Cookie travels

The whole family can also enjoy sunbathing or swimming in the freely accessible sandy beach boasting of clear water. Golf enthusiasts can play in the mini-golf centre at Raatimiehenluoto’s international golf course beside the children’s play area. One can also take pleasure in a relaxing stroll along the guided nature trail, or get to know the birds and domestic animals in the mini zoo, or sweat it out by jogging around the park. The isle is also a splendid park for the whole family to have picnics. And if you’re yearning for grilled food, there are campfire locations to check out. Otherwise, there’s a summer restaurant to satiate everyone’s hunger or simply have a hot cup of coffee.

Kirjurinluoto is most famous as the main concert venue of the international Pori Jazz Festival held in Pori every summer (arranged in July). The amphitheatre design of Kirjurinluoto Arena allows a pleasant setup for picnic and entertainment.

If you come to Kirjurinluoto during summer, you might meet, Viksu, the black crow. This kids’ good friend frequents the island during summertime.

So don’t miss this summer oasis whenever you’re in Pori, Finland.

Photo credits: bytesofcookie

The lush Island of Kirjurinluoto is located along Kokemäenjoki River opposite Eteläranta Street. It is accessible by cars and bicycles thru Raumansilta Bridge and on foot by the Taavi pedestrian bridge coming from the Jazz Street. About five-minute walk from the market square (city center) of Pori, this approximately 25 hectare island not only consists of a play park but also houses a miniature golf centre with indoor and outdoor golf courses at the adjoining Raatimiehenluoto Island, including the Hanhipuisto show gardens showcasing the beautiful perennial trees, plants and flowers of Pori, and the Satakunta Horticultural Centre (Satakunnan Vihertietokeskus), a gardening advice center.

This summer oasis is a popular haven for retreat and recreation by the people of Pori for many years. It has play areas for the kids, a sandy bottomed beach, a nature walk path, a summer restaurant, a concert venue, and other amenities for the whole family to enjoy.

This island currently serves as a tourist destination for families at no admission fee with facilities for the physically disabled. With the amenities mentioned, it has lots of activities and fun to offer to the people of Pori and tourists of all ages.

The children can play all day in the kids’ parks available: Pelle Hermanni (a Finnish fairytale clown), Land of the Lilliputians, The Three Bears (”Kolme Karhua” in Finnish), and the pirate ship in dry dock. During winter, the slopes in this park are a great spot for sledding.

Valentine’s eve was spent in Pori. It was a family day, a pizza treat with the kids. It was supposed to be at Hesburger’s or a more appropriate Valentine evening at Martina’s for steak and glass of wine. Here’s how it went.

When hubby arrived from work, he surprised us with ‘let’s dine out’. Martina Restaurant was the grown-ups’ choice. But when hubby asked the 2 young kids where they want to eat, they chorused ‘Hesburger’! Referring to the burger shop located outside the city center. Okay so we gave in to their choice. It’s a great gift to make them happy.

They were excited. We all know why. A trip to Hesburger would mean a chance to play not only eat. There’s a play area there which is quite similar to the one in McDonald’s, Zeer Branch in Thailand. McDo and play area, some of the things they miss. There’s also a Hesburger in the market square nearby but it’s like a counter only for people waiting for the bus. No play area.

But there’s a hitch. Our car doesn’t want to go anywhere. It doesn’t have a date! Because of this we had a quick change of plan.

We instead sauntered to Golden Rax PizzaBuffet at Itäpuisto 1. It is strategically located along the walking street. I sometimes see their ads in newspapers. I think this pizza bistro is quite known for locals of Pori. Youths like to hangout in this place coz its buffet. They can spend more than an hour here chatting and eating and more eating.

This place has a small ball pool area also at the corner for the kids to enjoy. So last night the kids spent most of their time playing rather than eating. At least the kids enjoyed even if we were not able to go to Hesburger.

