After a short drive into the city from last night's camp (it was quiet and uneventful), we find a good parking spot for setting out to check out some of the city of Oulu.
"Due to its large population and geopolitical, economic and cultural-historical position, Oulu is considered the 'capital of Northern Finland'. Oulu is also one of Europe's "living labs", where residents experiment with new technologies (such as NFC tags [air gap computing connections] and ubi-screens [user interfaces]) on a community-wide scale. In the 2023 T-Media survey, Oulu was tied with Kuopio as the second most attractive city in Finland, while Tampere was ranked first. Oulu has been selected as a European Capital of Culture for 2026.
Once known for wood tar and salmon, Oulu has become a major high-tech center, particularly in IT and wellness technology. Other important industries include wood processing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, paper and steel."
"Due to its large population and geopolitical, economic and cultural-historical position, Oulu is considered the 'capital of Northern Finland'. Oulu is also one of Europe's "living labs", where residents experiment with new technologies (such as NFC tags [air gap computing connections] and ubi-screens [user interfaces]) on a community-wide scale. In the 2023 T-Media survey, Oulu was tied with Kuopio as the second most attractive city in Finland, while Tampere was ranked first. Oulu has been selected as a European Capital of Culture for 2026.
Once known for wood tar and salmon, Oulu has become a major high-tech center, particularly in IT and wellness technology. Other important industries include wood processing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, paper and steel."
It's not Starry Starry Night, but more like Sudsy Sudsy Water...
Looks like fun for the younger gens...
The theater...
...and the open-air market is in full swing - from hats to garden veggies...
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...and a recumbent bicycle mobile tourist information machine.
And there's the brick-and-mortar market building - from the turn of the last century.
Gerri spots some especially nice smoked salmon...
...and more - "I'll take a little of this, and a little of that, and a tub of pickled herring.
...and then it's salmon potato soup for lunch #1 - a very popular delicacy in these parts.
This is a generally non-touristy city, but with many locals out and about, enjoying the day.
We don't post all of our brewery stops, but this one was an unexpected surprise and the barkeeper was very friendly. (Teerenpeli Brewery)
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Ah, it's been a coon's age and half, we hafta scoop up some Taco Bell for lunch #2.
The tourism people pointed us to a historical district - we check-out an old fisherman's cottage - it's been moved, piece by piece from its original location that's now "modernized".
 Inside the fisherman's cottage - that "wallpaper" is actually stenciled right onto painted wood planking. |  |
We asked about this painting (or woodcut?), as we weren't familiar with any "recent" volcanoes in Finland - the docents said it's representative of the souvenirs brought home from far away ports by seafarers. This is actually Mt Vesuvius of Italy.
This is not a lighthouse or a widow's watch, but a vantage point for the managers to keep tabs on their workers.
A grand cottage from more modern times...
We had back to the camper van - Tim carries the loot we scored in town (pastries and fish stuff).
We spot a nicely restored old little boat - maybe it'll get some "sea" time today.
Just off-shore from Oulu lies Hailuoto Island - it's an opportunity to take this camper van afloat to a laid-back island and score a reportedly fantastic brewery.
It's fairly obvious, but we need to translate these signs to confirm we're in the correct line (actually the right one is right) - the left is for priority (residents, contractors) and the right is for most of us (visitors).
 |  After about an hour and half, we're aboard. They've had issues with one of their ferries and the sub-in is smaller. This coupled with being the busy part of day (late afternoon), is slowing down the transfers. Actually they've just started constructed of a bridge to avoid the 25-min ferry crossing, which will be completed in 2026. |
Now at Hailuoto Brewery, we sampled some brews - and learned a bit of the goings on at the island from the workers who shared brews with us.
At our evening's campsite we find this. You might mistake it for a WWII defensive structure, but it's actually a sound sculpture.
You're supposed to make noises in it and wild things happen - I guess we were doing it wrong.
 |  Oh well, we finish the day with our version of a charcuterie board and wild ale. |
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