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Thanks SandCube, there's definitely more to see in Finland than just Helsinki and Lapland, glad I could get to some of the less visited places! Loved my trip to Finland! 👍😀
Have to appreciate you making videos from places like Hämeenlinna and Pori. Most of the travel vloggers tend to visit Helsinki and/or Lapland only. I have lived in Tampere and now living in Pori. It's always nice to see a foreign perspective about places that are familiar to me.
3:53 The ship shown in here do not take people to sea, but very close to it one can find a ship that do take people to various places during summer. But im afraid piracy is not allowed :(
So nice that someone has done a video about Pori. In my opinion, Pori is a place worth of friday - sunday weekend trip. 12:32 is a place everyone must visit
Completely agree, I really enjoyed my day in Pori. Yes I thought the same about that view - it was such a peaceful evening when I was there, I had the view all to myself. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for visiting Pori! I've lived here most of my life and it is heart warming to watch this video and you also found rather interesting things to see like the 5th part (wooden houses) and the old graveyard. And you also filmed in our backyard and that, if not to anyone else, is intersting to me. As any Finnish city Pori is very much a summer city, so you are right about the city coming to live during the summer. You missed the real beach of Pori which is Yyteri about 20 km from the center. It is the longest sand beach in all of the Nordic countries. That is quite spectacular during the hot summer days. Anyways, welcome back to Pori and if you ever might, I promise to show you the places.
Thanks for your kind words, Tommi. Thoroughly enjoyed visiting the city of Pori, and I'm really glad I did it a little piece of justice! Did I really film in your backyard or is that just an expression - a crazy co-incidence if I did 😀. I'm glad I was able to stop by at the old graveyard and water tower, it's just a shame I didn't get a chance to explore them for longer. I did consider travelling to Yyteri but transportation and time were issues so I decided to stay in the city - at least I got to take a proper look around whilst I was there. I may hire a car next time I'm in Finland and that will give me a bit more flexibility with where I visit and when - probably won't be in the winter though, I'm not sure I'm up to driving on all that snow and ice! Thanks for watching and leaving me the comment, I'm really pleased you enjoyed the video!
@@MattWhitingsEurope Thank you for answering. And yes, you actually did film in the back yard. We life next to the trainstation so it's of the houses you filmed there. It is hard to get to Yyteri, so I understand why did not do that. If you come to the west coast again, Turku obviously is a good place to make your hq, but Pori has one of the biggest jazz festivals in Europe, it has two Unesco sites very close to it and you can easily travel to the Swedish speaking Botnia (Pohjanmaa) from Pori. And... Pori is cheaper hotel wise that Turku, but not during the jazz festival obviously. Pori also has an airport that has daily flights to Helsinki and they are not that expensive. Anyway, probably coming to Finland and doing videos is the same place is not in the agenda. So if you will come and try to find new places either Oulu or Jyväskylä are very interesting. Cities that are usually somewhat ingnored by travellers, but they both have a nice university city wibe and beautiful nature around them.
You're welcome Tommi! It's unlikely I'll visit the same places in the foreseeable future (I like to try new places wherever possible) however I would love to return to Finland later this year or next and explore somewhere new, so your suggestions are very much appreciated. I had heard of Oulu before but not Jyväskylä so I've made a note of that! If you have any other suggestions I'd love to hear them? The east interests me greatly and also some of the lesser know spots! Thanks for the information, very helpful.
@@MattWhitingsEurope I would say that in the east probably Kuopio and Savonlinna would be the places to visit. Kuopio is the biggest city in the east and Savonlinna has one of the medival castles of Finland and a big opera festial as well. There is a place called Mikkeli in the east as well, but I have never visted it. It is know as HQ Town as the Finnish army high command was located there during the second world war. I don't know anything else about the town. And being from the west my knowledge of the east is not that good. If you happen to pland a trip to Russia then it might be worth visiting Lappeenranta and take a train from there to St. Petersburg or the other way around. There is also a possibility to do a day trip from Lappeenranta to Viipuri (Vyborg) in Russia and that might be interesting. Viipuri used to be part of Finland until the end of the second world war so it could easily fit in to the theme of Eastern Finland.
Thanks so much for taking the time to send your suggestions across - very helpful. I've made a note of them, I would love to do some more travelling around Finland and later on across Russia so it's good to know about those places along with a little bit of context. Thanks again, Tommi!
Pori is my favourite summer city in Finland, we tend to visit it every year. Besides that, Yyteri beach is one of the top attractions in whole of Finland IMHO. I live in southern part of Finland and drive from Helsinki to Pori for example is just a few hours. Highly recommended for a day trip or a weekend. Cheers and thanks for this video 👍🏻
Thank you for watching and I'm glad you liked the video. I really enjoyed my day in Pori, would love to visit again in the summer when everything is open and the streets are busy. Sounds like the drive between Helsinki and Pori is a good one, not too far either! Thanks for commenting, I'm glad I was able to visit. I had heard about Yyteri beach before my trip but it was difficult to get to using only public transport, especially as I was staying in Tampere.
Nice video. I'm 53 and have lived my whole life in Finland and Pori is maybe the city I know the least of. Maybe I should fix that thing and go there for several days next summer.
Tervetuloa vaan. Tää on kyllä hieno, en muuttaisi minnekkään. Täällä syntyny ja täällä kuolen. Kannattaa tsekata samalla reissulla myös reposaari, kallo ja herrainpäivät (suomen upein ranta mun mielestä) ja Satakunnan museota ei kannata missata, se on todella hieno, ei mikään tylsä ja ahdas perusmuseo.
Great video! Come during the summer as we have lots and lots of festivals. The famous Pori Jazz is on in July. Thank you for visiting the town of my birth.
