Explore Karttu Village

Karttu is one of the oldest registered villages in Ikaalinen, a peaceful rural village in the middle of Ikaalinen, a short rowing trip north of the town.

Karttu is not a transit point. You have to come to the village “by coming”, but that is why we can say, like the late villager, that here we live as if in the Lord’s purse. Kartuntie starts from Kolmostie, and in winter the ice road crosses the lake from Toivolansaari on the opposite side. 

Karttu is a six-kilometer-long north-south peninsula, almost an island. A village road winds from one end of the village to the other, which is a small section of the ancient Kyrö winter road. 

Karttu also includes Myllykarttu and Toivolansaari, which is close to the city center, of which in practice the former is considered a separate village and the latter belongs to the old township, Vanha Kauppala. We consider Karttu to be “Karrunsaari” from Hallianranta to Soukonsalmi.

When entering the village, after the first downhill slope, the eye reaches the Ikaalinen spa and town on the right, behind Hämylänlahti Bay and Koivikko Campsite. On the left, Uuraslahti Bay rests behind fields and forests, waiting for admirers on its steep banks. You have to slow down at the Taivallahti Bridge to admire the sparkle of the sun on the mirror-like surface of the lake. The town's water tower is visible on the opposite side. After a steep hill, a peaceful cultural landscape opens up in front of you, the village center. Ahead, the road branches into a village road. The landmark of the intersection is the milk platform, Kartturi. Behind you is the large back of Kyrösjärvi.

From Kartturi, the village road to the right leads to the village centre from the time of the Great Divide, to the fields of the Old Village, with the Ikaalinen church tower, Vanha Kauppala and the Toivolansaari camping area on the horizon. Turning left, the narrow Uuraslahti Bay on the west side is connected to the Iso Selkä of Kyrösjärvi via the Soukko Strait. At the northern end of the village road, you can admire the opposite cliffs of Lanti, gilded by the evening sun.

Lake Kyrösjärvi surrounds the whole of Karttu. We have more coastline than any other village in Ikaalinen. You can see far from the shores of Karttu. Your eyes and soul will rest!

This is also what Bertel Laurell, the municipal doctor from Karttu, thought in the 1920s in his poem A Day at Kyrösjärvi:

"All your hundreds of islands and capes with their bays. Even your great-grandfathers admired by themselves. Such moods flood your summer mornings, when the night's silence fades away with the dawn."

It's refreshing out there on open water, when the rowing is going into the wind. You forget all your troubles, you don't see anyone on the road.

At the end of the poem, Laurell looks towards Karttu:

The evening bells ring out the glory of the Sabbath, and the day's wheel sets off beyond the Gulf of Taivallahti.”