Travelog for: Qah

Hello again

When you've followed Aurajoki as far as we did today, you'll be near the place where the river flows into the sea. You can't walk on the riverbank further than Bore, so from here it's only natural to continue walking to Linnanpuisto.





Look at this old tree. I wonder how old it is.



And here's the reason for the park's name. Turun Linna (Turku Castle) towers over the area. Here's the main entrance to the castle.



Turku Castle is one of the most notable historical buildings in Finland and it's also the oldest surviving medieval building in Finland. The castle was founded in the late 13th century and it's located near the mouth of Aurajoki and the Port of Turku. Originally the castle was built on an island, but the ground has ascended during the centuries so much that the island is fully connected to the mainland.

The castle has been through a lot during it's long history. It's been built, burnt, rebuilt and extended many times. The latest major damage was caused by an incendiary bomb that hit the Medieval keep on 1941, when Soviet Union was air raiding Turku during the Continuation War. After that the castle has been renovated and restored to its 16th century glory. Now the castle is one of the most popular museums in Finland. It's also a popular place for weddings.

The castle can be divided into two parts: the Renaissance bailey and the Medieval keep. Here we are on the outer courtyard, the white part of the castle is the bailey.



Here's an old well. Maybe there's still water in it?



Here you can see the eastern tower of the Medieval keep and the smaller entrance tower in the front of it.



A view from the entrance tower to the courtyard. Look how thick the walls are.



Entrance to the castle and to the inner courtyard.



That's where you go, if you want to take a tour in the castle. We didn't go there this time, not much to see beyond that door without buying a ticket. Maybe we'll go there one day, who knows.



Here's the coat of arms of House Sture. Sten Sture the Elder was a castellan here on the 15th century.



Here we are on the inner courtyard. You can see the western tower of the Medieval keep, too.





Here we're going back towards the entrance.



Back in the park again. Here's the only round tower of Turku Castle.



Here it's easy to see the two different parts of the castle.



It's forbidden to climb on the walls, but we did it anyway.



And here's the western tower again. This is the part of the castle that you see most often in postcards and other pictures. It's also known as a symbol of Turku.





Greetings,
Qah

Hello

The weather was nice and sunny, so I went outside to enjoy the spring.



It was fun to climb the trees, the flowers are so beautiful.







Greetings,
Qah

Hello!

It's another beautiful day and another walk in a park. This time we went to Puolalanmäki (Puolala Hill), which is one of the seven hills of Turku, again. On top of the hill are Art Museum and Puolalanpuisto (puisto = park).

Puolalanmäki is located in the town center, only a short walk from Kauppatori (marketplace) which is the heart of the center. Here's a view towards Kauppatori.



Here we are in the front of the Art Museum. It's one of the many old buildings in Turku.







We decided to sit down for a while and enjoy the sunshine.



Here's an interesting looking building near the park.



A view from the top of the hill.



This is statue is for the friendship between Turku and Leningrad. Yes, Leningrad is Saint Petersburg now, the statue is obviously old.



I like these swans and the fountain, too. We decided to sit for a while here, too, before walking back to Kauppatori.



One more picture of the Art Museum after walking around the park.



Greetings,
Qah

Hi!

Yet another beautiful summer day spent outside. This time we decided to go for a short trip to Ruissalo, it's one of those islands that belong to Turku.

Here's a view towards the Port of Turku.



Ruissalo is a protected area and belongs to Natura 2000. Besides beautiful forests, fields and beaches, there's camping area, botanical gardens, spa and golf course. We didn't go to any of those places, we just enjoyed walking on the promenade.







Greetings,
Qah

Hello!

Today Hanne Hü and I wanted to go for a walk to one of the nearby forests. This time we got to climb some huge and high rocks, too.





After a longish climb we wanted to rest for a moment, so we sat on a rock and enjoyed the sunshine.



Then it was time to continue forward.





I climbed to a tree, too. It was fun.





After a while we left the rocks behind and the forest became greener again.







Then the path became rockier again, but we decided to follow it anyway.



There seemed to be something interesting on top of the highest hill of this forest.



It's the old and abandoned aerial beacon, which was built on 1930's when the airport of Turku was located in Artukainen. On 1950's the airport was relocated to it's current place. After that, the old airport served as a racetrack and now it's a location for HK-areena (also known as Turkuhalli) and the Fair and Congress Center. HK-areena is known as the home of TPS, the ice hockey team of Turku, it has also hosted the world championships of ice hockey and various other events.





The aerial beacon is sealed, probably for safety reasons.



Here you can see the rooftops of HK-areena and the Fair and Congress Center.



Look, how beautiful flowers I found.





We chose a different path to follow, when we left the forest.











Greetings,
Qah

Hello!

There's Medieval Market at the Old Great Square (Vanha Suurtori) on this weekend and Hanne Hü and I wanted to go there. Mr. Moose decided to join us. Old Great Square is located near the Turku Cathedral and it's the old town center.

First, we met another toyvoyager on the bank on Aurajoki (joki = river) near the Old Great Square. ZeeZee Zebra had arrived to Finland only a few days ago.