You're welcome, it was nice to take a walk around and see the sights. That festival sounds like a great event, I will keep it in mind for the future. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the info! That does make sense. I forgot to investigate it further but I was confused because Google Maps showed a bridge there but I couldn't find it when I was on the south side. I dismissed it as an error but got even more confused when I saw it on the official park info board after I'd crossed to the park! Thought I was going mad!
I really enjoy your videos, you don’t just show those Instagram fashionable places like Helsinki and Lapland and you also tell little bit history. Keep doing what you do!👍
Nice video from my home city! To add more some facts about the history of Pori, I can mention that along those city fires you mentioned Pori has faced another hard time period too in Its history which lasted from mid-1970's until 2000's. This happened due to deindustrialization and a chain of unlucky events. It all began during the 1970's when the oil crisis of 1973 was followed by industrial recession in 1975. This caused a huge loss of jobs in heavy industry and because Pori had relied too much in that instead of relying in other sectors like trading services and education too, it affected the city harder than any other place in Finland. And before City of Pori could rise out of that tragedy, another one stroke in 1981 when large local cotton factory (was located in the red large building opposite side of Kokemäenjoki river seen in 4:01-4:02) faced a serious fire and the whole factory needed to shut down. And before Pori could rise out of that tragedy, then came the great recession of Finland in 1990's. Because Pori didn't have (and don't have this day either) a university of It's own and relies only to university consortium due to political decisions made in 1970's, the city couldn't afford enough resources to educate local peoples and draw enough new investors to invest in the city, it caused very high numbers of unemployment (at Its worst in 1995 the unemployment rate was 26,5) and it took much longer to rise out of those numbers than it would've been taken if city would have Its own university or at least more diverse workplace structure. This series of unlucky events was also followed with high crime rates (because unemployment usually causes depression and other social problems), which caused that there occurred more violent crimes per capita in Pori than many other huge cities like Tampere or Kuopio for example during 1990's and early 2000's. However, the unemployment and crime rates have gone long way down (especially during 2010's) and the number of highly educated people has gone up faster than Finnish average. From this we can thank the invests given for education in university consortium and local polytechnic (Satakunnan ammattikorkeakoulu). Oh, and the workplace structure has also diversified out of Its original heavy industry based structure. However, despite the overall situation of Pori is in good hands in nowadays, it still has quite a bad reputation in the eyes of the outsiders due to those very unlucky times and city's population is in a small decline mostly due to low birth rates but for small part also because of highly educated people moving to "Growing triangle" (known as Kasvukolmio in Finnish which means the triangle of growing cities of Helsinki, Tampere and Turku).
Hi santtu37, thanks so much for providing all that valuable information - I really enjoyed reading it and learning about the city's history. Sorry to hear that it's been a bit of a struggle over the last few decades, I'm pleased it is now thriving once again and I was able to see it on the up! I spoke briefly about the Kasvukolmio (or Baltic Triangle as I called it) in my Tampere video so it was good to read how that is playing out in the country. It's incredible to hear how long term political decisions make really alter the long term growth of a busy city like Pori - shows how important it is to elect people into higher office carefully and properly hold them to account. Thanks again for all the history and facts, really appreciate you taking the time to comment. Stay safe my friend.
I'm going to move there from Bangladesh within the next couple of months for my graduation. This is your first video I've watched, and I really love how you highlight and care about the history, cheers!
Thanks for watching Cyanoxile, glad you enjoyed it! I loved my day in the city and it was really interesting to learn about the history and culture. Best of luck with your graduation!
Hello Matt. What a great general presentation of Pori. There was much to see in one day! Well, of course many details so missing. I try to fulfill the gaps! Lol! Pori in few videos. Thank you. I wish to you a happy weekend. Matti
I spent one summer in Pori many years back. Really loved it for forests and long walks. It was too cold to swim even on the hottest days, but ok for some splashing. Still freezing water temperatures.
Ha yes I can well imagine - I would not have wanted to take my coat off let alone strip off and go for a swim. You've got to be hardcore to do that 😄. Interesting to know about the summertime! Yes the walks through the forests and lake areas are the best - nothing like some good old fresh air to clear the lungs!
My hometown, cool. I was born here 51 years ago. Mausoleum of Juselius is the def top attraction here, it is but further In the newer part of cemetary. Pirate ship is a static restaurant btw. P. S. Not a lake that, but river kokemäki.
Nice video, but you could have visited Rauma which is much nicer place. Smaller than Pori but warm and welcoming. Go see a Rauman Lukko hockey game in rauma, its a great athmosphere.
Thanks Eerikki, a few people have mentioned Rauma so I will look out for it if I'm in the area again. On this occasion I was staying in Tampere and it was already a long journey getting to Pori for the day, I decided against catching any additional trains or coaches to maximise the time I had - the days were pretty short with it being winter and all. Thanks for the tip though, very useful!
I did actually consider heading over to Yyteri Beach and the coastal area instead of the city centre but I was interested to see the city. Besides that, transportation was a problem and it would have been quite an ask for a day trip (from Tampere).
@@MattWhitingsEurope That's true, it's not easy to get to places without own transportation all in 1 day. You did a really good job again on this trip 👍
Thanks a lot Sevy, yes without a rental car there's only so much you can do. The days are short in the wintertime so I wanted to use as much of the light as I could.
I was born in this city. I visit from time to time. My parents got married in that church. It is funny how one can be proud and a bit embarrassed when someone from "the outside" has nice things to say about a place that I know and where feel safe. Cheers! ÄSSÄT FTW!
