Day 503: Back on the Road to Verla

Back on the road again. Tram into the city where we picked up our rental car for the next few days - a little Toyota Yaris hybrid with basically no features at all. Suddenly everything is made of plastic again! We've definitely gone back from first class to economy, maybe a RyanAir level of economy class. Alas!

Drove out of Helsinki with no issues and headed north to a little town named Verla. Here was our WHS for the day, a former pulp and board mill. It dated from the 19th century, and operated for about a hundred years, turning logs from wood into card for boxes and book covers and the like. Had lunch in the cafe of traditional Finnish food, then a guided tour entirely in Finnish.

The first thing they showed us was a film of the factory operating from back in the 1960s just before it closed, so it was quite weird to watch the film and then go next door to see the exact machines in the same places! Interesting little spot, but probably not one I would rush back to.

Back to the car where we drove north to Jyvaskyla where our Airbnb for the evening was located. Just a tiny little 2-room flat, and it didn't even have wifi - outrageous! Hard to believe it's the second-largest city in Finland but nobody has ever heard of it!Read more