Visiting a city by yourself or with a local are totally different experiences. AmazingFinland already went a few times to the city of Kuopio, but always by its own. It was time to try a different experience. The tourist office of Kuopio was contacted in order to ask for a day as a local. This article is telling you about our experience at the Original Sokos Hotel Puijonsarvi.
On September 20th 2014, we arrived to the city of Kuopio at 4:35am from Helsinki with the night bus for a new adventure.
Read about our journey with Onnibus here.
Around 7am, we went to our hotel ideally located in the city center, a few meters away from the cathedral and 5 minutes walk from the passengers harbor. The receptionist was very friendly and told us all what we needed to know. Surprisingly, the room was already available. It was located at the 3rd foor in the building on the other side of the road, accessible by an underground tunnel. When we opened the door we had the lovely surprise to discover a small room beautifully decorated. It was modern and design. The green, black, white and dark red colors fit perfectly together. The wooden floor was bringing to the room a warm atmosphere. Nature certainly inspired the designer of that room. There was all the equipments you needed to enjoy your stay: hairdryer, slippers, bathrobe, beauty cares, iron, TV and free wifi. We rested a bit before going to the breakfast buffet.
The buffet was located in the same building at the street level in the restaurant Fransmanni. It was not the biggest buffet we have seen but it was well filled. There was everything you could wish for a delicious breakfast: salty buffet, bakeries, yogurts, breads, jams, eggs. We particularly loved that the local delicacy "kalakukko" (fish pie) was included. The traditional porridge was available in water or milk version. People with gluten intolerance have their own breads, muffins and cereals on a separate table. But what we particularly liked was the tap for water and fruit juices. You just had to choose on the pad what you wanted and your glass was filled automatically. Very funny. Once again, all employees were very friendly. Everybody said "good morning" and was smiling.
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| What would be a Finnish breakfast without the famous Karjalan pirakka? |
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| Juice pad: we love it! |
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| Salty buffet |
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| The Kalakukko |
Before going to the restaurant in the evening after a long day in the city, we went to the park between the hotel and the church to take night pictures. But when we wanted to go back to our room we got a problem with both our magnetic keys. They were not working anymore. We ignore the reasons as we put them in pockets without metallic or magnetic items. We just went to the reception for checking the problem. The receptionist was busy, and while we were waiting the barman came to us for a little chat about our night pictures. He was very interested and wanted to see our shots. He was so friendly. In less than 2 minutes our keys were reloaded.
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| Trying to write Kuopio with light painting technique |
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| The cathedral by a very humid night |
Before going to sleep, we had a look at the street. It was Saturday night and our window was just in front of a... nightclub. We feared the worst. Will we be able to sleep? Will people scream during all night? Will we hear the music or the police siren? Despite everything we decided to let the window open and hoped that we would fall soon into a deep sleep.
The next morning we were delighted to notice that we didn't hear a sound from the nightclub and both of us slept really well. The beds were very comfortable and the room was silent. After a warm shower, it was time to go to the breakfast buffet.
At the top floor there was a sauna and a gym, free of charge. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to enjoy these facilities.
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| View from the 7th floor towards the passengers harbor |
We would like to warmly thank Visit Kuopio for booking a room for us in this wonderful hotel and thank all the employees who made our stay a delightful one!
Original Sokos Hotel Puijonsarvi
Facebook page of the hotel
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