Thanks for watching! Enjoyed my day in your home town. Cool that your parents got married at that church, it was a lovely place - I was lucky the sun decided to shine on it whilst I was there. Hope I did the place some justice!?
Nice video ! Good info for those that have never heard of the PORI ( Swedish call BJÖRNEBORG ) City before ! Everybody in Finland knows Yyteri beach and Reposaari Island ( ex Port of Pori ) ! Too bad that You had no time to travel there - 30km - away from downtown !
Have You heard of Hollywood movie called WHITE NIGHTS ? IT was party filmed at The Island of REPOSAARI ! You May also also see ROLLING STONES at Yyteri beach - when They were starting their music - Touring & on Euro roads !
@@MattWhitingsEurope Kiitos ! Thanks to TH-cam - many People find out many things from the past - that They never heard of ! TH-cam IS like a Library of Movies & Documents - but You dont have to read - just watch !
G'day Matt, I just checked your vlog of Pori. I really enjoyed it, the overall quality is good, specially the drone and night scenes. But mostly I liked your personal way of presenting and positive approaching to this small northern town. You should come here in summer, when there are some people in the streets. Also Yyteri Beach by the sea is wonderful place to visit. Happy travels!
Thank you Juha, I appreciate your comment. Really enjoyed my day in Pori, it was good to just turn up and explore! Glad you like the drone shots, most of the city is a no-fly zone because of the airport to the south so I was quite restricted with where I could send it - came out okay though! A few people have mentioned Yyteri Beach, maybe I'll get there in the future but on this trip I couldn't quite sort out the transport I needed to get me there - probably need a rental car to make it. Thanks very much for watching and I'm really pleased you enjoyed it!
BJÖRN IS a BEAR in Swedish - BORG - a Town ! BJÖRNEBORG - means BEARTOWN ! There was a Famous Tennish player by The same name BJÖRN BORG - 5 Time Wimbledon Winner !
Get you at the beginning travelling in style... in your own private train carriage 🤣 Don't suppose you know why the town burnt down so many times do you, or was each reason different? Just I often think about flooding and how it will likely happen over and over, where as fires seem less likely to keep happening. I've still never seen a brown (or grizzly) bear before. Always wanted to, but from a safe distance, not stumbling across one on a hiking trail - so I understand why you said you'd have been more nervous on your hiking trail the other day had you known they were around! I was fortunate enough to be sent to Turin in Poland for a week for school training just before COVID reared its ugly head and Pori reminds me so much of it from the gorgeous brick church, the river, the peacefulness on the other side of the river, the birds over the river at the end of the day. Really lovely looking place.
Usually Finnish towns were mostly wooden houses built very closely together. Especially during winter they needed lots of heating and for example sparks coming out of chimneys could start fires in near by buildings. Also broken chimneys could have caused fires. What ever the reason was, fire would spread fast from one house to the other. In Finland a very cold weather is still called "tulipalopakkanen". Tulipalo means burning building and pakkanen is a freezing temperature below zero degrees. So, houses were heated so intensly during the coldest days of the year that they sometimes caught fire. In a densely built town, one house in fire could easily mean that soon the whole town was in flames. Other reason for flaming towns was war, many wars.
@@hevonperseensuti Hi Keisari, thank you so much for such a detailed reply. It makes perfect sense once you've explained it, almost to the point where it's a little embarrassing that I didn't logically think about this myself!
Even though I did a lot of walking it was a very relaxing day, especially when I crossed the river and got to the park - such a nice peaceful way to end my visit. Interesting to hear that it has a lot in common with Torun, I had not heard of that place before. Thank you to Keisari for providing the additional information on the fires - I learnt something there as well and you explained it perfectly. I bet it gets incrtedibly cold there in the winter, especially with that coastal wind coming down from the north! Makes me cold just thinking about it!!
Careful jumping off moving trains! Maybe the pirate ship gets more use in the summer? We'll put our money on you if a bear wants to fight you. Never seen a pub in a gazebo.
In Finnish, words are spoken exactly as they are spelt. You said Pooooorrrrrrrrrrrri. Say it as it is spelt Pori. Finnish is very different to English. This something that I did that explains the main differences th-cam.com/video/yBv94YymMRw/w-d-xo.html@@MattWhitingsEurope
Cool trips you've been doing. Yes, 74% of the area of Finland is forests, highest percent in the European Union. There are bears and wolves and everything you could imagine ;) But not to worry, they are afraid of humans and don't come even near the cities, and we keep the populations in control by shooting them - you have to - Finland has the 3rd highest private gun ownership in the world, after U.S. and Jemen, mainly hunting guns. All the animals have a lot of space and woods to roam around as Finland only has 5.5 million people in an area of 338 440 km², so you see Finland is geographically a large country compared for example to U.K. at 242 495 km².
Very interesting, thanks for the information HeilAmarth! Glad to hear that the wildlife is still afraid of humans, that's definitely a good thing! I knew Finland is a country of lakes and forests but I hadn't realised it was that much bigger than the UK, nor did I understand how many gun owners there are. Is gun ownership tightly controlled or more like the US where just about anybody can go out and buy one?
@@MattWhitingsEurope For a gun, you need a permit from police and they will do a throughout check on you. Gun laws have been strictened, at least regarding hand guns, since we have had school shootings in 07' and 08'. If you have a clean record and so on, have a hunting certification (which you need along with passed tests) and belong to a local hunting club, it is quite easy to have a license for a hunting weapon. Because it is a tradition, hobby and Finns have always hunted, and there are 100 000 deers in Finland. On top of that the wild game meat is delicious. Also to note of what I spoke in my previous post, is that the population in Finland generally lives in the Southern part of the country. 71% of population of the country lives on 200 km (125 mile) radius from Tampere. Not to say there aren't cool things in the East and Northern Finland as well, not just that many people. Here you can see a population density map of Finland: www.peer.eu/files/user_upload/user_upload/Kartta_556px_en.png Hope to see many more videos of Finland! Cheers.
