the story continues from the previous article “Kuopio, Suonenjoki and Joensuu -Three of the 30 loveliest cafe in Finland“…
Next day, after visiting Outokumpu old mine, which was recommended by the lady at Kyykerin Kartano, we headed to Koli. Koli is one of my most favorite places in Finland, especially in winter. I like sceneries covered by snow. Simply it’s beautiful! We had a relaxing overnight stay at the Break Sokos Hotel Koli. No café activities on the day!
The following day, we drove back to Kuopio. After returning the car to the rental car company at the Kuopio station, we visited the Puijo tower quickly and enjoyed the view of Kuopio. There was also lovely café on the observation floor.
We took a train from Kuopio to Iisalmi to have coffee at café Hilla. Hilla was lovely café in the very small town, Iisami. The stuff was polite and nice, and it had pleasant atmosphere. We felt we could spend hours there. As we hadn’t had time to eat lunch before we got to the café, we wated to have something salty and sweet. I had kalajaranpiirakka and a piece of roll cake. I love roll cake in general and it’s not easily found in Finland. So, whenever I find it, I choose roll cake. They were all yummy and I believe this café is one of the best places to visit in Iisalmi!
From Iisalmi, we took train to Oulu to stay at the friend’s place to be ready to go to Rovaniemi on the following day.
The last café destination of this trip was Mandragora Cafè in Rovaniemi. It was in the Rinteenkulmassa shopping center. As there was still restriction because of pandemic, the café had only limited variety of sweets, but the interior decoration and atmosphere were definitely lovely. I was jealous of the chocolate with golden topping my friend ordered. The way they served was so cute! I would like to visit the café when they have more sweets selections available. Some arts were on the wall and the golden color painting was my favorite. I seem to like gold!
By the way, in the same shopping mall, there is one of my most favorite chocolate shops in Finland, Choco Deli. I fell in love with their chocolate severa years ago. I bought several pieces of chocolate and tasted them back in Helsinki. They were heavenly! I strongly recommended my friend buy them and she said “heavenly” as well!
In the evening, we enjoyed awesome dinner at the Gustav Kitchen & Bar and stayed at Hostel Café & Koti, simple accommodation with café in the city centre of Rovaniemi. You should dine at the Gustav if you ever Rovaniemi! You will understand why if you eat there.
After checking out the hostel, we walked around the city of Rovaniemi, visited the culture house Korundi, enjoyed noodles at the authentic Vietnamese noodle shop, Saigon Noodle Bar which I loved and recommend anyone who love warm noodle soup.
It’s the end of this leg of café trip. I headed to Rovaniemi airport to fly back to Helsinki saying good bye to my friend who went to the railway station to catch a train to Oulu.