The red building is Katedralskolan (Katedraalikoulu in Finnish, Cathedral School in English). It was the first school in Finland and was established by Catholic monks in the Middle Ages. Of course the building itself isn't that old, it was built after the Great Fire on 1827. In the Middle Ages Katedralskolan was mostly for educating priests, now it's upper secondary school for those who speak Swedish. (Finland is bilingual country with Finnish and Swedish as official languages.)



A quick view towards Aurajoki and the Handicrafts Market on the other side, before we went to explore the Medieval Market.



Here we are at the Old Great Square. Merchants are selling their "medieval" products - different handicrafts, paintings, ointments, food, etc. Then there are actors - mostly amateurs and hobbyists - dressed up as medieval people. They have a partly trained and partly improvised show going on for the duration of the market. Although the actors aren't the only ones who have dressed up, some regular market-goers and hobbyists do that too.



This building is the Brinkkala Mansion. It has a long history, beginning on the 16th century. The building was badly burnt on the Great Fire and then it was renovated to become the Town Hall. Now the Town Hall is located on the bank of Aurajoki near Auransilta and Brinkkala Mansion is best known for the traditional proclamation of Christmas peace, which is proclaimed from the balcony on Christmas Eve at noon.



Porthaninpuisto (Porthan park) is right next to the Old Great Square and the masters of medieval crafts are showing their skills there.





There were some sheep in the park, too.



Then it was time for a break. We went back to the river bank with some traditional confections and the program. Mr. Moose translated it for us, so we found out what's going on and where.



Then we went to explore the market again and watched a part of the show, too.











Later we went to watch a tournament by Rohan Stables. It was probably the most exciting part of the day.



After the tournament it was time to leave the Middle Ages and return to our own time.



Greetings,
Qah

Hello!

Guess what? Our medieval adventure continues.

During the market weekend there's usually a medieval day at the castle too. Of course the castle is medieval all the time and you can go there whenever the museum is open, but the medieval day is a bit different. There's more activity and medieval people than usually and it's also possible to go to some places which are normally closed.



First we went to the inner courtyard and found out that this door was open. Now we can see a room that's usually closed. It's the oldest room where people have lived in the castle.





After that we decided to enter the Medieval Keep. On a way there, we met the gatekeeper's bear.



Inside we sat down for a moment and admired the thick walls and big windows.



In the gatekeeper's chamber we saw paintings from the 16th century. There was also an old saddle, which seems to be quite small and possibly very uncomfortable.





In this room you can see scale models of the different building phases that the castle has gone through during it's long history.



This room is the Nun's Chapel. Katarzyna Jagiellonka - wife of Johan III, who lived in the castle on the 16th century when Johan was the Duke of Finland - used this room for her prayers.



This picture is from the scribe's chamber.



These stairs lead to the top of the western tower. The uppermost floor is usually closed, but not today. The stairs are very steep with high and worn steps, not the easiest thing to walk on.



Here we are, on the top of the western tower. We wanted to take a photo in the front of an open hatch because the view is beautiful, but there were too many people and we didn't want to risk falling down either. These hatches are built for cannons, so no window glass there.



Here we are on the Renaissance floor, it's the uppermost floor of the castle, if you ignore the towers. This floor was built on the 16th century for Johan III and Katarzyna Jagiellonka. The chambers where they lived are located here.



Then we continued the tour to the Renaissance Bailey. Here we are in the prison of Erik XIV. Erik was Johan's brother and the king of Sweden (at that time Finland was a part of Sweden, too). He was held as a prisoner here after he lost his sanity and Johan became the king.

It's said that Erik spent so much time watching out of the window that his elbows left marks on the windowsills. We're sitting around one of those marks on these photos.





The paintings on the wall show Erik XIV and probably his wife Karin Månsdotter.



Later the castle served as a prison too. The last convicts were moved out of the castle on 1891, when the building of Kakola was completed.









We had a great day in the castle.

Greetings,
Qah

Hello!

We spent a couple of weeks at the cottage enjoying the sunny, warm and lazy summer days on the countryside.





It was fun, quiet and very relaxing.

Best wishes,
Qah

Hi!

After relaxing at the cottage it's time for a trip to eastern Finland. Our destination is Eno. It's a village in Pohjois-Karjala (North Karelia) that has been a part of the town of Joensuu since 2009.

Here we are on the road, somewhere near Pieksämäki.



In Finland the distances can be long and the roads are built in a way that you don't need to drive through towns and villages. So, it's possible to drive hours without seeing anything but forests, lakes and occasional farms.

These photos are taken at Ylämylly, when we had a short break at this lay-by. A beautiful place with a very popular beach.





Greetings,
Qah

Hello!

Today it was sunny and hot day, so we spent most of it in the garden. The kids here like us a lot and we played with them for a while, we even got a ride around the house on a kicksled. Kicksleds are usually used on winter, but it seemd to work well enough on grass, too.



Then we climbed on a blackcurrant bush...