@HeilAmarth I see what you mean about population density, that map was really helpful. Not very much happening up in the north and to a certain extent the east - makes me want to visit those areas even more now! 😃 Interesting to hear about the hunting and gun situation, is it legal to shoot any wild animal or are their quotas and permits required? For example, are bears protected as they are in most European countries? Interesting stuff! I will definitely be back at some point for more Finnish adventures, possibly later this year but we will see - it's still a bit of a challenge to plan too far ahead. Thanks for all the information, it's much appreciated.
@@MattWhitingsEurope You're welcome. I don't hunt but some close to me do. It's quite regulated, with hunting seasons, permits and certificates. One needs to apply for a permit to bring down each moose for example. Yes, they hunt bears too (though it is not even nearly as common as moose chase), we have a 1000 km (620 miles) land border with Russia, more bears coming from there all the time. Bear meat is a bit rough tasting, very strong, it's not for everyone, it is available in Finland however. There are around 3000 bears in Finland, while 70 000 - 100 000 moose. Duck and grouse hunts are other big things. Some hunt wild boar. www.largecarnivores.fi/conservation-and-hunting/hunting/bear-hunting.html riista.fi/en/hunting/instructions-to-hunters/ Indeed Eastern and Northern Finland are great places, some might even say they are the real Finland. In Eastern Finland there are so much lakes and water it's crazy, as you can see from Google Maps. The landmass there is very disintegrated. There's Koli national park and of the cities Kuopio, the capital of Eastern Finland and beautiful Savonlinna. Joensuu further to east. There's also Jyväskylä, a city of 144 000 between Tampere and Kuopio, but I've never been a fan of it. In the Western coast further I would recommend visiting larger cities of Vaasa, Oulu and also smaller Rauma, there's a Unesco world heritage site out there. Hanko is very interesting smaller one on Southern coast.Then, to get to Northern Finland you can catch a train ride from Tampere to Rovaniemi (or fly from Helsinki), the train ride is an adventure itself, costs something like to 50-70€ per direction, takes 7 hours, but Rovaniemi is the gates to Lapland. Even the town is quite cool. Some trains go to very small Kolari even further north, on a different rail route on Western border right next to Sweden. If you can drive, then you can rent a car and cruise around Lapland, it is a large province. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Finland#List_of_regions Here you can see all the regions and their capitals.
Wow HeilAmarth, what an interesting comment - packed full of useful information and incredible detail. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain everything so well, it really was great to read about it all. Your account of hunting in Finland is fascinating, and I'm still trying to get my head around just how vast the country is! So much beautiful forest and water - on a map it almost looks like swampland but I know it's not. I've made a note of all your suggestions in terms of future places to visit, I will definitely be back in Finland at some point so doing a bit of research now will prove useful. I'd really like to do a road trip to some of those less visited areas, I always enjoy finding remote and unusual places and with a car I'm able to change plans at any time - and get anywhere I want. I did have a quick look at train tickets between Tampere and Rovaniemi about a week before my last trip and was amazed at how affordable they are - I thought I may be reading them incorrectly or getting my stations mixed up. 50-70€ is a steal for such a long train journey - certainly an option for future travels. Thank again - much appreciated.
Ha no I wasn't blackmailed! Intrigue got the better of me. I thought it was quite an interesting city - plenty of things to keep me occupied for a day trip. Have you been?
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It is so refreshing to see someone feature more than just Helsinki and Lapland when visiting Finland.
Thanks SandCube, there's definitely more to see in Finland than just Helsinki and Lapland, glad I could get to some of the less visited places! Loved my trip to Finland! 👍😀
True!
Have to appreciate you making videos from places like Hämeenlinna and Pori. Most of the travel vloggers tend to visit Helsinki and/or Lapland only. I have lived in Tampere and now living in Pori. It's always nice to see a foreign perspective about places that are familiar to me.
Thanks Markus, glad you enjoyed the videos. I do like to get off the beaten track if I can, it 's nice to see some of the less touristy places!
3:53 The ship shown in here do not take people to sea, but very close to it one can find a ship that do take people to various places during summer. But im afraid piracy is not allowed :(
Gotta keep an eye out for those pirates!! Thanks for the info, looks like a pretty cool area.
It's excellent seeing someone feature the city I was born in ❤
Hope you enjoyed the video and I did the city justice - it was a very enjoyable day!
So nice that someone has done a video about Pori. In my opinion, Pori is a place worth of friday - sunday weekend trip. 12:32 is a place everyone must visit
Completely agree, I really enjoyed my day in Pori. Yes I thought the same about that view - it was such a peaceful evening when I was there, I had the view all to myself. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for visiting Pori! I've lived here most of my life and it is heart warming to watch this video and you also found rather interesting things to see like the 5th part (wooden houses) and the old graveyard. And you also filmed in our backyard and that, if not to anyone else, is intersting to me. As any Finnish city Pori is very much a summer city, so you are right about the city coming to live during the summer.
You missed the real beach of Pori which is Yyteri about 20 km from the center. It is the longest sand beach in all of the Nordic countries. That is quite spectacular during the hot summer days. Anyways, welcome back to Pori and if you ever might, I promise to show you the places.
