ALAND ISLANDS - Mariehamn

Only 18 Euro for a 5 hour ferry trip, cheap as chips, & definitely the way to travel round here. We arrived in the early afternoon, found our hotel very easily as it was only about 200 metres from the port, next stop Turistinformation (I am just showing off my Swedish skills).

We naturally went for a bit of an explore found churches, beaches (however I do use that term loosely as there is no surf or even a tide here, the Baltic Sea is virtually land-locked, not to mention the very low salt content, you could almost drink the sea water), some really huge gorgeous old homes with boat houses, jetties, summer houses etc down near the shore. Guess they belong to the richies eh!



The POMMERN, now a great museum, beautifully maintained & one of the very
last 4 master sailing ships to ply the waters to & from Australia, transporting wheat.
Its last journey was in 1937, just before the outbreak of war. 

Day Two we hired push bikes to do a bit of exploring out of town. Now I haven't really ridden a bike in 40 years so it took me a few minutes to get the hang of it but all went well until we started hitting some hills. OMG it was 30 degrees, with a head wind, I had to walk up most of the hills but Grant is such a gentleman, he rode up then sat in the shade waiting for me.

Proof I can actually ride a bike, shame I didn't bring my bike shorts, haha

All in all we had a lovely time found a beautiful spot to eat our picnic lunch near a swing bridge connecting two islands. Then back to town this time with a tail wind thank god! We were a bit disappointed that most of the summer tourist activities don't start until July so there was no bus tour, most of the museums etc were shut but not to worry maybe next time....

Swing bridge joining two islands, and the picnic area where we had lunch

A darling lady who let me take her photo, her outfit is traditional
& her sister-in-law had handmade the lace & done all the embroidery

When we got back into town, hot & bothered & with really sore butts we rode into the centrum (bit more swedish for you, just means town centre) for a cool drink & an icecream only to find that it was actually a public holiday - Autonomy Day - so as Toni says, the random things that happen are often the best. We threw ourselves into the activities, listened to a heavy metal band & political speeches in Swedish, watched swing dancers & a street parade of locals in traditional dress (just lovely), drank local beer and of all things befriended a man after taking his advice about beer types, only to find we had made friends with a celebrity, he was a journalist & the newsreader on the local radio station. Pizza & beer for dinner and home to collapse into bed.

A lovely shady avenue with walking & biking path leading from the Port to the
town centre, past the Tourist Office.  Just what the doctor ordered on such a warm day

We only had half a day on our last day as the ship to Stockholm left at 13:45 but we wanted to make the most of it so we opted for a walk along the boardwalk and track round the peninsular.  Very nice too, quite recently built, overhanging the water in places with seats & picnic tables etc.

Just happened to be enjoying the view when a ferry/cruise ship sailed past
on its way out of Mariehamn

Leaving Aland Islands now but this is certainly a place we would love to return to, so clean, so beautiful, so much to do, such lovely, lovely people & great pizzas.  We did manage to try a 'whopper' slice of their local Alandspankoken (Aland Pancake) with rasberry sauce & masses of whipped cream--to die for I can tell you.  So nice, it was a bit like a tapioca pudding in texture with some spices added but baked like a cake in a large tray & cut up into 10cm squares then drowned in toppings....mmmmmm!

Off now on the rest of our adventure on Tallink Silja Line Ship - Galaxy - the wifi was a bit dodgy, I expect more than just a comfortable lounge with table, lovely clean toilets, waitress service for drinks, live music, duty free shopping and 5 hours at sea cruising through the islands for our $9 each.  Call me petty!

FINLAND, second time round - TURKU



After our short visit to Estonia we have now travelled to Turku on the western coast of Finland. This was the original capital of Finland, until Russian rule when the capital was moved to Helsinki - because it was closer to Moscow. 

Turku is a lovely spot, a big winding river runs through the centre of the city with boardwalks and cycleways along both banks & a massive archipelago with bridges & roads meandering round the shorelines.



River Aura in Turku city centre

Our first day here was a day of rest, such a hectic schedule is tiring. We did however wander to the Tourist Information office after lunch to pick up a few maps & brochures then we walked back to our hotel via the riverside, enjoying a double scoop of icecream on the way. The weather has warmed up nicely, fine & sunny, 26 degrees every day this week...just perfect...everyone seems to be out enjoying it too, shorts seem to be the uniform and for the girls the shorter the better!

