Today postcards came to life! I visited the Suomenlinna fortress in Helsinki! I have seen many postcards from this place but it's totally different to really be here. This is also a Unesco World Heritage Site (since 1991). There I am, leaving Helsinki City behind and getting closer to Suomenlinna (which is also a suburb of Helsinki, 850 people live there). In the 3rd pic is the ferry on which we arrived.
That long, pink building is The Jetty Barracks. The east wing of the Jetty Barracks houses a recording studio, work rooms and a kiosk which also does duty as the local post office. The west wing houses a brewery, a restaurant and a gallery run by the Helsinki Society of Artists with changing exhibitions all year round. Hey, Finland has its own West Wing
I loved the sights there! It was very impressive. As you can see, I saw quite a few cannons too. I'm glad they're not operational.
The photo after the small lighthouse shows the King’s Gate, It is a symbol of Suomenlinna. It was built in 1753-54 as a parade gate for the fortress. It is said that the gate was built in the place where the ship anchored when it brought the founder of the fortress, King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden, to see the work in progress in 1752. You can't see its full monumentalism as the photo was taken so close (we couldn't get further, there was the sea).
There's also the submarine called "Vesikko", a veteran of the Second World War. In the 3nd last photo there's a group of kids, lead by a man in an old costume - he plays the king apparently, and makes the kids do fun stuff and learn the history on the side of it
In the 2nd last photo I pose in front of the inside of the walls The last photo shows the tomb of Augustin Ehrensvärd (1710-1772), founder of the fortress.
Phew, that was quite a walk, even though we didn't step on all the islands (Suomenlinna consists of 8 small islands).