Kärnäkoski

We visited Kärnäkoski today. It's in Savitaipale about 50 km from Lappeenranta. It's an old fortress from the 18th century. We like the area a lot. We found it already in March and were amazed how no one had told us about it.

The fortress is a rather large area at the mouth of the Kärnäjoki River. It was built by the Russians. The Russians needed it against Swedes, Finland didn't exist then yet. There were never figths between Russians and Swedes in Kärnäkoski fortress but during the Finnish Civil War, several battles took place in the area.

Well, I'm not so interested in the history. I just enjoy the athmosphere of the old places. Juha gets his imagination running in places like this.

This picture I took in March. It gives a better perspective on the area.

These sheeps are on the area to take care of the maintenance, clearing of the bush growth. I guess there just aren't enough of them while the grass is rather long and sometimes makes it even hard to walk on the walls. But they are lovely!

The fortress is situated on a very beautiful place as you can see. I wish I would have a little sauna like that on a lake as you can see on a background. Of course the people in front are more important to me: Viivi and Juha.
Jonna and Viivi and the huge birch in the middle of the fortress.

Rigth beside the fortress there is an old flour mill.
And maybe just a kilometer away from Kärnäkoski is Partakoski, another beautiful cultural environment.
By the way word koski at the end of Kärnäkoski and Partakoski means rapids.
On a same trip we stopped by to take pictures of the church in Savitaipale downtown.

It says: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (ps.111:10). Amen to that! It should be written in our hearts. So many times we seek wisdom from so wrong resources.