Turku – Day 2
We had a quiet morning ahead of us as we were getting the chance to meet up with Jatta’s family for lunch today. So after a pretty good nights sleep we had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel and it gave us a chance to catch up on a few things – our blogs included.
Whereas our “normal” touring timetable calls for “getting away early” and then blogging in the evening after we have “done” our day, this part of the tour at least might see that turned around the other way. Don’t want to wear out our guides !
We met up with Simon & Jatta at noon for our walk back up the river to our location for lunch. First stop though was back to the market square where the daily market was in full swing. There were lots of stalls with lots of fresh fruit and veges as well as a number of stalls selling a beautiful array of flowers.
Flower stalls in the market
There is also an information hut in the square at the moment with details about the archaeological dig, including finds from the dig – small items such as dishes and smoking pipes and even a complete cat skeleton believed to be from the 1800’s. There is also a book outlining the Turku city vision for the future, with considerable plans afoot for pedestrian malls, a tram system and new building which seems aimed at incorporating the town square with the river precinct.
We continued on back down to the river and initially back along area we had covered yesterday. Further past the restaurant where we had our nice lunch, we moved into the “maritime” area of the river. Along the side we were walking, there were numerous boat moorings and a new restaurant – Nooa – a bit more “fine dining” looking and one Simon hadn’t tried yet. On the other side of the river, which is where the old shipyards had been, there is extensive renovation of some buildings into apartments as well as a lot of new apartments being built – a very nice looking area. Further along we came to the area surrounding the maritime museum – which is where our restaurant for lunch was located – called Goran.
It was lovely to meet Jatta’s mother, Tutta, her sister Jenni and her boyfriend David. Unfortunately her grandfather, Rolle, was not up to getting out for the day so we will just have to keep meeting him for another time. Our lunch was fantastic – a “home food” smorgasboard of delicious food, from seafood, to salads, to hot dishes – none of which I could possibly pronounce but you can check out by clicking here. We had our coffee on the outside verandah overlooking the grand tall ship Suomen Joutsen. (though the rather large gentleman doing his “Titanic” scene at the front of the ship was not a pretty sight ! 😂)
The area around the Maritime Museum – the building in the background to the right is where we had our lunch.
After saying our goodbyes to Jatta’s family after our lunch, we headed further along to visit Turku Castle. Jatta had to leave us at this point as she was working a shift on the river boat restaurant “Bar Cindy” for a function. Simon could almost get a job at the Castle now as a guide as he has taken all his visitors here – luckily he likes this castle ! 😂
Like a lot of buildings we find in Europe, the castle tower was wrapped in scaffolding – though Simon said this was very new as it hadn’t been there on his last visit – however it is quite a large and impressive structure, dating back to the 13th century and the largest surviving medieval building in Finland. It has been expanded, destroyed, re-built and renovated on numerous occasions but is certainly an imposing structure today !
We spent quite a bit of time at the castle and then started to head back into town along the river. Part way back, Simon suggested we take the “green barge” back. This was great – a very civilised way of taking in the river indeed ! – an old barge with tables and chairs set out on the deck and a bar at the back ! 🍺🍷 It stops at various places along the river for people to get on and off and for 6 Euro you get a stamp that lets you get on and off all day. We bought our drinks and took in the scenery, passing Jatta’s “Bar Cindy” boat along the way.
About to board the barge
On the “green barge” setting off down the river
Fountain sculpture “Harmonia” along the river
Back down near CafeArt we got off the barge at its last stop and walked back to the shops near the market square to see if we could find a rain coat for Simon – weather forecast for Iceland not looking favourable at this stage ! Not much success – he has managed to borrow something from Jenni’s boyfriend, David, as a backup – so we found a spot at the “Old Bank” to have a chat and work out what we might do for dinner – the “Old Bank” is now a pub.
Refreshed again, we walked back down to the river to seek out a spot for dinner – being Friday night it was possibly going to be “pot luck”. Simon suddenly remembered a “summer pop-up” restaurant just behind one of the buildings on the river. Having not been able to get a table at the first place we stopped we decided to give it a go.
Glad we popped in to the pop up !
Kippis !
G.A. Petrelius turned out to be a good option ! There were quite a few tables, in what was probably just normally a carpark, with only a couple of other groups. So we ordered a couple of the plates to share and tucked in to our bratwurst, pulled pork, sauerkraut, pretzel and other goodies – very tasty indeed !
Simon had said that he and Jatta had drinks here once but other than that the place had been a “hidden gem”. As well as the outside tables there was quite a large area inside one of the buildings but he had never seen anyone inside.
But don’t go looking for it if you come to Turku – there is not much of “summer 2018” left now !
After dinner, we organised our plans for a bit of a drive tomorrow and we wandered back toward our hotel and said our good nights to Simon.
We have had another great day here in Turku – we even managed to stay awake to see the sun go down and the lights around the cathedral and observatory come on ! (9.30pm 😂)
Looking forward to another nice day tomorrow – our last in Turku
Today’s Tour Trivia – Finland has the largest per capita consumption of milk in the world !
That’s awesome! What a great start.
Re the milk, we did notice quite a large number of adults guzzling down glasses of milk at breakfast time. I’m guessing the milk had more clients then the apple juice.
Try the skyr…….
Yes, but they don’t seem to be big on toast – only one small 2 slice toaster and no queue !