Hamina and the City of Parks

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On the first of July I went on a guided bus tour with Konstanta Tour Company to two Finnish cities not far from the Russian border, namely Hamina and Kotka. I have a Schengen multivisa valid until 16 December 2015 and I hope to visit five or six interesting cities in Finland, and of course I’ll try to arrange trips to other nearby countries such as Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and probably some others. The said tour company has lots of day (1.5 day) trips to many Finnish cities for very low prices.

The first thing we saw upon arriving to Hamina was an old military tank with a Nazi emblem. We had about an hour or two at our disposal, we could devote it either to sightseeing or to shopping (as Russian tourists like to do on day trips to Finland). The nearby area accommodates a military educational institution or something like that; on its territory, as well as in some other places I saw the remains of grass-covered rampart walls. Of course Hamina is excellently small, quiet, and Finnish.

I walked to the central square, Raatihuoneentori, where the City Hall (built in 1798) is, and had a quick glimpse of the various interesting buildings. The central square has the form of a circle with eight streets emanating from it like rays from the sun. The city has many ramparts remaining from the old times. The Hamina Fortress and the Hamina Rampart is the central rampart, nowadays an entertainment site – it becomes Europe’s largest concert venue in summer.

As I started walking back to the bus parking lot I came across a free-map dispensing machine; I pressed the button but no free map came out, I guess they have all been taken already. Our bus stopped at the Lidl Supermarket and I bought a couple of snacks there. All drives were quite to quite short distances on that day.

Kotka translates from Finnish as ‘eagle’; the city was founded in 1879. Kotka was about 20 minutes’ drive from Hamina; first we visited the Langinkoski emperor’s estate. Russian Emperor Alexander III used to stay there in summer, engaging in hunting and fishing. The place is no doubt a natural treasure: all the buses and cars, arriving there, park on the surface of a Very Huge Boulder which hasn’t undergone any human treatment, the surface is hard and excellent for parking as it is. Well, I at once recalled the Ruskeala Park and its waterfalls, because the landscapes are similar.

I stayed on the bank for a while contemplating the rushing waters of the rapids and then walked along the river bank. I was still to see the most beautiful things of Kotka. The bus left some of us near the Sapokka park and others went to the shopping mall. Sapokka Park is an amazing creation of human design, combining pathways, ponds, bridges, grasses and flowers, a man-made fountain, all against a freshly green setting. You’ll have to visit Kotka just for its parks, which are dozens. I circled the park and saw a tall church building from the height of the granite rock. I decided that it was the center and walked there, not without some erroneous wandering however. I saw many medium-size yachts and smaller boats, as well as five women in life vests floating on some wide and long boards with a single paddle in their hands. I didn’t guess what it was.

I’m sure Kotka citizens love their own city the most and are extremely happy to live there. You usually do feel at once whether a city’s population loves its place of residence.

It was high time for a bite so I found the large shopping mall and went there to the Subway. I remembered our guide saying that the bus stop on the return route would be somewhere near this mall, but, failing to find the bus stop, I decided to quickly explore the surroundings and return to Sapokka Park from where we’d also be able to board the bus. I saw lots of interesting things and views and will let the photos speak. I saw two churches, one built in the end of the XIX century, the other, Saint-Nicholas Orthodox Church, built in the end of the XVIII c. I then quickly retraced my steps to the Sapokka Park and waited for the bus there. We returned to St. Petersburg much faster than I expected.

If you happen to be in Finland, it would be a good choice to have a day’s trip to Hamina and Kotka. I personally wouldn’t mind just staying among Kotka’s greenery – it’s rather inspiring.

Coming soon are about five entries on visits to some European capitals, I will be trying to finish them as soon as I can.

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