An example of the gorgeous timber buildings in Old Rauma

Less than a hundred kilometres north of here is the World Heritage Town of Rauma, that was our plan for Monday. An enjoyable ride on the express bus got us there in short shrift. Fantastic classic timber structures and craftspeople practicing traditional skills. I have always wanted to give bobbin lace making a go and it was great to see & chat with a lady as she worked on a circular doiley edging. I couldn't resist had to buy a couple of small pieces, at least they are light to post home. There are 200 members in her bobbin lacemaking group most of whom are local to Rauma, I doubt there are that many in all of Australia.

Bobbin Lace making in Old Rauma - One quick lesson, now I am a 'know-it-all'

Tuesday we opted for a bit of walking and a 2 hour city bus tour. In the morning we went to the Turku Cathedral which is the home of the Lutheran Church in Finland and was built in the 1300's, naturally it has been expanded since then and burnt down a couple of times but they still have a museum of original wooden carvings, gold & silver plates, robes dating back into the 1600's and there are tombs of a Queen, her grandchildren, a couple of war heros & famous people to boot. The cathedral was just lovely and despite its trials and tribulations over the years there were still remnants of the original fresco wall & ceiling paintings.


A magnificent wooden carved case (photos done't really do this justice) for holding religious relics,
dates back to 13th Century and thought to contain bones of the first Bishop

We picked up the tour bus at Tourist info (who would have thought it?) and because Turku is a European Centre of Culture for 2011 the trip was discounted to only 5 Euro each which I thought was dirt cheap since it lasted 2 hours and we had a lovely lady guide whose english was really good. Saw castles, churches, community buildings like the old prison, the outdoor swimming pool (wonder if they skate on it in winter) which was quite popular since the weather had turned so warm & lots of other interesting places. An example was the historic public sauna that is over the river and has a glass floor, you get the keys from the Museum but it is available free of charge to anyone who wants to use it. Earlier in the day we had walked past this black timber structure about 2 metres square, out over the water with a chimney sticking out the roof & we had debated what it might be, now we know.

That's it for Turku, a nice dinner at a local restaurant then a  good night's sleep  before our 8.15 am ferry ride to the Aland Islands......bet you had to look them up on a map, most people have never heard of them.....

ESTONIA - twenty-four hours, short but sweet

Now this is what I call a luxurious shuttle service, padded lounges, poker machines, duty free drinks, meals & free wifi, everything you could need for just 2 hours! Naturally we drank the water & ate the M&Ms that we brought with us & used their wifi the entire trip, got to get your monies worth.

Bit bright but you get the idea, huge picture windows and three or four floors of seating,
all able to see out the front & watch the stage should there be a performance

Unbelievably the walkway to the ferry and from the ferry at the other end must have been a kilometre long, gee we were glad we only had a small backpack each, there were plenty of people dragging or carrying huge bags. There were also lots of young people with folded luggage trolleys. We found out on the way back what they were for, tell you later...

When we left the terminal there was a Hop on-Hop off bus waiting at the stop so we hopped on, as you do when you have no idea where you are going. They are generally good value to help you get your bearings & believe it or not the fire station that Grant wanted to visit was the very first point of interest on the trip. It is very old and has a most unusual drying tower that was also used as a lookout before the invention of the phone. We completed a full circuit and got off next time the bus passed the fire station. Grant visited - I slept, on the shaded grass of the park across the road, beautiful - children playing, mothers with prams, lovely feel to the place (lucky Grant left that half packet of M&Ms he was gone for an hour & I was hungry).

Historic tower and Fire Station

Once he returned we walked to the tourist information office which is inside the medieval walled city centre. Naturally we detoured to the markets (multiple ones seemed to be all over the place but we were told later that it is a special festival week and that the markets are mostly not permanent), picking up a few postcards and a couple of gifts. I would have loved to get a piece of knitwear but I just don't have the use for such heavy/thick items no matter how beautiful or how cheap they are.

