I had come to Imatra – playground of empresses and aristos
for 300 years – to see a dam. And a church. But first – lunch! I was hungry.
Imatra could wait. A cosy table at the Buttenhoff. "Was I cold? Would I like a
hot rum toddy before lunch"? Well – yes to both. With the rum under my belt,
circulation restored, she came back – there was lunch a la carte, or a set menu
of Finnish Yuletide specialties. Well, no brainer - I’ll have the Christmas
specials, thank you. It was a wonderful meal. But of all the delicious things I ate that
day, the one that stuck with me longest was the mushroom soup. Steaming hot,
rich, wonderful, full of mushrooms. I decided on the spot that soup would come
from my kitchen, once the weather in Sydney cooled down a bit.
Imatra. The district was an early watering hole for the
Russian nobility. Catherine the Great and her court visited in 1772, and
tourism has been a major industry ever since; the Imatrankoski Rapids were the draw card. By the turn of
the 20th Century, grand hotels lined the river bank above the
rapids, and Imatra had become a popular honeymoon destination. These days,
besides tourism, the town is dominated by the hydroelectric industry. It even
gets into the town’s coat of arms.
The key to
understanding all this history and geography lies in the geology. As usual. In
a country that is very flat, Imatra lies on one of the major topographic
features dominating southern Finland. The Salpausselkä
ridge system is a glacial terminal moraine – a ridge of gravel and sand that formed
at the edge of the Baltic ice sheet during the last ice age, and was left
behind as the glaciers retreated, about 12,000 - 10,000 years ago.
The ridge lines are up to 100 m above the surrounding landscape, run for
hundreds of kilometres, and have been major migratory routes throughout
prehistory.
Today, the modern highway and railway systems follow the high ground
of the Salpausselkä ridges, skirting
the strew of lakes and mire to the north. From my train, high on the moraine
ridge, I had seen out on both sides, over the never-ending forests and frozen lakes
of eastern Finland. Only a few rivers breach the ridge line, including the
Vuoski River at Imatra, where the ridge line provides head for the impressive
rapids, and for the hydroelectric industry.
Modern Imatra had little to
show of its interesting past. Like much of eastern Finland, it was devastated by
conflict in the early 1940s – the Winter War and Continuation War, as the Finns
call WWII. I suspect little was left standing. And as for the dam, and the church?
I didn’t see either of them. Imatra is very spread out – from the dam to the church
is about 15 km. I hadn’t yet got used to the northern winter’s short days, and
by the time I had finished lunch and a short stroll around town, it was almost dark. I’ll
just have to come back in summer ...
The church I wanted to see is the
Church of Three Crosses, designed by Alvar Aalto, Finland’s leading modernist
architect, in 1953. It has his characteristic, highly articulated roof form.
The dam is on the Vuoski River, near the town. Enough for
another visit.
So, the mushroom soup. Really
simple. I sweated some finely chopped onion and garlic; sautéed a load of
finely sliced big mushrooms (“flats” if you can get them – more flavour than
baby button mushrooms). I added some dried porcini that I had soaked in boiling
water. Simmered in chicken and vegetable stock, and seasoned with salt, pepper,
lemon zest, and a dash of lemon juice. A little cream to soften the texture,
and my soup was perfect. Dead easy, and perfect on a cold midwinter
day. And full of reminiscence about Finland.