Thanks for your kind words, Tommi. Thoroughly enjoyed visiting the city of Pori, and I'm really glad I did it a little piece of justice! Did I really film in your backyard or is that just an expression - a crazy co-incidence if I did 😀. I'm glad I was able to stop by at the old graveyard and water tower, it's just a shame I didn't get a chance to explore them for longer. I did consider travelling to Yyteri but transportation and time were issues so I decided to stay in the city - at least I got to take a proper look around whilst I was there. I may hire a car next time I'm in Finland and that will give me a bit more flexibility with where I visit and when - probably won't be in the winter though, I'm not sure I'm up to driving on all that snow and ice! Thanks for watching and leaving me the comment, I'm really pleased you enjoyed the video!
@@MattWhitingsEurope
Thank you for answering. And yes, you actually did film in the back yard. We life next to the trainstation so it's of the houses you filmed there. It is hard to get to Yyteri, so I understand why did not do that.
If you come to the west coast again, Turku obviously is a good place to make your hq, but Pori has one of the biggest jazz festivals in Europe, it has two Unesco sites very close to it and you can easily travel to the Swedish speaking Botnia (Pohjanmaa) from Pori. And... Pori is cheaper hotel wise that Turku, but not during the jazz festival obviously. Pori also has an airport that has daily flights to Helsinki and they are not that expensive.
Anyway, probably coming to Finland and doing videos is the same place is not in the agenda. So if you will come and try to find new places either Oulu or Jyväskylä are very interesting. Cities that are usually somewhat ingnored by travellers, but they both have a nice university city wibe and beautiful nature around them.
You're welcome Tommi! It's unlikely I'll visit the same places in the foreseeable future (I like to try new places wherever possible) however I would love to return to Finland later this year or next and explore somewhere new, so your suggestions are very much appreciated. I had heard of Oulu before but not Jyväskylä so I've made a note of that! If you have any other suggestions I'd love to hear them? The east interests me greatly and also some of the lesser know spots! Thanks for the information, very helpful.
@@MattWhitingsEurope
I would say that in the east probably Kuopio and Savonlinna would be the places to visit. Kuopio is the biggest city in the east and Savonlinna has one of the medival castles of Finland and a big opera festial as well.
There is a place called Mikkeli in the east as well, but I have never visted it. It is know as HQ Town as the Finnish army high command was located there during the second world war. I don't know anything else about the town. And being from the west my knowledge of the east is not that good.
If you happen to pland a trip to Russia then it might be worth visiting Lappeenranta and take a train from there to St. Petersburg or the other way around. There is also a possibility to do a day trip from Lappeenranta to Viipuri (Vyborg) in Russia and that might be interesting. Viipuri used to be part of Finland until the end of the second world war so it could easily fit in to the theme of Eastern Finland.
Thanks so much for taking the time to send your suggestions across - very helpful. I've made a note of them, I would love to do some more travelling around Finland and later on across Russia so it's good to know about those places along with a little bit of context. Thanks again, Tommi!
Pori is also known Arctopolis - the City of Bear.
Thanks for the information, I didn't realise that.
I am going to be an Erasmus student studying here soon, by far the best video on Pori I have seen!
Thank you very much, glad you enjoyed the video! Good luck with your studies, I've got a feeling you're going to love it there!
Pori is my favourite summer city in Finland, we tend to visit it every year. Besides that, Yyteri beach is one of the top attractions in whole of Finland IMHO. I live in southern part of Finland and drive from Helsinki to Pori for example is just a few hours. Highly recommended for a day trip or a weekend. Cheers and thanks for this video 👍🏻
Thank you for watching and I'm glad you liked the video. I really enjoyed my day in Pori, would love to visit again in the summer when everything is open and the streets are busy. Sounds like the drive between Helsinki and Pori is a good one, not too far either! Thanks for commenting, I'm glad I was able to visit. I had heard about Yyteri beach before my trip but it was difficult to get to using only public transport, especially as I was staying in Tampere.
Nice video. I'm 53 and have lived my whole life in Finland and Pori is maybe the city I know the least of. Maybe I should fix that thing and go there for several days next summer.
Yes it's always good to explore new places - I'm sure it has a very different vibe in the summer. Go for it - and enjoy the experience!
Tervetuloa vaan. Tää on kyllä hieno, en muuttaisi minnekkään. Täällä syntyny ja täällä kuolen. Kannattaa tsekata samalla reissulla myös reposaari, kallo ja herrainpäivät (suomen upein ranta mun mielestä) ja Satakunnan museota ei kannata missata, se on todella hieno, ei mikään tylsä ja ahdas perusmuseo.
Great video! Come during the summer as we have lots and lots of festivals. The famous Pori Jazz is on in July. Thank you for visiting the town of my birth.
You're welcome, it was nice to take a walk around and see the sights. That festival sounds like a great event, I will keep it in mind for the future. Thanks for watching!
Great video once again Matt! 11:00 Taavi bridge is a seasonal pontoon bridge and closed for winter due to the freezing of the Kokemäenjoki river.
Thanks for the info! That does make sense. I forgot to investigate it further but I was confused because Google Maps showed a bridge there but I couldn't find it when I was on the south side. I dismissed it as an error but got even more confused when I saw it on the official park info board after I'd crossed to the park! Thought I was going mad!
Beautiful video! ❤️ Pori is my old hometown and it was heartwarming to hear you speak such nice words about it 😍
Glad you enjoyed it, Aida. Hopefully it brought back a few good memories, it was nice to take a walk around!
Hello 🙋♂️
Awesome sharing enjoyed watching always stay connected,💝
Thank you, I will.
I really enjoy your videos, you don’t just show those Instagram fashionable places like Helsinki and Lapland and you also tell little bit history. Keep doing what you do!👍
Thank you very much, I love finding places off the tourist trail. Very much enjoyed my day in Pori! Thanks for watching.
