Trampere

Tampere is becoming the second city in Finland sporting a tram! Since trams are amazing, and since we have now visited different kinds of Tampere trams two years running, here is a new post.

The first trams trundled the streets of Finland (pulled by horses) at the end of the 19^th century. There were trams in Helsinki, Turku and Vyborg. Trams became more and more popular, and in the 1940s they were at the height of their popularity. 150 million trips were made in 1945, versus the 57 million nowadays.

In the 1960s trams were deemed redundant and old-fashioned – buses were the way to go! Finnish towns started to lose their trams.

But gradually then, from the 70s onwards, trams started gaining more and more fans. For a while now, Helsinki has been the only Finnish city with trams. But Tampere has now finished its first tramlines, and the trams are due to start running on the 9^th of August. Hooray!

In addition to the new tram of August 2021, Tampere has other tram life too, though. In 2019 the tram café of Tampere started its function, centred around an old Helsinki tram, a traditional red-and-grey Valmet. The first Helsinki trams were green and yellow, but when these then-new Valmet trams were introduced in the 1970s, they were painted red and grey. This scandalously bright colour combination however did not prove popular amongst the public, and consequently they were repainted back to the good old green and yellow.

But one red and grey tram escaped repainting, and found its way to Tampere as a café! Fabio and I visited it last year on a scorching summer day, tho compared to the inside temperature of the tram the outdoor weather was verging on hypothermic.

We had a lovely lunch/afternoon coffee, opting to stay outdoors to enjoy it. This is my kind of cafe.

So last year we saw the tram tracks and the tram cafe, and vowed to come back the following summer.

So this year, on the first day of the first flash of summer, we went on a spontaneous trip to Tampere to experience a tram test run. They’ve been doing test runs since March, but this week and next week anyone can go – providing you have a valid transport ticket (NYSSE) and have reserved your place in advance (the latter due to covid numbers).

I made an efficient time schedule which included forty minutes enjoying cinnamon buns at a cinnamon bun-famous café in Helsinki, and then we took the bus to Pyynikintori, one of the terminuses (termini?) of the tram. We’d booked onto the penultimate tram, the 16.45 but were allowed onto the 16.30 departure.

The indoor conductor dude forgave my awkwardness with the Nysse public transport tickets, and we were off. There were maybe fifteen other people in the tram, but it was ridiculously spacious so the pictures hardly show the others.

What a ride. We started at a peaceful plod in the centre of the town – a good old slowcoach tram – but then suddenly we were out of the centre, whizzing down tracks adjacent to the motorway, more like a high-speed train than a tram!

We arrived at the other terminus, Etelä-Hervanta, a quick half an hour later. There were no more trams going back the opposite direction, so we took it as a chance for an adventure and exploration. We found ourselves near my first ever home (not that my recollections and that vivid, as we moved out when I was about, er, six months old?), and then went to see a few lakes, with Fabio leading the way.

On the way back, before a lovely picnic at Näsi park (pics to come later, perhaps), we passed by this charmer from last year. The tram cafe wasn’t open yet, but we trust it will be, soon…

And we’ll visit in August! 😀

Emzy

xxx