... and sat on a huge rhubarb leaf.



Later we went to sauna. This is an old sauna. First you have to carry the water inside and then boil some in the big cauldron by burning wood under it. The sauna stove is heated by burning wood, too. There's no showers either. You're supposed to wash yourself in the sauna by mixing boiling and cold water in a wash basin. I think this kind of sauna is more atmospheric than the modern ones.

You can see a part of the sauna stove in the corner and a part of the big cauldron in the front of it.



Then we sang karaoke. It was fun.



After that it was time for us to go to sleep.

Good night,
Qah

Hello!

Today we drove about 50 kilometers to Ilomantsi. Just for fun and a little sightseeing, too. We saw lots of forests again.

Ilomantsi is the easternmost municipality in Finland and also the continental part of European Union. So you can't go much further east without crossing the border to Russia.

First we went to the water tower, which is now known as Hermannin viinitorni (Hermanni's Winetower). There's a coffee bar at the top, where you can also get some local wines.





Beautiful views from the top of the tower. I wonder if we could see all the way to Russia, too.











Then we ate apple pie with vanilla sauce and juice. It was yummy.





After we left the tower, we went to see the Orthodox church. This Prophet Elijah's Church is the largest Orthodox church in Finland. It's very beautiful, too.







Greetings,
Qah

Hello!

After a hot and sunny day spent shopping in Joensuu, we went to the beach.

Pielinen is the biggest lake of Pohjois-Karjala and this body of water here is Pielisjoki, a river that begins at the southern end of Pielinen and flows through Eno and all the way to Joensuu. Joensuu actually means river mouth, a logical name for a town that's located at the mouth of Pielisjoki.



We noticed something interesting nearby. These huge stones are a part of Suomen Salpa (Finland's Bolt) which is also known as Salpalinja (Salpa Line, Bolt-line).



Salpalinja is 1200 kilometers long bunker line that goes from the Gulf of Finland to Petsamo in northern Finland, although Petsamo is now known as Pechenga and it belongs to Russia. Salpalinja is also one of the most notable fortifications of the World War II. Now it's possible to do some sightseeing along Salpalinja and there are several museums on the way.



Salpalinja was built on the eastern border of Finland during the Interim Peace between the Winter and Continuation Wars. It was meant to be a defence line against the Soviet Union and these huge stones were meant to stop tanks. In the end the Soviet Army was stopped before it reached Salpalinja.



Anyway, it was a beautiful evening and we really enjoyed our time at the beach.



Greetings,
Qah

Hi!

Today it was time to travel back to Turku.

This time we had a short break in Central Finland, more precisely in Vaajakoski, which is a part of Jyväskylä. We chose to stop there because of Panda, which is a candy factory that produces licorice and chocolate. They have a factory outlet there and that's where we went.

The mascot is kinda cute, so we wanted to pose with it.





About 600 kilometers and 7-8 hours in car on a hot summer day... We were very tired and happy, when we finally reached Turku.

Greetings,
Qah

Hello!

Yet another warm and beautiful summer day. This time we decided to spend it on the cliffs of Kuuvannokka, Ruissalo.



We found a little bit of history again. This sign is a memorial for the Finnish War in 1808 - 1809 at sea. This war was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and Russian Empire. Until that war Finland was a part of Sweden and after the war it became the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire.

More specifically the sign is a memorial for the Battle of Punkinsaari (saari = island) on 4th July 1808. It shows the positions of Swedish and Russian ships between the islands (from left to right: Ruissalo, Pukinsaari, Hirvensalo).



During the Finnish War Russians built some artillery batteries in Ruissalo and this is the location of one of those and that's why the memorial sign has been located here. Of course the artillery is long gone, but the mark on the cliff still stays.



It was fun to sit on the cliff, watch the sea and enjoy the sunshine.



This little pine tree has found an interesting place to grow.



There was a small bay between the cliffs. The beach there was covered by small rocks. I also found a feather, most likely a seagull's.





Hey look, there are flowers, too.



One more look towards the sea before going back to jinxed's. It's been very fun day.



Best wishes,
Qah

Hello!

Winter in southern Finland can be very changeable, like this winter has been so far. Temperature bounces around 0°C, on one day it snows and the next it rains.

Last night it snowed again and it's a bit below 0°C, so ZeeZee and I decided to go for a walk to a forest.



We climbed a tree, just for fun...



... and followed a path over a fallen tree.



We had to walk quite carefully, because there was only a thin layer of snow and a lot of ice underneath. It was very slippery.





There were blueberry twigs growing almost everywhere. These were on top of a huge stone.



We climbed a tree again.



A huge branch had fallen from an old oak. It kinda looks like a dragon or something. Maybe we're dragon riders now.



We found some big and beautiful icicles.





Then we found an old house - or what's left of it, not much more than the foundation. I wonder who lived here and what happened to the house before nature has taken over.







Looks like there's still water in the well, frozen and covered by snow.



This brook was frozen, too.



I liked this old stump of a tree.



Another frozen brook.



Greetings,
Qah