Where is Rapunzel?  Viru entrance gates to the old city 

Then into the city itself, my goodness the buildings were gorgeous, there were cafes spilling out onto every street, locals in national dress, waitresses dressed for the occasion & live music on a stage in the main Town Square. Great fun, loads of people, lots of movement & decorations. We walked & walked, had dinner in a traditional restaurant below street level. Grant was really adventurous (that is tongue in cheek of course as he has never been adventurous with food) & chose PIZZA, me on the other hand chose chicken breast in red wine sauce with peppered vegetables & decorated with piped chicken liver pate. Absolutely gorgeous! We were given rye bread that was heavy as a rock to have with it, not too bad really if you put plenty of butter on it.

Street-side cafes, World Heritage buildings & loads of people

Next job, find our way to our accommodation since it was about 7pm already. After a couple of 'bum-steers' we finally got onto Route 18 bus and headed south-west out of the city into the suburbs. I had had great difficulty finding accommodation because of the festival so we had to go a fair way out for cheap accommodation. We ended up not paying for the bus trip as I couldn't find anywhere to buy a ticket & the bus driver didn't sell them, oh well, that saved us a few euro. We got off the bus, double checked the map in the bus shelter & headed into suburbia.

These cobbled streets may be great for traction & water removal when it snows,
but they are really hard to walk on, thank goodness this street had footpaths

What a beautiful suburb it was, overhanging trees on the street, cobblestone roads, huge homes (many of them in the classic timber styles of a couple of hundred years ago) on very large blocks of land. We found out later that this was a really wealthy area & that the homes would have been worth maybe a million euro each. Our accommodation was cheap (only 40 euro for the room and then 10 euro for two breakfasts) so it was worth the bus trip.

A good night's sleep and a text from the station chief of the fire station, would you like me to drive you on a sight-seeing trip round the city this morning? Yes please! He picked us up at 9 am at our hotel and we spent the next 4 hours touring all the 'secret' spots that only someone born here knows about. We had such a lovely morning, Stas is a real character & so funny, we finished off with a hot chocolate on the 24th floor of the Radisson Blue Hotel in central Tallin. The 360 degree views were amazing.

The little shack that Peter the Great, Tzar of Russia, built for his wife Catherine,
also had its own lake, canals, formal gardens & parklands

Back to D Terminal at the port where the shuttle ferries depart, we got tickets then rushed to the gate as boarding closed in 10 minutes, boy we cut that fine! Now about those empty luggage trolleys, apparently alcohol is much cheaper in Estonia (not to mention Duty Free on board the ship) so young Finnish people travel over, load up their trolleys with slabs of all sorts of drinks & go partying in Tallin, then back the next day to Finland with their stash, plenty of people with 8-10 slabs of drinks on the one trolley struggling along the catwalks & escalators. 

Downloaded photos, ate hot chips for lunch, caught up on some emails (gee, free wifi on board was handy) by which time we had arrived in Helsinki.

Next stop Turku....

FINLAND, a country where it is OK to have a double A in your name!!

After our 'restful' night at Oslo airport we arrived at Helsinki at about 10 am, picked up our bags & headed for the local buses out the front. Gee, Mr Google is a godsend, he knows everything, just asked him how to get from the airport to the central railway station & voila!! Cheap as chips, scenic run through the suburbs, bus full of locals, dropped us at the door of the main Helsinki railway station, we left our luggage in the storage lockers for the day and headed to the tourist information office. 

Helsinki Central Railway Station

Our couchsurfing host, the gorgeous Marko, was coming into the city that evening for a meeting & offered to pick us up, how lovely of him, so we were free to wander & get our bearings on the first day.

Now finding the tourist information office proved harder than we expected, I had scribbled a mud-map from the net & Grant, the eternal optimist, wanted to use his GPS. Well neither worked & we had to use the old stand-by, ask a local!! His instructions were perfect & after 10 minutes of strolling we were there.  Map, numerous pamphlets & brochures in hand, we opted for the 3B/3T tram, Mr Google told me about it too. Five Euro for two to do a hop-on hop-off figure eight trip round the city with many of the city highlights marked on the map with a brief desciption. It wasn't a guided tour just a regular city tram but with the brochures & keeping our eyes open we managed.

One of the older style city trams, they had more modern ones too

Of course it might have been better if we had jumped on, on the correct side of the road (typical of me to get that wrong, I am having trouble with traffic on the other side of the road, Grant has to grab my arm at almost every road crossing as I always look the wrong way). Anyway we ended up doing the trip backwards, started at stop number 30 then worked backwards to one, not a problem really except that everything was on the opposite side of the road to the brochure & you had to keep looking backwards out the windows. Not to panic, we did the trip again before we left Helsinki, in the correct direction & that was a much better.

