| Search for the Coastal Life | |
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So, luggage and wife into the car and heading towards south-east! |
However, before heading to the southern coastal area, there was a stop of couple of days in the region of South Karelia, in the city of Jouseno. The driving route went through regions of Pohjois-Savo and Etelä-Savo, taking some eight hours to drive (about 700 km). |
If not near the sea, Joutseno is located quite next to the Lake Saimaa. Saimaa is the fourth biggest lake in Europe, having surface of 4 400 square kilometers! However, Saimaa is more like a system of lakes and rives rather than a one big lake, having shoreline of incredible 148 850 kilometers. We lived a nice hotel right next to the Saimaa in Joutseno. The hotel rented rowboats, so it was nice to have a small rowboat trip in the evening sun. |
Imatrankoski rapids Next to the Joutseno is a town
of Imatra. Imatra is famous for the Imatrankoski rapids — they
are said to be the
oldest tourist attraction in Finland. The tourism started already
in the year 1772 when Empress Catherine II of Russia came to admire this
waterway. Nowadays there is a power plant so the rapids do not run freely,
but luckily the dams are opened every day for the tourists.
After the couple of days nearby Saimaa, the trip continued towards Gulf of Finland. Unfortunately the Finnish weather cannot be trusted even in July, demonstrated in Lappeenranta with continuous rain. Luckily last time I visited the city, it was sunny and bright! |
Old Hamina
During the several wars in 17th and 18th century, Hamina was located in the both sides of the border (Russia and Sweden), and therefore there was a great need to build a fortress around the town by both Russians and Swedish in turns. Later when Hamina (and the rest of the Finland) ended for Russians in 1812, there was no need for the fortress anymore. However, Russians established military boarding school to Hamina and even today the city is famous for The School of Reserve Officers.
The restaurant building was built in 1863 for the director of the cadet school and lot of the original decor has been preserved since. Later the building has functioned also as a club for the officers before entering to the restaurant use. If you visit Hamina, this restaurant is definitely the place to have a lunch or a dinner! |
The city of Porvoo is located quite near to the Finnish capital Helsinki. Porvoo is the hometown of Finland's national poet's, Johan Ludvig Runeberg. The most famous finnish painter, Albert Edelfelt was born at Kiiala manor in Porvoo. No wonder there is a some kind of artistic mood around the city! |
The past look and feel in Old Porvoo has been preserved definitely well. It was nice to walk around the narrow rock streets and imagine what the life has been ages ago. |
There are several great old manors in the Porvoo area, also thanks to the Russian royalties who visited area often. Current main building of Haikko Manor is quite new, however, because the previous one was burned down in 1911. The new manor has been designed by Armas Lindgren.
The museum of Albert Edelfelt is located in Haikko. I climbed on top of the same hill where Edelfelt did one of his landscape paintings. Unfortunately I was little bit late for capturing the best sunset view. |
After staying couple of days in Porvoo area, I continued further to south. First stop was the Raseborg (Raasepori) castle ruins. Raseborg has always been my favorite castle as it is not modernized for boring conference or meeting facilities. Raseborg was built in the 14th century, probably in 1374 as for a fortress. In that time there was an access from the sea right next to the castle. After the establishment, there has been several stages and owners in the castle history (that you can read from the books and web). The most probable source for the castle name is Ratzeburg castle located in Germany. If you are nearby Tammisaari, Raseborg castle ruins are definitely worth of visiting. |
After half an hour drive from Raseborg the road suddenly ended to sea. Obliviously this was the end of Finland — I had arrived to the southernmost city in Finland, Hanko. Hanko is very beautiful sea faring town in the very Southern Finland. In the 19th century Hanko was the most important marine city in Finland, and also very famous of it's spas. The sea has been naturally an important element for Hanko from the beginning, so practically the town is surrounded by harbors, harbor structures, lighthouses (if you possibility visit Bengtskär's lighthouse island, go for it!) and so on.
The café has an interesting history, as one of the owners has been Marshal G.G.E. Mannerheim. Mannerheim had a summer cottage right next to the café and bought the café to get rid off partying people who came to café to drink so called "hard tea" during the Prohibition in 1919-1932. Good old Marshal! :) |
Turku has lot to offer for tourists and photographers, but unfortunately I could stay only hour or so. So I decided just to visit the Forum Marinum, located next to the River Aura in city center (I'd seen Turku castle previously). Forum Marinum is a foundation established in 1998 to "preserve the maritime cultural tradition typical of the Southwestern coastal area of Finland". I'd say Forum Marinum is an excellent sea museum including beautiful sailing ship called Suomen Joutsen ("Finland's Swan"). The finnish government bought the ship for training purposes in 1930, and since then it has been one of the icons of the independent Finland.
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