It was an easy drive to Helsinki as we were close and though a little late we arrived at the city camp while still light. The camp is by far the best for a city camp and very clean with great facilities. Luckily we still had our delicious green chicken curry left so no cooking for me tonite-yes if you haven’t guessed it is me blogging as V is cleaning and restocking the fridge. We did a shop today as we do not know what to expect in Estonia.
Anyway we had an early nite as we wanted to be up early as we never know how to gauge the showers in the morning and we wanted to get on the train into the city reasonably early. As it turned out we were the only ones there – beautiful new and hot showers with no time limit or pushing buttons for the mens but not as good for the ladies. I think they have not done theirs yet. Everything has new swipe cards to get into so good security.
The Metro is only a short walk to get the train and we get 24 hour pass for 8 euro so we can also use the ferry to the tourist island of Soumenlinna to save $$. It is a real quick trip into the centre and we hit outside the Metro like dear in the headlights as we have no idea which direction to go but you really can’t get lost exploring. We manage to find what we think is the food markets near the harbour and have a look for what looks good for lunch as I decided the nite before that we would eat out as the guides showed some great food places. As it was a sunny day and tomorrow looked rainy we jumped on the ferry (normally 7 euro) across to the island. It was only a 15 minute ride but great views back to the city. We have to share the island with quite a few tourists but would think nothing like high tourist season but it is quite a big island about 1km from end to end(approx. 500m wide) and lots of walking tracks. 800 people live on the island and was a major sea fortress built by the Swedes when Finland was part of Sweden in the mid 1700,s and was a naval base during the Russo-Swedish war. It then was a Russian fort for 110 years until Finland became part of Russia. When Finland became independent it was bombed during the Crimean war and was a naval base during WW2. Here endeth the history lesson.
We stopped for the obligatory coffee & cake then wandered around looking at the huge old cannons, underground bunkers and paid 6 euro each to look through a 1930,s built submarine which also got us entry to the military museum as well which was small but very interesting and great to get a quick glance at their war history. The sub was small for the time and crewed 20 people. It was so cramped and I could only cringe at what it would have been like. I Couldn’t imagine what it would be like in the engine room with all the noise and where they had to continually oil all moving parts.
We stopped and had an apple each as we didn’t have our customary baguette and watched two people trying to get going flying with their Parasails but I don’t think the wind was enough though one got up ok but his partner couldn’t quite get airborne.
After visiting the museum we boarded the ferry for the short trip back. We looked around the market but nothing really took our fancy and it was 3.30 so lunch was truly over in the city to start looking, so settled for very disappointing roll at stupid cost and lamented the fact I hadn’t made one which left it for dead.
We wandered the city for a while, bought 10 english books for 2 euro and sat at a café with a beer & cider and got on the internet for an hour. Vicki researched camps and driving in Estonia and I researched sport and All Blacks – as you do. The book guy was a bit weird and the books were cheap as all the English speaking tourists were gone he wanted to get rid of them cheap. But funnily enough he was selling 5 for 2.5 or 10 for 2! Figure that one out we only wanted 5 so I had to get 5 more to get them for 2 Euro. I managed but I just couldn’t make myself get Nicole Ritchies first novel. We walked a different way and ended up where the ferries are so booked our ferry To Tallinn Estonia, a bit cheaper than online. There are some amazing huge liners in port.
Back to the van with sore feet but happy as the island was a great outing and I am always hoping to learn about the country we are travelling ins history and great not to have to spend hours doing justice to the museums. Yay leftover green chicken curry again with crisp flatbread for tea with a cold Heineken.
Up again at 7am for a shower and back into the city but this time we are off the train like pros that have lived here forever. This time it is raining so with brolly for protection we head over to the Gallery of Contempory Art but it doesn’t open till 10 so we walk to a Maccas for coffee and internet then I had a long overdue haircut from a drop in I had spotted the day before. We then found the food Market which we should have found the day before but this time I had made MY rolls so couldn’t really justify two lunches. Much better than the outside markets but bit exy and of course because of the teeming rain full of tourists so had a food perv and left them to it. Even spotted a can of bear meat for 37 euro and reindeer meatballs.
We ate our tasty but a little soggy rolls under cover of the beautiful church from the rain then window shopped(sort of) a couple of shopping centres before heading back to the Art Gallery but didn’t feel to justifying 12 E as we were a bit tired and just wanted to get back to the van. We bought some supplies at the supermarket and got on the train.
We spent 2 hours in the camp tv room as that is where we can get Wifi and then home for tea. Vicki is lucky and having green chicken curry for the 3rd time I will have a few snacks.
At this lake a number of other campers turned up after we had settled in and then I realised it was the weekend and maybe they were here for that. Washing was done on the Friday night and hung out to dry in the last of the sun. On Saturday morning I decided we should swim across a part of the lake to a place we could easily get out of. It wasn’t really that far, but distance is always difficult to determine. I have been wanting to do a bit of swimming for ages and here was our chance to do it. I still have fear about what is in the water, but we swam anyway. Scot could have swum it 10 times over and still not been out of breath, but I got a little panicked about 2/3rds of the way across but made it anyway. I wasn’t as confident as when I did the Noosa 1km ocean swim which when I look back on it, it was a breeze and I have lost so much fitness. We had a great relax at this place and then cooked our dinner on the open fireplace and opened a bottle of Luxembourg bubbly which was just lovely. We shared our marshmallows over the fire with a young boy whose parents couldn’t speak English, but we managed with hand signals to at least establish where we were from and that it was ok for their son to have some marshmallows with us. We have found that a lot of Finnish people either don’t speak English or they speak very little, unlike the rest of Scandinavia who seem to speak it very well.
