Sunday September 28 was a sunny day with a high of 14C.
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| Allan with his new birthday hand-woven scarf! |
We walked to the City Centre to catch a ferry to Suomenlinna, Helsinki's only UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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| Helsinki City Hall en route |
We got on the small ferry and I took a picture of the sauna on the waterfront in front of the ferris wheel which we had visited on our walking tour. It is only a 15 minute ferry ride to Suomenlinna.
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| Suana with lots of folks sunning themselves or taking a dip |
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| Heading out on the ferry-- passing the ferris wheel |
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| Passing the Viking Line Ferry we will be taking to Tallinn on a day trip on Monday |
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| Looking back at Helsinki and the Helsinki Cathedral on high. |
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| Nearing Suomenlinna |
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| View of Suomenlinna Church from the ferry |
We got off the ferry and headed to the Visitor's Centre located in the pink Jetty Barracks.
The fortress of Suomenlinna is spread across six islands. It was built in 1748 by the Swedes to protect the Kingdom of Sweden from the Russian Empire. The construction was led by Augustin Ehrensvärd. In 1750, Fredrick I of Sweden gave the fortress the name of Sveaborg.
The fortress consisted of 200 buildings and 6km of defensive walls. It stretched over six islands. Upon completion, it was hailed as a maritime marvel. But in 1808, during the Finnish War between Sweden and Russia, the fortress surrendered to Russia following a two-month siege. It became a Russian naval base for the next 110 years. In 1917, Finland declared independence from Russia and the fortress was renamed Suomenlinna, "Fortress of Finland". During the Finnish Civil War in 1918, a camp for Red prisoners of war was set up at the fortress. In 1973, the Finnish garrison left the fortress and the management of Suomenlinna was taken over by the Ministry of Education and Culture. In 1991, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a unique example of the military architecture of its era.
Suomenlinna is a bastion sea fortress that is irregular in shape as a result of being built on a cluster of rocky islands. The fortress was mainly built from stone that was excavated on the islands.
The islands cover 210 hectares and there is lots to explore. Suomenlinna is also home to 800 permanent residents.
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| We started at the Visitor's Centre (with the "You are here" large red circle) and walked to the end of the blue line (with a few detours). The blue line is about 1.5 km. |
There was a small art gallery beside the Visitors' Centre.
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| HAA Gallery signage |
There was a small exhibit called Floating by Jenni Rope (b. 1977). She originally trained as a graphic artist and later received an MFA in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. She lives and works in Helsinki. Her exhibit consists of mobile sculptures and paintings that "play with organic shapes and the spatial dimension of painting".
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| Mobile and one of Jenni Robe's paintings |
We started our walk by the pink Jetty Barracks and then passed a cluster of wooden villas.
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| Pink Jetty Barracks (where Visitor's Centre and gallery were located) |
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Cluster of wooden villas that were once the old Russian merchants' quarter.
They are now the site of a few cafés, only one of which was open. |
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| Tables across from one of the cafés in the former merchants' quarter |
The next stop was the Suomenlinna Church. It was built in 1854 by order of Czar Nikolay I to serve as a Russian Orthodox military church (called the Alexander Nevsky). The central tower of the church was surrounded by four smaller towers with onion domes. It was converted to a Lutheran place of worship in 1918. In 1919, the cupolas of the four small towers of the original church were pulled down. A lighthouse still operates in the steeple. The beacon emits four consecutive flashes, which in Morse code is the letter H, for Helsinki.
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| Suomenlinna Church |
In the 1870's, a fence was built around the church, made from cannons and chains that were used during the Swedish regime. The church bell located on one side of the church is the largest in Finland. It was cast in Moscow in 1885 and weighs 6683 kilos.
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| Very interesting chain and cannons fence |
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| We continued our walk, passings various old military buildings |
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| We stopped in at the gift shop of the Suomenlinna Museum |
Behind the museum was Vesikko, a WWII era submarine.
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| The submarine |
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| Part of the walls of the fortress |
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| Lovely gardens |
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| Another part of the fortress |
We passed the "Mortuis" memorial (meaning for the dead, for the fallen) was erected in memory of the many victims of various disasters/events. It is engraved with the years 1808 (Finnish war against Russia), 1855 (early bombardments of the Crimean War), 1906 (Viapori revolt), 1917(Finish independence), 1918 (Finnish Civil War between Red and White forces, where a number of Red prisoners held at Suomenlinna died) and 1937 (explosion at Vallisaari on the island).
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| A stone plaque beside the obelisk |
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| Parts of the fortress |
We made our way down to the south of the island and the monumental King's Gate. It was built in 1753-1754 on the site where a ship carrying King Adolf Frederick of Sweden was anchored while he inspected the construction of the fortress in 1752. Augustin Ehrensvärd had an ornamental marble slab inscribed with a famous message to Finland's people: 'Posterity, stand here upon your ground and never rely on outside help'.
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| Approaching the gate from inside the fortress |
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| Looking at the gate from the water side |
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| Light on the Church was lovely as we headed back to the ferry |
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| Other side of the pink barracks |
We returned to the mainland and decided to see if we could move up our dinner reservation at the traditional Finnish restaurant Savotta, which was recommended by friends. It is located just opposite Senate Square. We were in luck. Restaurant Savotta (Finnish for logging site) pays homage to thousands of loggers and mill owners.
The restaurant had a series of small rooms furnished with artefacts from the logging sites. The food is game, fish, mushrooms and berries from the forests and waters of Finland, cooked in traditional style by servers in traditional garb.
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| The room where we were seated-- view of Senate Square and the Cathedral through the windows |
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| Larger room near the entrance |
We had an excellent meal for Allan's birthday. It was interesting to us that nearly all the items on the menu had a non-lactose designation, though some items referred to 'butter' and 'cheese'. Our server told us that Finnish children drink a lot of milk when they are young, many develop lactose intolerance and there are many non-lactose alternatives used in cooking today.
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| Supreme Savotta- assortment of Finnish appetizers from land and water |
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| Allan had a traditional Karelian stew made with slow-braised beef, pork and lamb, mashed potatoes, pickled pumpkin and cucumber. Yum! |
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| I had the reindeer roast with reindeer goat sausage, mashed potatoes with root vegetable hash and lingonberry sauce. My very first reindeer. It was delicious. |
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| Place was full as we were leaving. |
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| Outside of the restaurant as we were leaving. |
We walked back to the apartment. Lovely sunset.
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| Crossing the bridge to our neighbourhood. |
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| The Market Hall (Hakaniemen Kauppahalli) across from our apartment lit up at night. |
We had a very nice day for Allan's birthday. Relaxing visit to Suomenlinna and a great dinner. We stayed up late to listen on the internet to the Blue Jays win the American League East. Go Jays Go! Captain Kirk delivered big time!
We are heading to Tallinn for a day trip on Monday September 29.
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