The Sensintravelert: Trip to Tampere, Finland

Was in Tampere over the Christmas and New Year vacations as the first city stop in Finland, which is also my swan song backpacking European country. Oh, did you know that Finland is the least corrupt nation in the world?

First things first, here's some info about Tampere:

Tampere is the third largest city in Finland and the largest inland centre in the Nordic countries. Currently there are over 200,000 inhabitants in Tampere, and almost 300,000 inhabitants in Tampere Sub-Region, which comprises Tampere and its neighbouring municipalities.

Up next: European City of Culture 2011, Turku.
Tampere’s population density is 390 per square kilometre. Tampere is one of the three most rapidly developing regions in Finland.

In 2004, the City of Tampere came first in an image survey comparing the largest cities in Finland. It was also the most attractive city among Finns who plan on moving.

And here's a map for a clearer picture:

The flights from the UK by Ryanair is dirt-cheap (they are the only budget airline flying to Finland to my knowledge), but I would never expect the airport to be like a bus station:

The aiport is so small that the queue for people checking in actually extended out to the outside of the aiport. It took around 2 hours from the queue at the main entrance, checking in at the counters (there are only 3 of them, all conquered by Ryanair), passport control and customs scanning.

Nevertheless, the lights in the city were impressive:

The Keskustori Central Square where the City Hall, the newspaper reading room of Tampere city Library in the former boiler room of the Frenckell Paper Mill and the Tampereen Theatre Hall are located.

And here's a video of the square during the day:

The banks of Tammerkoski Rapids is a good place to stroll along if the weather permits:

The Finlayson cotton mill area is also a tourist attraction area. The cotton mill started spinning in Tampere early 19th century thanks to James Finlayson, who made Finlayson Finland's first large-scale industrial company soon after his arrival from Scotland.

It is also where the first spy museum in the world, Vakoilumuseo is situated. The price of the entrance ticket is a bit steep, but still worth a go if you're a fan of espionage history. Be prepared to see outdated (which should be very advanced for their time) spying tools and gadgets there.

And if you have the time, why not pay a visit to Nokia, a town just 15km away from Tampere. Yes, Nokia is indeed a town in Finland, besides the infamous mobile phone manufacturer. And no, the origin of the name is not from the Hokkien dialect.

Nokia has been around long enough that its name is obscure even to most Finns. In modern Finnish, noki means soot and nokia would thus seem to mean "soots", although the plural is equally ungrammatical in Finnish. However, the name actually originates from the archaic Finnish word nois (pl. nokia) or nokinäätä ("soot marten"), meaning sable. After sable was hunted to extinction in Finland, the word was applied to any dark-coated fur animal, such as the marten, which are found in the area to this day. The sable is enshrined on the Nokia coat of arms.