|
Post by Riene on Jul 12, 2019 16:12:41 GMT -5
Travel Near
Could you be a tour guide for your own area? If so, what would you recommend others see or visit?
Of the places in your home region, what is a "must see" for visitors?
What local or regional food would give visitors a sense of the area?
What local cuisine or restaurant would you recommend?
Any warnings for the area?--wildlife, weather, tourist traps, etc?
What would surprise visitors to your city or region?
|
|
Suvi
Member
Posts: 3,160
|
Post by Suvi on Jul 13, 2019 3:01:11 GMT -5
My home city Oulu is well known for tar, used especially for coating wooden rowing boats and in the past even some ships, so obviously I would recommend Turkansaari Open Air Museum and Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia as well as Sailor's Home Museum in Pikisaari for visitors. Every summer people can see how tar is made in Turkansaari, and in addition to that, there is a special 92 km long Tar Rowing race (in Finnish Tervasoutu) which follows the factual route of tar along the River Oulujoki, ending to the city of Oulu. As you might have already discovered, we have excellent cycling path network here in Oulu, so obviously I would recommend visitors to use bikes all year round, they can be rent from several places here and more rentable city bikes are currently on their way for tourists to use in the near future. One of the best cycling destinations is the seaside of course, especially Nallikari and Hietasaari areas, which are my favourite cycling destinations especially in the summertime (love that amount of birdsong!). In Hietasaari we have a special restaurant Villa Hannala, a former summer villa of a local (titular) commercial counsellor (Mr.Johan Vilhelm Snellman and his family) which was neglected for years until fully renovated some years ago and is now a wonderful restaurant/cafΓ©. During the summer months they do offer wonderful lunch for the visitors, and every Wednesday they offer a local speciality soup called "rΓΆssypottu", a soup made of potatoes, blood pudding and meat. It may look like a mess, but it tastes really good! As for festivals, we have the annual The Irish Festival of Oulu, so it is a must for anyone who likes not only Irish music, but also culture in general such as litterature, theatre, films, and so on. The festival started as a music-only thing, but has spread its wings and currently covers much more than just music. Then we have a couple of more tongue-in-cheek festivals as well, namely, the annual Air Guitar World Championships in autumn, and Polar Bear Pitching in the winter. Those are definitely not for the fainthearted!! We do have annual rock festival called QStock (every July), the annual EloJazz jazz festival in August as well as the Suomipop (domestic pop music) festival in July as well, but personally I have only visited Elojazz for a couple of times. For nature lovers, there is the Liminganlahti sanctuary for wild birds, where one can see (if lucky) even rare bird species especially during their autumn and spring migration periods. Also, a bit further away from Oulu, we have the Rokua National Park which recently received a Geopark status for its unique natural and geological characteristics. Suvi
|
|
|
Post by RichardF on Jul 14, 2019 3:46:15 GMT -5
I'm not much of one for towns plus my habit of falling over from Fibromyalgia probably rule out my abilities as a tour guide. So very local small town must see would be Malmesbury Abbey; the gothic abbey that fell down. So proving they didn't really make great buildings, just only the good ones are still standing. And assocaited with it are the Abbey gardens, which are beautiful. Local city/place where I shop, hospital etc is Bath. So top sites would be Bath Abbey, The Roman Baths and a wander along a few Georgian terraces such as the Circle and the Cresecent. With afternoon tea in the Pump Room's. There are a lot of pretty villages around here Castle Coombe and Lacock being the most famous. If your looking for antiquities the best site would be Avebury stone circle.
Food wise, theres a lot of good restraunts but nothing world class. No particular outstanding local delicacies.
Odd fact. Malmesbury Abbey is the burial site of the first King of England, Athlestan. It also the first recorded site for manned flight by Elmer the Flying monk in the eleventh century.
|
|