translates - at the mouth of a river entering a lake. It is one of the relatively fast growing centres in Eastern Finland whichs university supplies a constant stream of freshmeat student from all over the country. There are reportedly also a few foreign students doing their study exchange or post-graduate studies here.
It was founded in 1848. The population of Joensuu is 73,373 (January 31, 2011).
The largest employers are the municipal City of Joensuu, North Karelian Hospital District Federation of Municipalities, Abloy and Punamusta.
The European Forest Institute, the University and many other institutes and export enterprises such as Abloy and John Deere Forestry give Joensuu an international flavour.

That sounds pretty good to me. I guess Joensuu has things going on. I told my friend to plan us fun things to do, so I can't wait to see what she has in mind. Here's few things I found online:
- City center: Wooden 19th century houses close to the Pielisjoki river. Some other remains of the wooden Joensuu remain here and there, but the old town as it was is now mainly lost due to construction speculation in the 1960's up to present. The center anyhow follows the town plan that was made in 1848. Streets were made wide to prevent fire in a wooden town, and the trees in the streets are birch for the same reason, for example in Kirkkokatu (Church St.) that has a church in both ends, Greek Orthodox and Lutheran. Otherwise the centre is a rather ugly grid system post war concrete collection of houses with the typical shops and bars and restaurants you will find in any finnish city.

- Market place: in the centre of Joensuu and is especially lively during the summer months. In the winter the two market cafes will close and most of the stands will not be there.

- Carelicum: The North Karelian Museum displays a wide range of stuff from karelian folklore dresses to maps and photographs of places nowadays forgotten behind the russian border.

- Karjalantalo restaurant: serving Carelian style menu all year round. Carelian style food includes for example "karjalanpiirakka" which is a little rice filled rye pastry and "karjalanpaisti" which is Karelian stew prepared using a combination of pork and beef.

Here's Joensuu on the map of Finland. It is near the Russian border. I will be taking a bus there today since I don't own a car. It takes about 2 hours from Kuopio to Joensuu.
(I guess I haven't really told where I live on my previous posts. I was thinking everybody already knows that. But I will make post sometime and tell more about where I'm from and what I do etc.)

But this weekend I will tour Joensuu and I promise to take pictures as well to post them later on. Let's hope that the sun is shining the next few days, so we can walk around the city and look at the sights of Joensuu.

Have a nice weekend everyone!!