Sights
Monument to flying
The monument for the Dornier bomber that was shot down during the war in February 1943 is situated on the Alava grounds by lake Kaltimo. It was erected in 1992 by the Flight reserve guild and the area is now known as Airplane peninsula.
The gun cache
Close to Alava there is a gun cache, which dates to the war. After the continuation war in October 1944 Captain Törni, whilst waiting for his leave suggested that under officer Männistö hide weapons in case the Russians were to break the truce and attack Finland. They hid five machine guns, three rifles, a Russian rifle and a semi automatic rifle. In addition they hid ammunition and hand grenades. The weapons cache was hidden in a cave and covered by a rock. The cache was finally found in 1993 following instructions given by Männistö.
The weapons cache included the personal firearm used by our President Mauno Koivisto during the war. President Koivisto and party visited Alava in 1991 rekindling memories of the war.
For more sights around the Joensuu area please visit the Visitkarelia website.