0346 Luvia to Helsinki, via Turku

2^nd Sept 2015

Finland is saved by Turku – What a great city !

Red sky at night does NOT necessarily mean “Shepherd’s Delight”.  After the gorgeous sunset last night, we awoke to a very grey sky, and even blacker clouds heading our way.  Ah well, I guess we couldn’t expect this Scandinavian Indian Summer to last for ever, and today it obviously cried “enough !”.  It wasn’t raining when we packed up and got on our way, but it started soon afterwards, and continued all day, sometimes very hard, other times just a light drizzle that meant you had to keep your wipers on slow all the time.

With Helsinki our end target for the day, we planned a stop en route at Turku.  Turku (or Abo as it is called in Swedish) was founded in 1229 and grew into an important trading centre despite being ravaged by fire many times.  It used to be the capital of Finland, but at one stage of Russian dominance they wanted a capital closer to Russia, and so moved it to Helsinki in 1812. 

Regarding the two names for Turku, one being in Swedish, I should explain that many places here, especially in the south, have the two spellings or names for a town on the road signs – Even Helsinki has its Swedish name on all signs, and even on maps – Helsingfors.  Can be quite unsettling at times, and as many people here in Finland speak Swedish as their native tongue, it is a real mix.

Driving to Turku, there was absolutely nothing to see that I haven’t taken photos of before – trees, a few fields, and one or two lakes.  And as it was raining, they were even more unspectacular than previously !  So no pics !!   We arrived in Turku just after 11 am and went almost directly to Turku Castle, of which construction started in 1280 as a defensive fort on a small rocky island in the estuary of the River Aura.  From a basic Middle Ages defensive basic wooden fortified camp, it developed over the years into a magnificent stone castle that guarded the sea route into Turku. The exhibits in the castle are excellent – With dimly lit rooms and dungeons on the lower floor giving the feel of how it would have been in the Middle Ages, while the castle’s upper floors with bright and spacious rooms were built during the Reanaissance in the 1500’s.

We spent over 2 hours in there, and could easily have spent a lot longer – It really was excellent.  The models of the fort over some 8 periods from the first fort through to the final building gave one a perfect idea of how it developed.  The old shape of the original fort is still evident today, with more added on upwards, and then outwards as a Bailey was built allowing extra living quarters and extended walls.  We came away very impressed.

As it was raining when we came out, a sandwich in the back of the van was out of the question, so we crossed the road to a little café operated by a lady.  We order two Lihapiirakkas, with muna and pihvi.  This was basically a local Finnish hamburger (but better), with a meat patty, cheese, egg, and onions and relish. With a cup of good coffee (Finnish are the biggest coffee drinkers in the world !), we thoroughly enjoyed it in the

shelter out of the rain.  While waiting on our order, we looked at some photos of a lady at Macchu Picchu, running marathons, climbing mountains in Tanzania, and several other locations around the world, and we deduced it was the owner.  So we got chatting, and her name is Pirkko Martin, she is 78 years old, and as fit as a fiddle.  She has done marathons, (including the New York), did the long hike (Inca trail) to Macchu Picchu, and was the founder of the annual Paavo Nurmi Marathon in Turku.  More details on the event and Pirkko are here :-  http://paavonurmimarathon.fi/en/story/ 

Needless to say we ended up having photos around our car, with her pointing to our Macchu Picchu sticker with obvious delight.  A thoroughly pleasant half hour chatting to a wonderful lady who has achieved so much in her life.  Thank you, Pirkko.  We strongly recommend that anyone visiting the Turku Castle drops in to Piirko’s little café right across the road from the entrance, has a chat with her, and orders one of her Lihapirakkas and a cup of coffee.  You won’t be sorry, I assure you.

From Pirkko’s café we set off across town to another other famous building in Turku – The Turun Tuomiokirkko, or Cathedral.  This is the “mother church” of Finnland’s Lutheran faith, is one of the major records of Finnish architectural history, and towers over the town.  Consecrated in 1300, the colossal brick Gothic building has been rebuilt many times over the centuries after damaging fires. Apart from its interesting architecture, the 42 original Middle Ages side chapels are now home (if that is the right word) to many graves and memorials of many of the great names in Finnish history – Several Bishops, military commanders, and others, but the most famous tomb is the sarcophagus of Queen Katrin Mansdotter, the wife of King Erik XIV, who was buried here in 1613.  Another excellent hour spent at this cathedral.

It was still raining when we came out, so we went for a

drive through the city – And it really is a delight.  Along the river are moored many old ships, tall ships, and other maritime vessels, and the walkway alongside the river would be a delight on a sunny day. In amongst this is the Maritime Museum, which looked to have many interesting exhibits.  Driving on through town, the architecture appears very Russian to me – Which I guess is hardly surprising given its history.  But if you plonked me down here and took off my blindfold, I would guess I was in Moscow or similar.  There are also delightful pedestrian malls through the city, and it really looked to be a fascinating place – All the more perhaps because until today I never even knew of the city of Turku !   Somewhere definitely worth a longer visit.

We then continued our way to Helsinki in the rain.  We started to see signs for St Petersburg in Russia, which reminds one how close we are to the border.  A newish freeway made the trip to Helsinki easy enough, but we hit town at rush hour, so it was a bit slow crossing the city – Our targeted camp site was on the far side !  And then, just 3 kms from our campsite, we passed a Toyota dealership, and as I need an oil change, we dropped in to see if they can fit us in tomorrow – Yes they can !  Perfect.  So we continued on to the camp site, where fortunately is virtually stopped raining while we set up and Janet cooked supper – Pork chops – Our first piece of meet since before Norway (far too expensive in Norway !!), and very tasty ! 

Plan tomorrow is to spend the day in Helsinki, get the car to Toyota for its 2 pm appointment, and then spend a second night in this camp site before catching the ferry south to Tallinn and Estonia. 

Photos are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0346LuviaToHelsinki?authkey=Gv1sRgCITNztjIj_qYOQ