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*** FINLAND 2012 - WEEKS 1~3 *** | |||
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Åland Spring wild flora and orchids |
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With DFDS' monopoly now on North Sea ferries, the overnight crossing from Harwich to Denmark's western port of Esbjerg is expensive, but on a bleakly chill and drizzly afternoon MS Dana Sirena edged out past Harwich's container docks into the North Sea with us aboard. In bright sunshine the following morning, the sandy coast of Jutland was in sight as the ferry manoeuvred its way through the narrow shipping channel into Esbjerg docks (Photo 1 - North Sea ferry arriving at Esbjerg Harbour, Denmark; our 15th major European venture to Finland was underway.
Our second day's drive took us to Sweden's capital city Stockholm. Traffic inevitably increased as in pouring rain we approached the conurbation, but with reliable road signs and supportive satnav, we steered a passage through, heading out to the tiny ferry port of Kapellskär for a night's camp. Kapellskär Camping set amid beautiful pine forests and carpeted with wood anemones and cowslips and the air filled with birdsong, was convenient for the Viking Line ferry. The following morning we boarded MS Rosella for the next stage of our journey to the Åland Islands halfway between Sweden and Finland (Photo 5 - Awaiting the Ålands ferry at Kapellskär).
Söderhagen Camping proved a homely base for
exploring Western Åland. The island had been incorporated into the Russian
Tsarist Empire along with the rest of Finland in 1809, and the Ålanders
were made responsible for the safe passage of
The island does possess one micro-brewery, the Ställhagen Brewery, whose products we wanted to sample, ranging from a light honey-beer, brown ale, pilsner-style lager through to the monumental 7% dark Baltic Porter. We were welcomed by the brewer, Christian Eckström who had founded the brewery in 2004, and he showed us around the brew-house (Photo 19 - Ställhagen Micro-brewery). All the beers are hand-produced reflecting the brewery's emphasis on quality; reflecting this, demand for Ställhagen's splendid beers deservedly continues to grow. Visit the Ställhagen Brewery web site for more information. Through our own web site we thank Christian for his exceptional generosity and wish him continuing success. That evening back at Prästö Camping the midges swarmed, doubtless a foretaste of things to come throughout Finland during the summer. Thankfully our faithful Bagon Diffuser, bought many years ago at Argos in Greece efficiently knocked them over. We also leant from the campsite owner about winter conditions in Åland when temperatures drop usually to -10°C with full snow cover and the sea freezes over enabling foolhardy souls to drive cars across to the mainland.
We spent our final day in Mariehamn itself. The islands' capital was founded on the site of a previously small fishing village by Tsar Alexander II and named after his wife Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna whose statue still stands in the park by Mariehamn's town hall. Finland's then leading architect was brought in to design the new model town on the principles of traditional Swedish urban planning with colourful wooden houses and a linden tree-lined grid of streets. It is still a charming and civilised town and a sheer delight to walk around its calm centre.
With this unique constitutional and cultural inheritance, we had to try to visit the Åland Parliament, and managed to persuade the helpful receptionist to show us the parliamentary chamber where the 30 member Lagtinget holds its sessions (Photo 22 - The Lagtinget, Parliament of the autonomous Åland Islands). The lobby of the parliamentary chamber was lined with an impressive pictorial history of Åland, the final scene showing the islands' representatives storming out of the Helsinki parliament in 1921 after their demands for re-unification with Sweden had been rejected.
Our time in Åland was drawing to a close. For the last week, the islands had been a delightful haven of tranquillity and civility for us; we felt so at home here and were now reluctant to leave. But it was time to drive down to the Viking Line check-in at the port to queue with other vehicles for the afternoon ferry sailing to Turku on the west coast of mainland Finland. As we boarded M/S Isabella, the ferry was crowded with noisy Finns; it was to be so different from the peace of Åland. The ship was soon drawing away from the docks and we stood by the stern rail with its Finnish flag to photograph Mariehamn and the Pommern receding into the distance (Photo 24 - Departing Åland by ferry for Finland).
Back across to the south bank, we passed the main
17th century buildings of Åbo Akademi, the Swedish University founded by
Per Brahe Swedish governor-general of the province of Finland whose statue stood
in the park. The Empire style building fronted by a statue of King Gustav
Adolphus (Photo 26 - Turku's University founded by the Swedes as Åbo Akademi)
reminded us of Estonian Tartu, another Swedish-founded university; the king's
enlightened policy of improving learning aimed to produce an educated
administrative elite for governing Sweden's empire. In Turku best-value lunches
are to be had at
Over the hillock on which Turku Cathedral (Tuomiokirkko)
had originally been built as the main focus for the Swedish crusade to
Christianise the pagan Finns (Photo 28 - Turku Lutheran Cathedral),
we walked along the river's south embankment in the shade of riverside trees (Photo 29 - Spring sunshine along Turku's delightful river embankment)
heading not for the over-priced and over-hyped Aboa Vetus Ars Nova art gallery
but instead for the unassuming and moderately priced Luostarinmäki open-air
Handicrafts Museum.
Our final visit was to a museum with a difference. Turku's Biology Museum displayed a series of dioramas presenting the enormously varying flora, fauna and birdlife of Finland's different regions, ranging from the coastal archipelago in the SW, southern Finland's lakeland, the fens of Karelia in the east, northern pine forests, right up to the tundra of Lapland. Each showed taxidermied examples of the regions' animals and birds including the brown bears of the forests and reindeer of Lapland (Photo 30 - Diorama of Lapland tundra and reindeer, Turku Biological Museum). The dioramas were thoroughly realistic and gave a superb foretaste of what we might experience later in the trip.
Leaving Hanko we drove along Finland's SW coast to camp at the small Swedish-speaking town of Ekenäs (Tammisaari in Finnish), originally founded in 1546 by Swedish King Gustav Vaasa as a trading port to rival Hanseatic Reval (Tallinn) across the Baltic. The easy-going Swedish culture and genteel courtesy reminded us of Åland, and we spent a relaxed afternoon in pleasant Spring sunshine ambling around the cobbled lanes of Ekenäs' picturesque Gamla Stan (Old Town) with its brightly painted wooden houses (Photo 34 - Wooden houses in Ekenäs Old Town). Street names like Milliners' Street and Hatters' Street recalled the time when craftsmen plied their trade here; today the cars parked outside showed a wealthier class of occupants. The mottled stone church uniquely Scandinavian Baroque in style was open and the starkly plain Lutheran interior still had its weekend wedding decorations in place (Photo 35 - 17th century church at Ekenäs). The local campsite, Ormnäs Camping, was a disappointment: despite the excessive static caravans the setting was pleasant enough, but the surly and officiously ill-mannered owner could well benefit from a charm course from Silversands' owners. That evening after a warm day, the midges gathered forcing us into the camper, doubtless a foretaste of worse to come.
Our onward destination was into Helsinki the
capital city, but en route we diverted into the village of Fiskars, once centre
of Finland's early iron-smelting and forging industry. We turned off through
pine forests following brown signs for Fiskars Bruk (iron works). The original
bruk was founded in 1649 by Dutchman Peter Thorswöste; iron ore was
shipped from Sweden for smelting and forging in the narrow wooded valley
at Fiskars with its plentiful supplies of water for driving mills and timber for
charcoal. The iron-working tradition continued and in the 19th century the
Fiskars Company was developed by John Jakob von Julin, aristocratic
But by mid-afternoon we could put off no longer facing the anticipated traffic of the Helsinki ring road and set a course for the capital. Follow us there in a couple of weeks time. Next edition to be published in 2 weeks
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CAMPING IN FINLAND
and LAPLAND 2012 -
the Åland Islands, University-city of Turku and South-western Finland:
An afternoon's drive crossing the magnificent
Lille Bælt and Store Bælt bridges (Photo 2 - Crossing Denmark from Jutland to Funen
on the Lille Bælt Bridge) brought
us across Denmark's islands of Funen and Jylland, passing names familiar from
Arriving at Mariehamn the Åland capital, we
stocked up with provisions and headed for Eckerö on the islands' western side
and spent several days at Söderhagen Camping close to the delightful hamlet of
Torp in South Eckerö (Photo 6 - Söderhagen Camping near Eckerö in the Western Åland Islands). The owners, Sven and Susanna were hospitably welcoming; by
sheer hard graft, they had cleared and levelled a formerly forested hillock
overlooking the Torpfjärden inlet of the sea to create the camping. The early
May weather was still cold, the driving wind interspersing squally showers with
bright sunshine. Along the shoreline by the campsite landing stage Spring wood
anemones and golden kingcups grew in profusion (Photo 7 - Landing stage on shore of Torpfjärden).
mail from Stockholm, dragging their
boats across the frozen sea in winter. Storby on the west coast marked the start of the Mail Road to St Petersburg and the grandiose Post House facing the
coast at Storby was intended to impress new arrivals with the awesome might of
the Russian Empire at its westernmost point (Photo 8 -Imperial Russian Post House at start of Post Road, West Åland).
Degersand at the southern tip of Eckerö would in mid-summer be swarming with
Swedish holiday-makers, but in early May the pine and birch-fringed beach was
peacefully deserted with morning sunlight glistening on the waters of the
curving bay; it was a magnificent spot (Photo 9 - Peaceful Springtime morning at Degersand).
Spring is without doubt the ideal time for being in Åland when the Spring
flowers are blooming, the birch trees are in early fresh leaf and the island is
peaceful. At the lovely farming hamlet of Torp, one of Åland's Midsummer Poles
still bore last year's decorations; on Midsummer's Eve, every Åland village
ceremonially decorates its Midsummer Pole with leaves and garlands (Photo 10 - Traditional Åland midsummer pole).
Many rural villages around Åland still also retain their traditional
post-windmills (Photo 11 - Åland post-windmill at Torp village in Eckerö).
Returning eastwards through Hammarland, we stopped at Kattby to visit the
beautiful 15th century stone-built church, its driveway carpeted with celandines
(Photo 12 - Lutheran church at Kattby in Hammarland). Åland was late to
be Christianised, and many churches were built alongside a pagan burial-ground as
at Kattby.
We moved to the northern Saltvik region of Åland's
main island where 5,000 years ago Palaeolithic seal hunters had paddled ashore
to establish one of the earliest settlements on Åland in a sheltered bay between
2 hills. Traces of this settlement haved been uncovered here and we walked the
hilly area of Långbergen to explore this barren wilderness of red granite
scoured by Ice Age glaciers and now covered with stunted pines. In this
imposing natural Åland topography, it was amazing how trees could take root in
the thin surface soil covering the exposed bed rock (Photo 13 - Åland landscape of glacier-scoured red granite and pine-woods).
That evening we crossed the small bridge across the channel separating Sund on
Main Island from Prästö Island ; the welcoming Prästö Camping set
in a forest clearing amid tall pines and birches gave us a base for the rest of
our stay on Åland. Nights were still chill but with morning sunlight filtering
down through the pines (Photo 14 - Prästo Camping on Prästö Island), we
set off on foot to explore the remains of 19th century Russian occupation of Prästö
Island. With Finland ceded to Imperial Russia after Sweden's defeat in the war
of 1809, the Russians fortified the strategically positioned Åland Islands as a
defensive western outpost of the Tsarist Empire. Work began on a massive
fortress at Bomarsund to house 5,000 troops as defence against Swedish
retaliation. 1000s of soldiers, civil servants, merchants, masons, and
quarrymen, with their families were stationed here in the township which grew up
around the fortress of Bomarsund. Such garrisons
were the most ethnically and
religiously diverse communities reflecting the breadth of the Russian Empire.
The
massive walls of Bomarsund fortress, which covered a large area by the channel
between Sund and Prästö, were faced with precisely cut granite blocks quarried
locally in an attempt to make the fortress cannon-proof. But the Tsar's
architects had reckoned without the Royal Navy. In the Crimean War England sided
with Ottoman Turkey against Imperial Russia, and in 1854 an Anglo-French fleet
bombarded Bomarsund fortress; after 2 days the Russians surrendered. The
fortress was demolished with explosives and although Russia retained occupation
of Åland until Finnish independence in 1917, the islands were declared a
demilitarised under the peace treaty, a status which continues today. Those of
the huge multi-ethnic community from around the Russian Empire which grew around
the now defunct fortress during the 19th century lived and died here, and were
buried in separate cemeteries according to their religion; the graveyards form a
poignant reminder of that period of Åland's history. Our walk today would take
us past the remains of these different cemeteries - Russian Orthodox, Catholic,
Lutheran, Jewish and Muslim; today they were carpeted with Spring flowers - wood
anemones, celandines, cowslips and hepatica. Our walk led us past the ferry
which battled in the blustery wind to cross the channel separating Prästö from
the outer island of Vardö, and back across to the western side of Prästö; here
the bridge linked over to the Sund 'mainland' (Photo 15 - Bridge linking Sund to Prästo Island in Eastern Åland)
for us to explore what remained today of Bomarsund fortress (Photo 16 - Tsarist Russian fortress at Bomarsund).
The following morning we drove over to the Karlsgården skansen (open-air museum)
which was founded in 1931 to preserve traditional wooden agricultural buildings
from around Åland re-erected here, reflecting Finland's interest in its cultural
past following independence. Admission was free and in bright sunshine we were
able to wander across the hillside looking at the farmstead with its Åland flag
proudly fluttering on the flagpole (Photo 17 - farmstead flying the Åland flag at Karlsgården skansen),
the farm buildings and windmills.
A small display recalled the history of the Post Road which still crosses the islands taking differing routes in winter
according the depth of ice on the frozen sea. We drove around the northern
part of the island visiting the old stone churches in the villages of Sund,
Kvarnbo and Pålsböle (Photo 18 - Sankta Maria Kyrka at Kvarnbo). Åland
is a peaceful and crime-free society, as illustrated by a pleasing experience
today: a youngster got off the school bus, picked up his bike left all day
unlocked by
the verge, and cycled off home. How we envied the Ålanders their delightful way
of life.
We spent a happy
day walking two nature trails close to Mariehamn the islands' capital. The first,
Ramsholmen, taking its name from the wild garlic (Ramsons) which grows in
profusion there. The footpath circles through a conserved wooded meadow which
were once common in Åland and traditionally mown for hay and the ash trees
pollarded, their foliage used as winter fodder for cattle. With its Spring
covering of wild flowers, the Ramsholmen meadow was a floral splendour to
behold, carpeted with snow-like covering of white and yellow wood anemones, with
sprinklings of cowslips and golden kingcups and the pollarded trees sprouting
their brushes of multiple new shoots (Photo 20 - Springtime wood anemones at Ramsholmen wooded meadows).
Set on a narrow peninsula south of Mariehamn, the Nåtö nature trail is another
way-marked network of paths threading its way around conserved woodland meadows
and along the shore line. We spent much of the time down on hands and knees
photographing the profusion of beautiful wild orchids - deep purple and delicate
lemon Elderflower Orchids (Dactylorhiza sambucina) and tall slender
Early Purple Orchids (Orchis mascula). The wild life was also spectacular
with Greater Spotted Woodpeckers (Photo 21 - Greater Spotted Woodpecker at Nåto Nature Trail),
tufty long-eared Red Squirrels and close to the shore Eider Ducks making their
curious 'oo-ing' call. So special and memorable were the Spring wild flora of
Åland that we have devoted a special page to these - see 
autonomous government and control of its own
budget in matters of education, health, transport, industry, policing, postal
and communications services. The Finnish State retains law-making powers in
foreign affairs, civil and criminal law, customs and state taxation. A portion
of taxation revenue is assigned to the devolved Åland government which manages
the islands' budget. Under the Autonomy Act, Swedish is the official language in Åland,
used by state authorities and the language of tuition in schools. We had learnt
that such is the indifference towards Finland, many Ålanders neither speak or
can understand Finnish. We had enjoyed a week of being accustomed to the
familiarly Germanic Swedish language before having to tackle profoundly esoteric
Finnish when we moved to the mainland.
Before leaving Mariehamn, we had to visit the
newly enlarged Maritime Museum since shipping had for so long played a key part
in Åland's culture and economy. The museum displays traced the history of Åland's
merchant shipping from the days of sailing ships to the current day ferry
services between Finland, Sweden and the Baltic States which now contributes
significantly to the Finnish economy. Åland had once maintained one of the
world's largest fleets of merchant sailing ships lasting into the 20th century.
One of these the Pommern, a steel-hulled sailing ship built in
Glasgow in 1903, is now moored at the quayside near the Maritime Museum. This
was of particular interest to us since she had operated the grain route from
South Australia, holding the record for completing the home run to England
around Cape Horn in 86 days (Photo 23 - Sailing ship Pommern moored at Mariehamn Maritime Museum).
These sailing merchantmen had loaded grain at the South Australian ports of Port
Pirie and Port Germaine on whose piers we had stood last year while visiting our
daughter Lucy who now lives in Adelaide. Standing on Pommern's fo'c'sle
looking along the length of
the vessel through their network of rigging, the
masts seemed so high emphasising the savagely demanding working conditions of
crewmen climbing aloft in a rolling sea. Below decks, the cavernous space of
the two-level cargo hold running the 310 feet length of the ship showed the
volume of grain sacks carried, and the 3 months needed to load the ship for the
return voyage from South Australia. And as we now stood marvelling at this
historical sailing ship, modern-day enormous ferries docked and departed at
regular intervals from Mariehamn's harbour.
By 7-30
that evening the ferry threaded its way through the
archipelago of islets on the approach to Turku port, and we were soon ashore for
the first taste of driving in mainland Finland. After the comfortable Swedish
ambience of Åland, suddenly everything felt totally alien with unintelligible
signs and street names. We navigated the 20kms into the countryside south of
Turku to Solliden Camping near to Pargas where the family welcomed us in fluent
English, and settled in for our first night's camp in mainland Finland. We woke
the following morning to a clear blue sky with streaks of sunlight filtering
down through the pines on the low hill top overlooking an inlet of the sea. Our
plan was to spend the day exploring the university city of Turku (Åbo in
Swedish), Finland's capital under Swedish rule. After the 1809 Russian
take-over, Tsar Alexander I moved the capital of the new Grand Duchy to the then modest fishing village of Helsinki, Turku being too closely aligned
with Sweden. Most of Turku's buildings were destroyed in a major fire of 1827
and the city re-planned by Carl Ludwig Engel who designed Helsinki and
other Finnish cities. Turku had developed along the banks of the Aura River as a
prosperous trading port with its 
diocesan cathedral as head of the Finnish
Lutheran church. The city's Swedish University had made Turku a centre of
learning and culture (Mikael Agricola who codified the Finnish language was
Bishop of Turku), and the modern city buzzes with its young student population.
Turku still has a large population of Swedish-speakers, with bilingual signs and
street names. We parked in the main street of Hämeenkatu and crossed the river
to amble along the delightful tree-lined embankment where groups of students sat
at street cafés. In the warm Spring sunshine, it was a lovely setting along the
curve of the river against the backdrop of the cathedral (Photo 25 - Riverbank and Cathedral at Turku).
one of the student halls of residence cafeterias (mensa) open
to visitors, and we sat amid lively undergraduates to enjoy a hearty yet
inexpensive meal. After
lunch we walked uphill through the university's modern buildings (Photo 27 - The modern buildings of Turku's Swedish University)
and down to the Sibelius Museum. Sibelius had no connection with Turku but the
collection of manuscripts, historical instruments and memorabilia of Finland's
national composer now forms the library of the university's Department of
Musicology. Against a background recording of Sibelius' music, we browsed the
exhibition illustrating Sibelius' life and work and his contribution to the
Finnish nationalist movement with the publication of Finlandia in
1899~1901 despite the strictures of Imperial Russian censorship.
The 1827 Great Fire had left much of Turku in ruins but this
small area of single-storey 18th century wooden cottages and tradesmen's
workshops had been spared. In the mid 20th century, the wooden buildings hidden
away among modern buildings were restored as craftsmen's homes and workshops as
a museum dedicated to the trade guilds which flourished here. With the aid of
the English-language commentary, we spent a pleasant hour wandering among the
wooden dwellings and workshops which showed the lives and work of watchmakers,
glove and comb-makers, carpenters, bookbinders, violin-maker and shoe-makers, a
realistic insight into 19th century urban artisan life in Turku.
Leaving Turku, we headed south-west dodging the
speed cameras, with the road passing through beautiful pine and birch woodland
with the different shades of green glimmering in bright afternoon sunshine.
Beyond Ekenäs, we turned towards Hanko and the far SW tip of Finland's
southernmost peninsula bordering the Baltic. Here we were almost opposite the
Estonian islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa on the southern side of the Gulf of
Finland where last year the seeds were sown of visiting Finland. Traffic in the
opposite direction as we drove SW was almost nose to tail; we hoped this was
weekend holiday-makers returning to Helsinki. This was also clearly a
Swedish-speaking region with Swedish given priority on the dual-language road
signs. Hanko was founded in 1874 as a fashionable spa-resort for Russian
aristocracy from the Grand Duchy. It was also the port of departure for the
250,000 Finns who emigrated to USA, Canada and Australia between 1880~1930.
After the 1939~40 Winter War, Finland was compelled to hand over the
strategically-placed Hanko peninsula to the Soviets who fortified the area as a
Red Fleet naval base. After fierce battles in 1941 the Finns recaptured Hanko
enabling the evacuated residents to return to their destroyed town. Today
Hanko enjoys a 3-fold economy: the town is still a popular tourist destination
and many industrial concerns have their base here. The most significant
contribution however is from the modern commercial container port which provides
an export route for Russian lorry- and rail-born freight with far better dock
facilities here than St Petersburg.
With most of the weekend tourists departed when we
arrived on Sunday afternoon, the town was thankfully quiet and we walked down to
the small beach and along the avenue where in the late 19th century fashionable
villas had been built by wealthy Russian residents. The surviving grand wooden
villas with their decorative fretwork, towers and gables are known locally as
the 'Old Ladies' after the Russian women's names they were given in their heyday
- Doris, Maija, Tallina, Thalatta and Eva (Photo 31 - Former Russian aristocratic villas at Hanko).
We camped just outside Hanko at Silversand Camping where we received a
hospitable welcome from the fluently English-speaking family who had recently
taken over what had been a run-down site. They were themselves seasoned campers
and wanted to run the campsite to the standards they would expect: the €20/night
charge with generous €5 discount for Scandinavian Camping card holders) included
everything with no extras: washing/drying machine and site-wide wi-fi internet
capable of supporting MSN/skype video link. In summer the delightful camping
area under shore-side pines looking out over the sea would have been bedlam, the
beach befouled by sun-bathers, but in early Spring it was peacefully deserted (Photo 32 - Silversands Camping at Hanko).
And that evening, after enjoying the trips' first BBQ, we were treated to a
magnificent sunset across the sea through the silhouette of shore-side pines (Photo 33 - Sunset across the Baltic at Silversands Camping).
Even after the sun had finally set, a glorious salmon-pink afterglow lit the
entire western sky reflected in the sea. Silversand Camping could certainly
merit our 'Best Campsite of the Trip' award.
grandfather
of Marshal Mannerheim, Finland's wartime military leader. The Fiskars Company's
factory provided the major source of employment in Fiskars, building family
fortune with the manufacture of tools, industrial machinery and ploughs, and in
1967 introduced its ergonometrically designed iconic orange-handled scissors.
Over a billion have been sold and can be seen in kitchens throughout the world;
few owners, ourselves included, realise their origins at Fiskars in Finland.
Manufacture has long since been moved overseas, and Fiskars itself has become
something of a twee museum-village, the former industrial buildings now
converted to galleries selling over-priced designer goods to the tourists who
flock here by the bus-load. But when in Finland, you have to go to Fiskars - and
we did. As we walked along the main street, the tree-lined river which once
powered the iron mills now made a peaceful setting. Along a side lane beyond the
former factory buildings, the Fiskars Museum has a small and unassuming set of
displays detailing the iron works' development from cottage industry to
world-class manufacturer. The modern tourist-village's
centrepiece is the elegant red-brick Clock-Tower Building designed by Engel (of
Turku and Helsinki fame) (Photo 36 - Clock-Tower Building at Fiskars iron-working village),
now converted into the Fiskars Company shop not only selling its modern
household wares but also with displays tracing the company's history at Fiskars.
And of course we could not resist buying a pair of orange-handled scissors as a
souvenir of our visit to Fiskars.
