Lost Posts: TdS day 4

The view of Olavinlinna being spoilt by some cyclist: Kesä10 - Lost Postcards

  

Neljas Päivää: Savonlinnassa (vielä 16km pyöräily)

Day 4 (a so-called 'rest day') in which we:

Saimaa steamboat

• Washed some clothes and left them to dry in the blazing sun
• Freewheeled down the hill into town
• Had an icecream
• Took a tour of Olavinlinna (Olaf's Castle) where the opera festival is held (and heard singers practicing as we go)
• Almost broke my neck trying to walk up/down uneven stone spiral staircases in cycling shoes
• Had a fancy lunch on a shady terrace and another icecream
• Sat in the park while eating an icecream
• Took a steamboat cruise

Kaustinen folk music festival: Folk You!

Kaustinen Folk Music Festival 'Arena'

You may wonder at the gratuitous use of the F word in this post, and so do I... But this is the biggest folk gathering in the Nordic region so fiddles, accordians and strange harmonies abound. Costumed folkies start jamming 'spontaneously'. The festival takes over half the small town using the music school and grounds as the main base, including an impressive canopied main arena.

After a bit of wandering we see Baltic Crossing, a group of young Finnish, Danish and English musician with a passion for their music. I'm also pleased to find wireless access as well as beer and cider in the outside bar.

The main event is Angelique Kidjo, whose West African sound to be honest is not my sort of thing, but goes down a storm with the crowd - despite an enforced ban on video and photos after the first three songs. Now only the Jazz festival to, er, look forward to... but just remember Folk You!

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