After the tram trip we went walking, to the Helsinki Cathedral, not unlike the Sacre Coeur really, huge, pure white, on the top of the only hill, staircase out the front and ice-cream vendors.  Quite beautiful with a good view of the surrounding area although Helsinki is flat and the hill wasn't high enough to give an overview of the city it was still lovely.

Helsinki Cathedral

We visited the market square which is near the Tourist info & the jetty. It is a regular market, every day really and we bought some dinner, (whitebait, calamari & chips, whitebait for me, rest for Grant) and wandered the stalls. Grant just loves the big furry hats with the earflaps, shame it isn't 20 below or he would have bought one. Especially loves the reindeer leather ones with fox lining. I saw some small sketches that I was keen on but managed to restrain myself. We also went to the jetty and got brochures for the harbour cruises, as I wanted to read up a bit to decide on a trip for the next day.

Orange-roofed market stalls filled the dock area,
not permanent structures but rather packed up every day

Next day we caught a train from the local station into the city & walked to the Fire Station for Grant to collect another badge. As always he was welcomed and given a tour of the facilities, they had a sauna, can you believe it? Next, to the jetty for our harbour cruise at 11.30am. Fine, sunny & quite hot really, we saw lots of people sunning themselves on the islands dotting the harbour, even saw one fellow in the water swimming!! Unbelievable, I wouldn't have put my foot in to test the temperature. The cruise commentary was really good and we learnt a lot about Finnish history, they have had a pretty turbulent time.

Old City Markets, viewed from the departing ferry cruise

There are two official languages here, Finnish of course & Swedish so all the signs are in two languages including the street signs which is a bit confusing to say the least. The rest of the afternoon & evening we walked round the city centre, looking at & photographing the major historical sites. There is a lovely explanade garden area with a bandstand & there were musical performances so that was a nice treat to listen to as we ate our icecreams (believe it or not they had licorice flavoured, had to have one, it was delicious).

The icecream kiosk, has been operating as a shop for 150 years

We also found a few minutes to walk to the Russian Orthodox church near the port, OMG, the decorations were amazing, so ornate & the nice young man let me take a couple of quick photos as we were the only tourist at the time.

Next day, was a ferry trip to Suomenlinna (a sea fortress in the middle of the harbour) then a bit more time in town to catch the last of the things we had missed including the fabulous church blasted into solid rock. At the fortess we walked, picnicked & fought our way along the cannon battlement wall in a howling gale. It was a lovely spot, a bit like Rottnest Island really in that every man & his dog goes there on fine sunny days - swimming, sunning themselves on the rocks, playing a scratch game of soccer with mates, kids climbing all over the cannons, parents pushing prams etc, there was a really lovely family atmosphere.

Might breezy out at the cannon embattlements

'The King's Gate' original main entrance to fortress - amazing stonework

Up with the sparrows, nothing unusual there really, showered, shampooed & packed up, said our goodbyes, hoofed it to the railway station, waited for the express train (love these 140 kph journeys - so quiet, so quick) & headed for the city again. This time we dropped all but a couple of essentials into storage at the railway station as we couldn't see any real reason to bring everything we owned for just the one night & then have to lug it round Tallinn all day. We can rough it for one night surely! So with a daypack each we found the bus, route 15A, and rode the 3+ kms to the Dock.

HURTIGRUTEN, remember to sound like Sven from Sveden when you say that!

Couple of shots of the ship, our cabin & the cafe

Day One was spent getting our luggage from our accommodation, then walking round the city centre, having a bite of lunch at a local pub, buying a couple of souveniers then back to the boat for boarding at 4pm. We weren't able to go to our cabin until 6 pm but that was OK as we had front row seats on the Panorama Deck and the Queen Elizabeth was docked so we watched the comings & goings there until she departed. Grant broke his old record, still wearing his sunnies at 10.30pm as there was quite a bit of reflection from the 'setting' sun on the water.

We went to bed then and at 3am, Grant (who had gotten up I don't know when) rushed into the room, 'you should be up, you're missing all the scenery', needless to say I rolled over & ignored him, but he went back up on deck, camera in hand to watch the docking, loading, unloading etc not to mention the scenery passing that was going on during the night' I managed to get up at 5am and yes it was lovely, bracing, but lovely. There were only a few diehards in the lounge areas and Grant was the sole 'fool' on the open air deck.

The day only got better & better, nice brekkie, yummy lunch with lots of viewing inbetween, then it was time for the ship to sail into the Geiranger Fjord. UNBELIEVABLY BEAUTIFUL, that is all I can say, clear, deep-green water, snow-topped mountains, villages nestled at the base of sheer cliffs, farms ekking out a living on the sides of mountains using ladders to access their homes, waterfalls absolutely everywhere and just sheer natural perfection. Photos will not do this place justice that is for sure. The fjord is 100km long so it took a while to motor up it, then we transferred to a tender to get us to shore then onto the buses for one of our day excursions, this time seeing the fjord from the land. Just as UNBELIEVABLY BEAUTIFUL!

Geiranger Fjord

"I love it here, I love it here" if I hear Grant say those words one more time, POW right in the kisser! As you may be able to guess he has fallen in love with Norway, not sure but it may not be all about the natural beauty, maybe it has something to do with all those girls we keep seeing with jeans they have sprayed on and wearing boots, knee-high, thigh-high or even the cutest lace-up gumboots.

Day Three dawned, if I can say that since it never actually got dark, still more fantastic scenery, it just seems to go on and on forever. Today we stopped in a major centre, Trondheim & participated in a guided walking tour of the city. In three & a half hours we managed to see historic buildings overhanging ancient rivers used as trading ports, statues of famous vikings (including the one who discovered North America ages before Columbus got there, who sailed from this port), politicians and city planners, university buildings (where 90% of Norway's Architects & Engineers study), a wonderful cathedral & learnt a lot of local history that was really interesting. Not to mention walking along the River Nid which is famous for its salmon, 31.5 kilo is the record for this river, caught on a line!

Original timber buildings that were the old port warehouses

Trondheim Cathedral, hard to see but between each of
the columns there are statues, huge & fantastic

Later that afternoon the weather went a bit cold & dreary but it was only a bit of drizzle so not too bad, until the Tour Manager advised us of a very narrow passage coming up and suggested that everyone interested should go to Deck 7, the panorama lounge or Deck 5, the open air front area. Grant opted for the open deck, he reckons you get a better feel for the place out in the open air, anyway, I tried to follow him out there a few minutes later but couldn't stand upright in the wind so gave up since it was blowing off the icecaps. We met a man from the UK later in the day and he said he knew Grant was Australian because no one else would be out in those conditions wearing THONGS!! When Grant came inside, he was almost blue, he had to have a hot shower to thaw out.

Day Four and we have crossed the Arctic Circle....66 degrees 33 minutes north of the equator. Very Exciting. Today was our day for different adventures. I took the Glacial Tour bus trip and Grant opted for the RIB Safari which involved a Zodiac trip through the skerries and open ocean. Kitted up in pretty heavy-duty wet weather gear (that didn't work completely - mind you he took front seat and provided shelter for all those behind him), they took off across the bay in some heavy chop. They looked at some of the area's unusual geology and then went to where the tide runs through a very tight opening between the islands at a rate of about 30 knots. They even spotted a couple of sea eagles. The next running of the tide was under a man-made bridge, mind you all this took place in driving rain/sleet & at full throttle, Grant loved every minute of it!!

Panorama of some of the scenery

Bit chilly at the Arctic circle

My day out was much more sedate, we were transferred to a catamaran mid-fjord (thankfully the water was like a millpond) then motored up to the extreme end of the fjord. We got onto a bus to go the last bit up to the tongue of the glacier. The hearty among us opted to walk that couple of kilometres, not me mate, too cold!! We went to a gorgeous cafe where we had coffee, Norwegian biscuits etc very nice. We enjoyed this while looking directly across the lake to the glacier which shone blue in the sunshine (that's right, I got sunshine, lucky me). The lake at the base of the glacier was fresh water naturally and was a salmon breeding ground. We then got back on the cat & motored to Bodo which took about 3 hours along fjords, rivers & some open ocean, seeing eagles, puffins, villages & examples of industries such as salmon farming. This is where we rejoined the MS Nordkapp & I heard all about the RIB trip.