Golden Rax PizzaBuffet opens Mon-Sat 11-21, Sun 12-21
Address: Itäpuisto 1, 28100 Pori
Tel: 02-5299033
Email: pori.rax@restel.fi
Website: www.rax.fi

Photo credits: Golden Rax PizzaBuffet

No interesting destination so far except for the family holiday we had in Helsinki last December which I haven’t blogged yet. I’ll resume my sightseeing trips in and around Pori when weather is good for such activity. On the other hand, here’s some info I’d like to share if you are visiting Pori, yearning for Asian food, or simply looking for anything exotic. There is an Asian treasure in Pori you might be interested. It is a small Asian store along Yrjönkatu, opposite block after the Post Office, the Thai Market. I don’t know why they named it as such possibly because there are a lot of Thais shopping here. I met 3 Thai ladies already on my different stops to this store. This shop not only sells Thai products but also goods from Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, and other Asian countries. The owner told me that they order their supplies from Helsinki where there are 2 bigger Asian markets there. I also learned that they replenish their vegetable supplies every Wednesday and dry goods every few months. My hubby’s colleague who has been staying in Pori for more than a year now told us about this market. It’s something he thinks we might want to check out for Asian food products. At first I think I won’t but when you miss that familiar dish, it’s a place to visit.

Thai Market opens Mon-Fri 11-17, Sat 10-14
Address: Yrjönkatu 7, 28100 Pori
Tel/Fax: 02-633 1339
Email: info@thaimarket.fi
Website: www.thaimarket.fi

This Valentine’s Day, Cookie travels to…tahdan…somewhere in Pori.
Just want to greet those who happen to drop by my new travel blog today a Happy Valentine’s Day. Don’t forget to greet your loved ones anywhere around the globe the same. You can send an e-card if you’re miles away from them. And if they’re near, you still have time to grab a box of chocolates, a bunch of flowers, or for a more romantic touch, a candlelight dinner, perhaps? Anyway, Happy Valentine’s Day.

Our first traipse in Pori didn’t end at the sight of Kokemäenjoki River. The day was still young and bright so we continued to wander along Eteläranta Street. We came across a foot bridge that linked Pori city center to the other island. We got more interested when we saw some people moving towards the island, so we decided to stroll in that direction.

It’s a nature and recreational park for all ages. A wooden sign post informed us that we’re on the Island of Kirjurinluoto. We saw people jogging, walking, and biking around. As we wandered further we caught sight of a play park where the kids can release their hyper energy. The kids immediately tried some of the facilities and didn’t fail to pass the chance of climbing on the pirate ship in dry dock. The kids weren’t able to play in all areas of the playground coz it’s starting to get dark. More so, we didn’t have time to explore the whole island. At least we discovered a nearby family destination to unwind and have fun, and there’s no admission fee. We promised the kids that we’ll come again next time. In fact, we visited this place few times already. Our latest trip here was weeks ago and the kids had fun sledding.

This park has a website www.kirjurinluoto.fi . It’s in Finnish though. Most likely, I’ll be posting more useful information about this recreational area in English, in case your family happens to visit Pori.

It’s Saturday once again. It’s my hubby’s day to go to ‘fish market’ as what we call it. I was curious to see how the fish market in Pori looks like so I went with him. Hubby discovered this market few Saturdays ago and since then he frequents this place for fish. I think fish vendors come here on Saturdays only. This is my first time to shop here and it doesn’t look like the usual fish market I’ve seen in Thailand or Philippines. This is an open area where the vendors park their vans or trailers, put up a stall and display different kinds of fish; and the place is clean. Not much vendors too. Today there were 5 stalls. They were selling Salmon, Rainbow Trout, Pike (’Hauki’ in Finnish), Burbot (’Made’ in Finnish), Whitefish, and others. I stopped asking the lady the names of the fish but can’t help to speak out my one last question. I asked her how they cook Burbot coz it looks weird. She replied “it’s good for making soup”. Hmmm. Some vendors also sell smoked fish and others sell fish packed in styrofoams. Anyway we bought a Rainbow Trout. I brought my camera with me and took some photos so you can see what I’m blogging here. Fish lovers, you might find the fish you like in this market!

rainbow trout	burbot
pike	salmon

It was still summer last year when we arrived in Pori but the weather was getting colder. In fact colder compared to the weather we left behind in Thailand. Nonetheless we were all excited to go outdoors, enjoy summer, the bright sun and the beautiful sights we were about to see as we traipse in Pori center. The first scenery we stumbled upon as we walk along Eteläranta Street was the Kokemäenjoki River, the largest river in the Nordic countries. We heard about this river from the person assisting us in our move here. She told us that we can find a river if we walk straight ahead. She was right. The river was just within walking distance from the city center where our house is located. We can see yachts on dock, a sleek metal sculpture, the Central Pori Church (Keski-Porin Kirkko in Finnish) up ahead, and the Porinsilta (Pori Bridge) connecting Pori with other cities.

view of Koemaenjoki River	couple gazing at Koemaenjoki River
Porinsilta(Pori Bridge) over Kokemaenjoki River