The New Pohjola Route

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Summer has been quite amazing and warm this year! We’ve had almost tropical temperatures. With that in mind, we decided to pack our summer clothes, swimsuits and hiking gear and head north once again. Oulu region had just opened its new Pohjola Route and we wanted to see what it was about. We knew that the area has beautiful landscape and many hidden gems, so it was time to see them for ourselves!

We started our trip from Ii and we had a sweet little walk around Hiastinhaara after our arrival. The river and beach by the parking lot was so welcoming, but we had to keep going after the walk towards our next destination, a place that I had passed by so many times, without stopping. Finally, I was able to go and see the rapids of Koitelinkoski! As I expected, they were marvelous! It was surely a nice day and we finished it with a little biking trip around Oulu.

After a relaxing morning and a nice visit to Oulu Botanical Garden, we headed to catch our ferry to Hailuoto!

It was another amazing place I had been wanting to visit for so long - even just the ferry ride was an experience itself. We made it straight to Marjaniemi, where the beautiful sandy beach was waiting for us in a warm sunny day. We picked up our picnic basket and headed to the beach.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay in Hailuoto for the night as it was time to hit the road again. It was a hot day, so a stop in Kempele for some ice cream was very welcome and a brief visit to the famous Liminka Birdwatching Tower was really nice. It was getting late and “the Captain’s Sauna” was heated just for us in a gorgeous historical neighborhood in Raahe, so there was no time to spare.

The next day was once again a beautiful one, but very windy. Our stop in the marvelous sandy beaches of Kalajoki had to cut short and skip swimming this time. Luckily, we had picked up a kite on the way down, so it became our main activity there and a fun way to go to enjoy the beach for a little while.

Rokua and Syöte were calling, so we had to go! We were kind of excited to drive inland and see some forests and fells. First stop was Rokua Geopark. At our arrival, the weather was beautiful, so we decided to go and visit Pookivaara and the fire watch tower. The sunset turned out to be magical, so it was definitely worth it!

Last but not least was Syöte area, which is less known for most people from the south. It is definitely a nice destination in summer and winter. The experience we had here and our stay in the Hotel Iso-Syöte definitely have definitely set this place on the map for me!

To summarise, it was an incredible fun trip with several places worth visiting. Hopefully, you’ll find some nice tips to go and visit the new #pohjolanrengastie!

1 hour in the streets of Prague

I was invited to Prague for the release of the new Olympus OMD EM5 Mk II. Olympus had built an awesome "Action Factory" -test facility to an old water purification plant with a labyrinth of underground tunnels and photogenic scenes. The camera was great and the quality of the photos surprised me. The most attracting feature is the 5-axis Image Stabilization. This thing is a beast!

We spent the first day in the Action Factory and had no time to go anywhere else. Many of us had never been to Prague before, so we wanted to go and get even a glimpse of the city. We woke up early the next day before we had to take the airport bus from our hotel. We just started walking from the hotel with no specific destination. We had been walking for a while, too long actually as we had to take a taxi to get back to the hotel, so that we wouldn't miss the airport shuttle. Even though it was only and hour, It was totally worth it. I really need to make it back there with more time.

 Here are few shots I was able to capture on our walk.

Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1, Lens: 12mm 1:2.0

-Daniel

3 Cities in 7 Days - Nice, France

We collaborated with a Finnish Travel agency Tjäreborg to make an epic 7 day trip through 3 beautiful cities in Southern Europe. First stop was Nice in France. This was a first time to visit Nice for both of us and we were very excited for our time there. Nice is an amazing city, where you can choose to spend your days laying on the beach and have a refreshing swim in the sea or explore the colourful streets of the beautiful city. 

We arrived to Nice when it was already dark and we just dropped our stuff to the hotel. Then headed to have some dinner in the city. We had been excited to go and see the beach in the morning, but it was actually little rainy the next day which in not normal for Nice. It wasn't raining much and it didn't stop us from enjoying the city. We ended up renting city bikes by our hotel, which we think was the best decision to make on our visit in Nice. When you rent a city bike, you can always return the bike to a bike station located around the city and go on foot when you wan't to see something more closely. We got a very good picture of the whole city when we biked and explored the streets. The next day forecast said that the weather will be perfect and we decided to head over to the La Tour Bellanda to catch the sunrise. It is such a nice place to see the beach and the city when the sun rises. After seeing the beautiful sunrise it was time to head over to the beach before leaving to the airport to catch our flight to Barcelona, Spain.

Book your holiday in Nice here!

Our tips for Nice, France:

• Rent a bike to see more of the city.
• See the sunrise or the sunset on La Tour Bellanda
• Have a nice Italian dinner at La Pizza Cresi
• Shop fresh fruits and bakings at Place Charles Félix in the morning.

Here is the photo story of our trip: