Turku, Finland 2

Well, we have made it to Turku – 3 days and much excitement seeing Simon & Jatta !!

By the time our 2nd flight came around after our lounge hopping, we were ready to try to sleep and after our “midnight snack” on the plane we managed to get a bit of shuteye between Hong Kong & Helsinki. Reasonably well rested, we were having our breakfast with the sun coming over parts of western Russia, about 90 minutes short of Helsinki. Arrival in Helsinki was very easy – I think we were the first arrival of the day and the plane almost circumnavigated the airport taking us to a gate in a very new section of the terminal. We then almost circumnavigated the inside of the terminal walking back to immigration – probably a good thing for us first thing in the morning after a long flight ! There were about 5 people ahead of us at immigration – only because they walked faster than us !

Our early arrival meant that we had a bit of a wait until the car rental kiosks opening at 7am. So we partook the first of many coffees for the day and sorted out a few bits in our luggage so we would be ready to hit the road. There was quite a queue for the car rental but we were on our way to Turku by about 7.30am. We have a Toyota Auris wagon for these few days – need to be able to fit Simon & Jatta’s luggage in on the way back 😂. We were lucky to get an automatic too. The price difference for the hire between a manual and automatic was quite considerable so we had opted to pay for a manual. So it was quite a bonus to end up with the auto.

By 9.30am we were checking into our hotel – Scandic Julia – and although we were unable to get into our room at this stage we really only had one thing on our minds – meeting up with Simon & Jatta !! And living only a couple of blocks away we were soon exchanging lots of hugs and kisses !!

And then we were pretty much in the hands of our local guides for the day. First stop Turku Cathedral, not far from the hotel just across the gorgeous Aura River.

First stop – Turku Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral

After looking through the cathedral and the little museum attached, we headed along the river toward the main part of town. Even though it has been pretty hot here, everything is very green and we couldn’t have really got a better first day of weather.

A walk along the river

We stopped for coffee at CafeArt, Simon’s haunt during the winter months when working. Don’t know about the winter months but it is certainly a great spot at this time of year ! We sat for a while, with a coffee of course, and took in the lovely day – and company !

CafeArt

Next stop was the Luostarinmaki Handicrafts Museum. In 1827 there was the Great Fire of Turku which destroyed two thirds  of the city. These 200 year old mainly timber buildings were spared from the fire as they were located on the outskirts of the city. They were then spared from the decision to pull them down after the fire by the new town plans because of fire safety issues ! One by one they were acquired by the City of Turku as significant to the city’s history and turned into an outdoor museum, preserving the handicrafts workshops and lifestyles of the residents in the 19th century. The museum itself has been in operation since 1940. There are various demonstrations of some of the handcrafts and staff in period costume.

Some of the 200 year old houses at the Handicrafts Museum

The restaurant boats along the river – a summertime pleasure

We then wandered further along the river and as we were all getting a little peckish, Simon & Jatta had picked a favourite spot for lunch for us to try. It was pretty popular but we found a good table outside and tucked into a delicious lunch – Adrienne, Jatta & I all had reindeer pasta and Simon had salmon -really, really nice ! After our lunch and a sit taking in the atmosphere of the river, we started back and our next stop was the market hall. Lots of little eateries and fresh food stalls – if we hadn’t just eaten we would have had no trouble tucking in here ! Further on we came to the main market square – which is currently an archaeological dig ! In the course of plans for new construction, they have come across the remains of life in the 1600’s so they are recording it all – before the underground carpark takes over !

The archaeological dig in the Square

The Art Gallery

It was around 4pm and Adrienne and I were starting to flag a bit. After heading up the hill to the Art Gallery, we decided to head back to the hotel to check in and put our feet up for a while and catch up again a bit later – assuming we hadn’t fallen asleep ! Around 6pm we met up with Simon again for a snack and a couple of drinks near the river. After a quiet walk around the block, we decided we needed sleep so said our goodnights to Simon and went back to the hotel and an early night. It was such a lovely day !

Nice spot for a snack and a couple of drinks !

More tomorrow !

Today’s Tour Trivia – The game “Angry Birds” was developed in Finland