Nice video from my home city! To add more some facts about the history of Pori, I can mention that along those city fires you mentioned Pori has faced another hard time period too in Its history which lasted from mid-1970's until 2000's. This happened due to deindustrialization and a chain of unlucky events. It all began during the 1970's when the oil crisis of 1973 was followed by industrial recession in 1975. This caused a huge loss of jobs in heavy industry and because Pori had relied too much in that instead of relying in other sectors like trading services and education too, it affected the city harder than any other place in Finland. And before City of Pori could rise out of that tragedy, another one stroke in 1981 when large local cotton factory (was located in the red large building opposite side of Kokemäenjoki river seen in 4:01-4:02) faced a serious fire and the whole factory needed to shut down. And before Pori could rise out of that tragedy, then came the great recession of Finland in 1990's. Because Pori didn't have (and don't have this day either) a university of It's own and relies only to university consortium due to political decisions made in 1970's, the city couldn't afford enough resources to educate local peoples and draw enough new investors to invest in the city, it caused very high numbers of unemployment (at Its worst in 1995 the unemployment rate was 26,5) and it took much longer to rise out of those numbers than it would've been taken if city would have Its own university or at least more diverse workplace structure. This series of unlucky events was also followed with high crime rates (because unemployment usually causes depression and other social problems), which caused that there occurred more violent crimes per capita in Pori than many other huge cities like Tampere or Kuopio for example during 1990's and early 2000's. However, the unemployment and crime rates have gone long way down (especially during 2010's) and the number of highly educated people has gone up faster than Finnish average. From this we can thank the invests given for education in university consortium and local polytechnic (Satakunnan ammattikorkeakoulu). Oh, and the workplace structure has also diversified out of Its original heavy industry based structure. However, despite the overall situation of Pori is in good hands in nowadays, it still has quite a bad reputation in the eyes of the outsiders due to those very unlucky times and city's population is in a small decline mostly due to low birth rates but for small part also because of highly educated people moving to "Growing triangle" (known as Kasvukolmio in Finnish which means the triangle of growing cities of Helsinki, Tampere and Turku).
Hi santtu37, thanks so much for providing all that valuable information - I really enjoyed reading it and learning about the city's history. Sorry to hear that it's been a bit of a struggle over the last few decades, I'm pleased it is now thriving once again and I was able to see it on the up! I spoke briefly about the Kasvukolmio (or Baltic Triangle as I called it) in my Tampere video so it was good to read how that is playing out in the country. It's incredible to hear how long term political decisions make really alter the long term growth of a busy city like Pori - shows how important it is to elect people into higher office carefully and properly hold them to account. Thanks again for all the history and facts, really appreciate you taking the time to comment. Stay safe my friend.
I'm going to move there from Bangladesh within the next couple of months for my graduation. This is your first video I've watched, and I really love how you highlight and care about the history, cheers!
Thanks for watching Cyanoxile, glad you enjoyed it! I loved my day in the city and it was really interesting to learn about the history and culture. Best of luck with your graduation!
Hello Matt. What a great general presentation of Pori. There was much to see in one day! Well, of course many details so missing. I try to fulfill the gaps! Lol! Pori in few videos. Thank you. I wish to you a happy weekend. Matti
Glad you enjoyed it! Pori is a cool city. Have a great weekend!
I spent one summer in Pori many years back. Really loved it for forests and long walks. It was too cold to swim even on the hottest days, but ok for some splashing. Still freezing water temperatures.
Ha yes I can well imagine - I would not have wanted to take my coat off let alone strip off and go for a swim. You've got to be hardcore to do that 😄. Interesting to know about the summertime! Yes the walks through the forests and lake areas are the best - nothing like some good old fresh air to clear the lungs!
My hometown, cool.
I was born here 51 years ago.
Mausoleum of Juselius is the def top attraction here, it is but further In the newer part of cemetary.
Pirate ship is a static restaurant btw.
P. S. Not a lake that, but river kokemäki.
Thanks for the information, suomenpresidentti. 51 years ago is impressive! Has the place changed much over the years?
الاجواء حلوة
صحيح جدا بالفعل
Great video and amazing info... Tks for sharing ..
Thank you for watching, Dulkith. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Beautiful video, great information as usual from you Matt, hope you reached that last train to Tampere 😂❤
I just about made it!! 😅
@@MattWhitingsEurope you made me laugh😅 thinking how did you catched that last train to Tampere , but I think you was cool anyhow 🤣🤣🏃♂️
Looks like a great city for the summer. Nice video and great music for a city vibe
Thanks Kathy, glad you liked my choice of music and the tour. Yeah I bet it looks totally different in the summer. Maybe one day I'll find out!
@@MattWhitingsEurope I'm hoping 1 day I will find out also.
Nice video, but you could have visited Rauma which is much nicer place. Smaller than Pori but warm and welcoming. Go see a Rauman Lukko hockey game in rauma, its a great athmosphere.
Thanks Eerikki, a few people have mentioned Rauma so I will look out for it if I'm in the area again. On this occasion I was staying in Tampere and it was already a long journey getting to Pori for the day, I decided against catching any additional trains or coaches to maximise the time I had - the days were pretty short with it being winter and all. Thanks for the tip though, very useful!
You made it to the amazing Pori even!
Awesome tour, Matt.
Thanks very much Sevy! I only bought a train ticket the day before but I'm glad I did! Interesting place.
@@MattWhitingsEurope You didn't mention it in the video but Pori is famous for Yyteri Beach, a popular summer destination for Finns far away as well.
I did actually consider heading over to Yyteri Beach and the coastal area instead of the city centre but I was interested to see the city. Besides that, transportation was a problem and it would have been quite an ask for a day trip (from Tampere).
