Friday, March 4, 2016

Taking the Nysse to the Slopes



Tampere.  A great destination for the winter vacation.  But can you take the city bus to the slopes? Yes you can.

There are two ski areas, but also skating on the Näsijärvi lake, and even some caves along the road back home to south. But back to the skiing. Nysse, local slang for the bus, takes you to Mustavuori (black mountain) ski areas on routes 17 or 29, and to Hervanta on routes 13, 23, or 30. "Nysse" stands for "Nys se tulee" and has become to mean the bus, instead of the act of coming ("now it is coming") that it literally stands for.

Both ski areas are local small hills, but clearly with good vibes with many kids playing around, big air jumps, and small cafeterias. And even a grill in both places, with sausages available for sale from the cafeteria! Very nice.

On Näsijärvi you can skate along a snow-plowed path and rent the skates from the Bikini Bar on the lake shore. Although bikinis are furthest away from your mind when visiting their snow covered hut. The route is very nice, along shore next to the Näsinneula observation tower, and then onwards to the small lighthouse in a rocky outcrop, Siilinkari, in the middle of the lake. I always wanted to visit Siilinkari, and now it was possible!

And then to the caving: I visited the Hirvi-Simuna cave in Lempäälä. This is a set of broken-up large boulders, with some space left under the stones. Hirvi-Simuna was a local hunter in the 1800s and lived in the cave. The main rooms in the cave are relatively big for being under a boulder. But the most interesting part was a crack between two rocks, a very tight squeeze to go see. You can turn around in the middle, and going all the way in didn't feel right, not head first at least. I also wanted to come back from the cave. Anyway, a good cave to visit, and will certainly will give a day's worth of claustrophobia!















Photos and videos (c) 2016 by Jari Arkko and Janne Arkko. This blog is also available from the TGR site. Tämä blogi löytyy myös suomeksi.

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