Enough protection?  maybe not!

Day Five and believe it or not we chose a day of rest. Why you ask? Sheer exhaustion, this midnight sun is a killer, it was 1.45am before we went to bed and even then it was sort of sunny, very bright anyway. Grant has given up on his evening record as he was still wearing his sunnies at 1.30 am, the sun was actually up but hidden behind the clouds nevertheless it was still bright and quite glarey with the water & snow. That's right, since we crossed the Arctic Circle the volume of snow, the lack of vegetation of any type & the ruggedness of the terrain has increased markedly.

We did however go for a stroll around the town centre in Tromso, a city of 63,000 people. My question is where did they find that many people who actually wanted to live in such freezing conditions? Mind you the snow fields were on their doorstep & it is very protected from the worst of the ocean's fury by a huge island. It was 14 degrees today & sunny in Tromso so Grant put on his thongs & shorts, just to encourage the summer a bit. It actually was very mild & we both had our coats off while we walked though they went straight back on once we stopped.

Tromso, memorial to whalers

Outdoor Deck 7 and believe it or not that is the
Midnight sun, taken of course at midnight!

Nothing but water (& ice of course) between us & the North Pole, that's how it is when you stand on the end of North Cape. Day Sixes' excursion was a great few hours with a really funny tour guide & spectacular views. We were very fortunate to have fine, sunny weather & a temperature of 10 degrees. We stopped at a Saami (we called them Lapps when I went to primary school but now they prefer their traditional title) replica village, their traditional dress is very decorative & they basically farm reindeer moving from islands to the mainland & back again as the seasons change.

Just had to 'do the pose', all the Japanese tourists
were going crazy posing holding up the world

Us at the end of the earth, literally!

By the way reindeer are just as dumb as kangaroos, there were a couple on the road, so what do they do? That's right walked straight out in front of the tour coach, strolling casually across the highway, dumb as doornails!!

Exhaustion got the better of him, midday snooze...

It is hard to believe that seven nights have passed since we boarded but it is time to leave the MS Nordkapp. We had decided to have a full day in Kirkenes before flying to Oslo then on to Helsinki. The weather was kind, a couple of short heavy showers but otherwise fine. We walked from the ship to an hotel in town where we stored our luggage for the day then wandered round the sights using the map we picked up at tourist info. Interesting place really, lots of WW2 history here as they are only 20 kilometres from the Russian border and there were many battles, partisan movements, prisoners of war, over 1000 bombings of the town plus its total destruction at the hands of the German's as they retreated from their four year occupation of the area. Great museum, shame it closed at 2 pm as we had only a short time there and could honestly have spent half a day.

Kirkenes from the lookout, in the distance you
may be able to see our ship leaving the harbour

Grant found the fire station of course, after a few wrong turns to start. The men there were really happy to see him, probably the only Australian fireman ever to visit, past or future. Most of the crew were out on a job but the three men still at the station showed him round. I reckon the visit will be the talk of town.

I really didn't expect it but I had terrible trouble walking on dry land, no I wasn't drunk, just couldn't get my land legs. I spoke to others from the ship & they were having the same trouble, the ground kept rising up and I would go all dizzy, very strange sensation, fortunately it passed by the next day.

The people of Kirkenes are very nice, we chatted to several as we sat at the tables & chairs in the town centre area. They are a mixed bunch with Norwegians, Finns (that is people from Finnmark) & lots of Russians, few soldiers thrown in for good measure.

Our flight left at 8.30pm so we picked up the shuttle bus at the hotel and we were on our way. Grant 'accidentally' forgot he had his wallet with his Fire Brigade badge, in his pocket as he went through the metal detector. Shame that pretty little blonde Scandanavian girl had to frisk him!!! I am sure he will remember that trick again if there are cute blondes working the gates.

Oslo airport home for the night, as we arrived at 11pm and left at 8am, we decided it wasn't worth the hassle or expense of a hotel near the airport so we roughed it. Once we got ourselves settled on a set of chairs with our heads on my handbag & our feet on our bags on a trolley, bit of a juggling act to start with, beanies, coats as blankets, all set. Surprisingly we actually got a a fair bit of sleep, enough to keep us going anyway.

Our lovely bed at Oslo Airport

Well that is it for Norway for the moment, next stop Finland......