@@MattWhitingsEurope That's true, it's not easy to get to places without own transportation all in 1 day. You did a really good job again on this trip 👍
Thanks a lot Sevy, yes without a rental car there's only so much you can do. The days are short in the wintertime so I wanted to use as much of the light as I could.
I was born in this city. I visit from time to time. My parents got married in that church. It is funny how one can be proud and a bit embarrassed when someone from "the outside" has nice things to say about a place that I know and where feel safe. Cheers! ÄSSÄT FTW!
Thanks for watching! Enjoyed my day in your home town. Cool that your parents got married at that church, it was a lovely place - I was lucky the sun decided to shine on it whilst I was there. Hope I did the place some justice!?
Hyvä video.Asun Porissa.
Hieno kaupunki, kiitos katsomisesta! Toivottavasti tein sen oikeutta.
Hola, saludos desde Santiago de Chile 🌷🇨🇱🌷
¡Bienvenido a mi canal, gracias por visitarnos! Qué tengas un lindo día.
Hola - The BEST Football and Ice Hockey - but aswell Finnish Baseball ! PESAPALLO - in Finnish - as The NATIONAL SPORT of Finland !
Woww very beautiful great place Finland.thanks for sharing Matt
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes Finland is a wonderful place to visit - very much recommended!
Nice video ! Good info for those that have never heard of the PORI ( Swedish call BJÖRNEBORG ) City before ! Everybody in Finland knows Yyteri beach and Reposaari Island ( ex Port of Pori ) ! Too bad that You had no time to travel there - 30km - away from downtown !
Next time maybe! Thanks for watching. 😀
Have You heard of Hollywood movie called WHITE NIGHTS ? IT was party filmed at The Island of REPOSAARI ! You May also also see ROLLING STONES at Yyteri beach - when They were starting their music - Touring & on Euro roads !
I haven't I'm afraid, thanks for the info though. 👍
@@MattWhitingsEurope Kiitos ! Thanks to TH-cam - many People find out many things from the past - that They never heard of ! TH-cam IS like a Library of Movies & Documents - but You dont have to read - just watch !
Very true!
G'day Matt, I just checked your vlog of Pori. I really enjoyed it, the overall quality is good, specially the drone and night scenes. But mostly I liked your personal way of presenting and positive approaching to this small northern town. You should come here in summer, when there are some people in the streets. Also Yyteri Beach by the sea is wonderful place to visit.
Happy travels!
Thank you Juha, I appreciate your comment. Really enjoyed my day in Pori, it was good to just turn up and explore! Glad you like the drone shots, most of the city is a no-fly zone because of the airport to the south so I was quite restricted with where I could send it - came out okay though! A few people have mentioned Yyteri Beach, maybe I'll get there in the future but on this trip I couldn't quite sort out the transport I needed to get me there - probably need a rental car to make it. Thanks very much for watching and I'm really pleased you enjoyed it!
I miss pori😢
Cool city, enjoyed my day there!
Finland was not a country but a county in Sweden when Björneborg (Pori) was founded by John III.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_III_of_Sweden
Thanks for the information, Hurri. Very interesting!
BJÖRN IS a BEAR in Swedish - BORG - a Town ! BJÖRNEBORG - means BEARTOWN ! There was a Famous Tennish player by The same name BJÖRN BORG - 5 Time Wimbledon Winner !
You walked past our home, so cool :)
I do try and see as much as I can whilst I'm there! I'm glad I didn't miss you out. 😂
Get you at the beginning travelling in style... in your own private train carriage 🤣 Don't suppose you know why the town burnt down so many times do you, or was each reason different? Just I often think about flooding and how it will likely happen over and over, where as fires seem less likely to keep happening. I've still never seen a brown (or grizzly) bear before. Always wanted to, but from a safe distance, not stumbling across one on a hiking trail - so I understand why you said you'd have been more nervous on your hiking trail the other day had you known they were around! I was fortunate enough to be sent to Turin in Poland for a week for school training just before COVID reared its ugly head and Pori reminds me so much of it from the gorgeous brick church, the river, the peacefulness on the other side of the river, the birds over the river at the end of the day. Really lovely looking place.
Usually Finnish towns were mostly wooden houses built very closely together. Especially during winter they needed lots of heating and for example sparks coming out of chimneys could start fires in near by buildings. Also broken chimneys could have caused fires. What ever the reason was, fire would spread fast from one house to the other.
In Finland a very cold weather is still called "tulipalopakkanen". Tulipalo means burning building and pakkanen is a freezing temperature below zero degrees. So, houses were heated so intensly during the coldest days of the year that they sometimes caught fire. In a densely built town, one house in fire could easily mean that soon the whole town was in flames.
Other reason for flaming towns was war, many wars.
@@hevonperseensuti Hi Keisari, thank you so much for such a detailed reply. It makes perfect sense once you've explained it, almost to the point where it's a little embarrassing that I didn't logically think about this myself!
Even though I did a lot of walking it was a very relaxing day, especially when I crossed the river and got to the park - such a nice peaceful way to end my visit. Interesting to hear that it has a lot in common with Torun, I had not heard of that place before. Thank you to Keisari for providing the additional information on the fires - I learnt something there as well and you explained it perfectly. I bet it gets incrtedibly cold there in the winter, especially with that coastal wind coming down from the north! Makes me cold just thinking about it!!
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👍
Fires? You can thank klau s sc hwab for that
Careful jumping off moving trains! Maybe the pirate ship gets more use in the summer? We'll put our money on you if a bear wants to fight you. Never seen a pub in a gazebo.
James Bond style! Gotta keep in shape somehow 😄. I once downed a bear, took me an hour but I got the job done - or was that a beer?!
