8/10 Very Good
Oct 4, 2019
This was more than a hotel it was more of an experience. Even the name is unique, ‘VanHa Maamies Oy’*1 is not a name that easily rolls off the tongue. The resort – we found out later that it had been a residential agricultural college, with large dormitory buildings for males and females – comprised several other buildings all looking old and tired. Paint was peeling, some of the mortar had fallen away from the wall exposing the bricks underneath. I was ready to leave and find a more ‘modern business hotel’. My companion persuaded me otherwise; to at least have a look at our room. This, however was a problem since there was no one around. The place looked completely deserted.
We resorted to our cell phone, which in these northern and sparsely populated climes, was at best a hit and miss proposition. We were lucky; someone answered but only spoke Finnish with a little English. We only spoke English, with no Finnish. Somehow we managed to communicate that we were outside in a red car. “yes,” the voice answered, “I can see you”. It seemed to take forever but eventually the voice appeared in the body of a women. It took about an hour -with much pointing and gesturing and filling out of forms – passport required, of course.
Finally we were shown to our room, in a different building and this was when the hotel became a different experience. The room was appointed with period furniture – circa 1930’s. A married couple had bought it - the voice being the wife – were turning the
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