FEM dates are officially confirmed: Monday 11th of July to Monday 18th of July
I was thinking of trying this kind of Monday-Monday period as opposed to the previous Wednesday-Wednesday periods. This time the weekend will be a proper climax of the event. Monday will be the cleaning day, I hope many would stay for that and help.
After two covid years it looks like safe to say that covid is over to a reasonable extent (let's still be safe and not arrive sick osvosv), at least all the travel should be oke so I am hopeful to see more extensive participation, especially internationally. This year should be particularly attractive for international participation since we are now living very topical times for war-related tourism, both WWII and possible upcoming WWIII. Regarding the former, just as one example the Simo Häyhä museum is close, highly recommended, see the tourism guide below. Also Parikkala and even our farm has plenty of war history. Regarding the latter, our farm is at prime location for observing/participating in any future happenings of interest.
Who is coming?
Confirmed:
- adi (full time)
- A.K.B. (full time)
- bene (Wed-Sun)
- ElrondMcBong (Mon-Thu)
- finman (somehow some day)
- Harald Hasch
- Markku (full time)
- nick-o-matic (full time)
- Raven (Thu-Sat)
- roope (weekend + mb a day or two extra)
- veezay + Antti (full time)
- Zero (weekend + mb a day or two extra)
- Ramone (Thu-Mon)
- terb0 (weekend max)
- Kiiwi
- Rast
- ILKKA
- Jamppa
- Ismo (weekend)
- Lousku
- ramses
- Poq
Especially for people coming from other countries or more faraway parts of Finland I would recommend to do some local sightseeing. I did my best to create a semi-comprehesive list of sights to you.
Koitsanlahti village:
Parikkala sculpture park (2km)
- http://www.patsaspuisto.net/english/ | http://www.patsaspuisto.net/
- Seriously a must see for everyone, a world-famous place
- A masterpiece by our local Michelangelo. He created a huge sculpture park into his own yard and allowed people to visit there for free. Now he is dead and there is a small voluntary but recommended entrance fee
- https://www.iloinenpässi.fi/
- Local food and souveniers
- For example bison burgers (there is a local bison farm, mb poss go there too)
- Signs that tell you not to go any further to the border zones
- Do not go any further
- https://www.facebook.com/marjatilahallikainen/
- Berries and berry products
- https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koitsanlahden_hovi/
- https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanhan_Su ... oitusmaat/
- Mainly for those interested in history of (Eastern) Finland
- I think only poss to eye ouside now
- https://maurikin.blogspot.com/2015/06/p ... smaa.html/
- Mainly for those interested in history of (Eastern) Finland
- https://www.visitparikkala.com/ | https://www.visitparikkala.fi/
- https://www.rautjarvitravel.com/ | https://www.rautjarvitravel.com/fi/
- http://www.visitpunkaharju.fi/en/ | http://www.visitpunkaharju.fi/ | Punkaharju has notably beautiful roads on ridges inbetween lakes, just driving there is an experience
- http://www.uimolansavusauna.com/
- Public sauna on Wednesdays (7€/person), a private sauna is 140€
- We will probably go there on both Wednesdays
- http://www.saimaansaunaseura.fi/?page_id=16
- Public sauna on Mondays (7€/person), a private sauna is 230€
- https://www.kollaa-simohayha-museo.fi/en/home | https://www.kollaa-simohayha-museo.fi/fi/etusivu
- Kollaa battle was a famous battle during the Winter War: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kollaa/
- Simo "The White Death" Häyhä was probably the most famous WWII sniper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4/
- http://www.papinniemicamping.net/index.php/en/ | http://www.papinniemicamping.net/index.php/fi/
- a beautiful place, but just one example of cottage/camping possibilities here
- poss rent cottages much closer, even in Koitsanlahti/Parikkala
- https://www.simpeleenantiikki.fi/in-english/ | https://www.simpeleenantiikki.fi/
- Entry fee (10€) limits quick visits for authentic local farm antique souveniers
- https://www.visitkarelia.fi/en/ | https://www.visitkarelia.fi/fi/ | North Karelia (Joensuu area)
- https://www.gosaimaa.com/en/ | https://www.gosaimaa.com/fi/ | The general area of lake Saimaa has very good swimming / camping / hiking possibilities
- https://operafestival.fi/en/ | https://operafestival.fi/
- A famous opera festival in a medieval castle in a small island
- https://www.instagram.com/visitlappeenranta_official/
- https://www.lappeenranta.fi/CityOfLappeenranta/ | https://www.lappeenranta.fi/Lappeenranta/
- Poss stay in my apartment for night (I live there)
- Beautiful harbor area and historical fortress
- Good swimming / camping / hiking possibilities
- There is also a possibility for visa-free cruises to Viipuri (Vyborg) and event to Saint Petersburg
If you are not coming by a car or carpooling you should first get yourself to Helsinki by plane or ferry and then take a bus/train.
Trains from Helsinki:
https://www.vr.fi/cs/vr/en/frontpage
Price 19€ (if you book early) to ~50€ (if you book late).
Busses from Helsinki (Onnibus):
http://www.onnibus.com/en/index.htm
Price ~10€ (if you book early) to ~20€ (if you book late).
Only the 17:00 departures go all the way to onion farm (rest of them stop at Lappeenranta).
Busses from Helsinki (norm busses):
https://www.matkahuolto.fi/fi/
Price 19€ (constant price (I think??)).
Optionally, you can also fly to Lappeenranta if the few flights that exist match for you:
Arriving flights
Departing flights
If these options work for you, Lappeenranta would be the most convenient option. You basically get out of plane, show passport and get through quick security check (Lappeenranta airport is more like a bus station than an airport), take a shuttle bus or walk to train/bus station (they are close) and in one hour you are at onion farm.
You can even arrive from St. Petersburg. There are busses to Lappeenranta and Imatra and you can get a train ticket all the way to onion farm as well (train change in Kouvola).
After you are in either Simpele or Parikkala, someone will pick you up. Simpele is preferable if you come from the south. However, not all trains stop in Simpele since this year, so you might have to go all the way to Parikkala. But all the busses stop there.
If you come by car, there are two possible gravel road routes to our farm, shown on the map. However, if you are coming from Parikkala direction or go to Parikkala to do shopping, please avoid the one small bit of road drawn in this map. It is being maintained by a local farm, and they collect fees from villagemans that use it (it is norm system in Fin countryside). However, we don't pay anything to them so we should avoid traffic which can be related to us on that road.