@@MattWhitingsEurope 😆😄
He could at least have said P O R I properly.
Sorry Nigel, any tips on how to say it?
In Finnish, words are spoken exactly as they are spelt. You said Pooooorrrrrrrrrrrri. Say it as it is spelt Pori. Finnish is very different to English. This something that I did that explains the main differences th-cam.com/video/yBv94YymMRw/w-d-xo.html@@MattWhitingsEurope
Cool trips you've been doing. Yes, 74% of the area of Finland is forests, highest percent in the European Union. There are bears and wolves and everything you could imagine ;) But not to worry, they are afraid of humans and don't come even near the cities, and we keep the populations in control by shooting them - you have to - Finland has the 3rd highest private gun ownership in the world, after U.S. and Jemen, mainly hunting guns. All the animals have a lot of space and woods to roam around as Finland only has 5.5 million people in an area of 338 440 km², so you see Finland is geographically a large country compared for example to U.K. at 242 495 km².
Very interesting, thanks for the information HeilAmarth! Glad to hear that the wildlife is still afraid of humans, that's definitely a good thing! I knew Finland is a country of lakes and forests but I hadn't realised it was that much bigger than the UK, nor did I understand how many gun owners there are. Is gun ownership tightly controlled or more like the US where just about anybody can go out and buy one?
@@MattWhitingsEurope For a gun, you need a permit from police and they will do a throughout check on you. Gun laws have been strictened, at least regarding hand guns, since we have had school shootings in 07' and 08'. If you have a clean record and so on, have a hunting certification (which you need along with passed tests) and belong to a local hunting club, it is quite easy to have a license for a hunting weapon. Because it is a tradition, hobby and Finns have always hunted, and there are 100 000 deers in Finland. On top of that the wild game meat is delicious.
Also to note of what I spoke in my previous post, is that the population in Finland generally lives in the Southern part of the country. 71% of population of the country lives on 200 km (125 mile) radius from Tampere. Not to say there aren't cool things in the East and Northern Finland as well, not just that many people. Here you can see a population density map of Finland: www.peer.eu/files/user_upload/user_upload/Kartta_556px_en.png Hope to see many more videos of Finland! Cheers.
@HeilAmarth I see what you mean about population density, that map was really helpful. Not very much happening up in the north and to a certain extent the east - makes me want to visit those areas even more now! 😃 Interesting to hear about the hunting and gun situation, is it legal to shoot any wild animal or are their quotas and permits required? For example, are bears protected as they are in most European countries? Interesting stuff! I will definitely be back at some point for more Finnish adventures, possibly later this year but we will see - it's still a bit of a challenge to plan too far ahead. Thanks for all the information, it's much appreciated.
@@MattWhitingsEurope You're welcome. I don't hunt but some close to me do. It's quite regulated, with hunting seasons, permits and certificates. One needs to apply for a permit to bring down each moose for example. Yes, they hunt bears too (though it is not even nearly as common as moose chase), we have a 1000 km (620 miles) land border with Russia, more bears coming from there all the time. Bear meat is a bit rough tasting, very strong, it's not for everyone, it is available in Finland however. There are around 3000 bears in Finland, while 70 000 - 100 000 moose. Duck and grouse hunts are other big things. Some hunt wild boar. www.largecarnivores.fi/conservation-and-hunting/hunting/bear-hunting.html riista.fi/en/hunting/instructions-to-hunters/
Indeed Eastern and Northern Finland are great places, some might even say they are the real Finland. In Eastern Finland there are so much lakes and water it's crazy, as you can see from Google Maps. The landmass there is very disintegrated. There's Koli national park and of the cities Kuopio, the capital of Eastern Finland and beautiful Savonlinna. Joensuu further to east. There's also Jyväskylä, a city of 144 000 between Tampere and Kuopio, but I've never been a fan of it.
In the Western coast further I would recommend visiting larger cities of Vaasa, Oulu and also smaller Rauma, there's a Unesco world heritage site out there. Hanko is very interesting smaller one on Southern coast.Then, to get to Northern Finland you can catch a train ride from Tampere to Rovaniemi (or fly from Helsinki), the train ride is an adventure itself, costs something like to 50-70€ per direction, takes 7 hours, but Rovaniemi is the gates to Lapland. Even the town is quite cool. Some trains go to very small Kolari even further north, on a different rail route on Western border right next to Sweden. If you can drive, then you can rent a car and cruise around Lapland, it is a large province.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Finland#List_of_regions Here you can see all the regions and their capitals.
Wow HeilAmarth, what an interesting comment - packed full of useful information and incredible detail. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain everything so well, it really was great to read about it all. Your account of hunting in Finland is fascinating, and I'm still trying to get my head around just how vast the country is! So much beautiful forest and water - on a map it almost looks like swampland but I know it's not.
I've made a note of all your suggestions in terms of future places to visit, I will definitely be back in Finland at some point so doing a bit of research now will prove useful. I'd really like to do a road trip to some of those less visited areas, I always enjoy finding remote and unusual places and with a car I'm able to change plans at any time - and get anywhere I want. I did have a quick look at train tickets between Tampere and Rovaniemi about a week before my last trip and was amazed at how affordable they are - I thought I may be reading them incorrectly or getting my stations mixed up. 50-70€ is a steal for such a long train journey - certainly an option for future travels. Thank again - much appreciated.
Are you been blackmailed or how you chose to go to Pori of all the cities in the World?
Ha no I wasn't blackmailed! Intrigue got the better of me. I thought it was quite an interesting city - plenty of things to keep me occupied for a day trip. Have you been?
So market square is very ugly
I'd say it's an acquired taste. 😊