Pori

The third city I visited was Pori. This is a small village, again lays at the west coast, and is quite touristic although mostly during the Summer. Pori is known for the national jazz festivals and the largest beach of Finland; Yyteri sand beach. It’s 6 km long and in Summer, everyone can be found here. The town was established in 1558 by Duke John who became king John III of Sweden, and has almost 85,000 inhabitants right now. Same as the cities Oulu and Vaasa, Pori’s buildings were made entirely out of wood. And also similar, the town was burned down, but a total of 9 times!! And rebuilt every time. During the days I was here, the temperature was -9 which was doable (but I have to say that my feet were very cold at the end of the day).

Keski-Pori Church
This beautiful, detailed designed church looked very very nice. The church wasn't open because of Covid-19 measures, unfortunately, but even seeing the outside design is incredible to look at. The church is designed by Georg Chiewitz and is built in the year 1863. It has multiple rare elements, like the roof, stained glass, and the interior. It is rare in Finland to find remaining churches from the 19th centuries.

Juselius Mausoleum
The Juselius Mausoleum is another touristic site in Pori (image 3 row 1). It is quite a distance away from the centre but definitely worth a visit. Unfortunately, I couldn’t enter the little building as they only open on Sundays and for specific people. The Mausoleum is built in 1903 by Fritz Juselius for his deceased daugther Sigrid Juselius, who was only 11 years old, as a final rest place, and it is the only mausoleum in whole Finland. It is located at Käppärä cemetery which sets a totally different mood. Next to the Mausoleum is a small chapel in orthodox design (image 1 row 3). Both the buildings look absolutely amazing in my opinion, especially the Mausoleum which reminds me of a castle from a fairy tale.

(old) town hall
The old town hall is a very historical building for the people from Pori (image 2 row 3). It was a big recognition point, also to this day. It is a beautifully yellow/pink building with a little tower. I could see that the city celebrated new year on the square in front it, which is also a big historical part of the city - the marketplace. The new town hall, which is opposite of the old town hall, has a beautiful brown, checkered pattern. Very aesthetic. And next to the current town hall is the Pori theatre which was the first Finnish language theatre in Finland (image 1 row 1).

Vanta rautatiesilta
This touristic happening was something I just had to see. And I almost couldn’t make it. Vanta rautatiesilta in English means old railway bridge. It’s an abandoned bridge where trains used to cross the river. When I looked for things to see in Pori, I came across this thing and I knew then I had to see it. Before going here, I had to drop off my backpacks at the storage lockers at the train station, because I had to check out before 11am and take the train around 4pm, or so I thought. Unfortunately there were no storage lockers. Luckily the kind host of my apartment let me store my bags in the apartment for a few extra hours without charging me. Then, going there I had to buy a bus ticket, but as I’m not in Helsinki I had to either buy a ticket at the tourist information centre, vending machine, or in the bus. However, the tourist information centre was closed because of holidays, there were no vending machines anywhere, and the bus driver couldn’t speak English. Luckily, there was another girl who I could communicate with to the bus driver. Also, they don’t call out the name of the bus stops so I had to use my Google Maps to see where I was going. Finally, I arrived. The location was quite far, in a very quiet area, at a river that was fully frozen, surrounded by maybe 20 houses, and in front of me the old railway bridge. It was massive, very long, and had this very industrial look. The bridge is built in 1930 and is 194 meters long. I walked around and on the tracks, and in that moment I enjoyed the quietness of Finland, knowing that when I get back to the Netherlands or even Helsinki, I won’t have this quietness again.

Satakunta museum
Satakunta is the province in which Pori is located. The museum explains how the city and province developed through the years, starting at the Stone Age to the present day. There was also a temporary exhibition about the development of maps of the world designed by different people throughout history. There were also multiple maps designed by Dutch people and I could read the Dutch language written on it. Always fun to recognise something familiar from your own country!

Overall, a very nice, quiet, relaxed town. I think the city is underrated among international travellers. The city has much to offer, although I understand people would not spend a whole week here. Pori was hit by Covid-19 quite serious told my host, therefore not everything was as usual. Despite that, I had a nice time exploring the city and some of the touristic sites. I haven't seen everything, like the beach which I hoped to see, therefore an extra day would have been better but I will remember it for the future!