As with all other campsites there wasn’t wifi except at the reception area so we had to sit there for a short time to try and do some internet stuff. In every campsite here in Finland they have saunas and not just one per camp, they have several. Some are wood fired and some are electric. We have only had the one when we were in Norway near Lillehammer as they cost a bit much here for us to worry about having one. If it was really cold we may have decided to pay the money to have one.
A couple of little tidbits about Finland – it is the first country we have seen pokies all over. We haven’t been into a pub yet (much to Scot’s disgust) but we have seen them in newsagent type stores, in eating places, in the entrance to supermarkets etc. They seem strange places to put them and you do see people playing them occasionally. They did have them on the ferry on the way over from Sweden as well. Their taxi’s are named appropriately – Taksi is what they have on the roof of their cars which is a better spelling than we use I think.
Sunday 23 August
We leave our lovely little haven on the lake after a morning of sun, reading and swimming. We know we won’t be travelling far so we don’t have to leave early. We were going to drive via Jyvaskyla but decided we didn’t need to drive in and out of a city again, although being a Sunday it would have been closed. So we drove to Kuopio via Suolahti and stopped at a campsite just before Kuopio. They were also closed when we arrived but they opened in the morning at 8am so we weren’t about to get another free night. The campsite was huge and again on a lake front. They had a beach which looked like it was frequented by all the locals on lovely sunny days such as this was. We decided we didn’t need another swim so relaxed for the night at the van. We tried to ask a couple of people if the camp had wifi, but they just looked at us and didn’t really understand what we were asking so we gave up.
Monday, we headed down east and drove through Joensuu and then south near the Russian border. At Puhos we turned West though as we had heard Savonlinna was one of the most beautiful areas in Finland and we wanted to see it. We always seem to have plans to go so far and then things change. We had thought we may go to Juva for the night, but we saw a campground sign just before Savonlinna and decided to check it out. It turned out to be a campsite that was right next to a sports complex and they had bull dozed out a few spots in the dirt for vans to stay and put in a prefab hut with a toilet and a shower. Quite a crappy site really and it was so expensive. However after our initial crankiness with the site we found out the sport complex had a 25m pool with a diving well which we could use for free. Normal entry was 10euros and it was open until 9pm. So before dinner we headed in for a swim and a dive. God that was so good. Scot did a few laps and then had a great time doing lots of dives whilst I swam laps. I miss my swimming more than anything and I know no matter if we go in England when we return we absolutely have to have a pool nearby so I can continue to swim. Hopefully Greece will provide some kind of swimming over the winter months we will spend there as well. This complex also had a spa pool with temp of 35degrees and a plunge pool with a temp of 4 degrees. Scot did these pools but the 4 degrees made my feet hurt after a couple of seconds so I got no further and piked out. What a shame the pool didn’t open again until 3pm or else we would have been back first thing in the morning.
Tuesday morning and we headed off into Savonlinna to see the town. They had a huge castle here that was built in the 1400’s and was primarily for Sweden to defend itself against the Russians as Sweden used to own the land that is now Finland. Russia did take over for a number of years until Finland won their land back. The castle was built by Erik Axelsson Tott – maybe a relative of yours Lloyd if you are reading this. We didn’t see the entire castle as it was so huge we didn’t have the time to dedicate to walking around it. The bridge leading into the castle is a bridge that can be swung to the side to allow boats to go into the lake area. It had floats on the bottom that helped to swing it back and forth. The harbourside part of the town was indeed pretty and perhaps the nicest we had seen in our limited Finland travels. We stopped for a coffee and cake at a lovely little café but a bee seemed to take offence to us and wouldn’t leave us alone. I had to run inside at one stage as it was dive bombing me and looked so angry. Eventually it left us alone and started harassing other patrons so we were fine.
I have a penfriends address not far from Savonlinna – in Sulkava that I wanted to visit and who knows I may get to meet her. I started writing to Saija when I was about 9 years old and wrote until I was about 19 when I took my trip to Australia to visit another penfriend I had been writing to for about 10 years. I found an old postcard that I photocopied the address off and bought it with me on the off chance that I may get there. So we left Savonlinna and drove off the highway to see if indeed my penfriend was still around. We hadn’t been in touch for 32 years!
We pulled into a driveway a long way down a corrugated dirt road (our poor van) and the surname on the letterbox was that of my penfriend. When I knocked on the door a lady answered. Although she didn’t speak English she saw the name and address on my photocopy and with hand signals I was invited inside. It turned out to be Saija’s parents and they still lived there. Saija’s father spoke a limited amount of English, but they got Saija on the phone for me and we arranged for us to drive and visit her where she now lives near to Helsinki. What a beautiful family. They gave us a beautiful afternoon tea and coffee as we tried to communicate with them with our limited/none Finnish and our phrase book with lots of laughter as we tried to understand each other. It was such a fun afternoon and very rewarding. I am so glad I had the foresight to bring the address with me and that Scot pushed us to visit when time constraints seemed like we should just keep going. They wanted to show us my penfriends summer house on the lake down another badly corrugated dirt road (I am not sure how many screws are still in place in the vanJ) so we followed. It was an amazing peaceful haven that would have been a delight to spend the summer in.
So we arranged to drive past her house near Helsinki so we can finally meet. What a shame I don’t still have all my other penfriends – I could have visited lots of other houses around Finland, Netherlands, England etc. I wrote to quite a few around the world during my teen years.
We thanked Saija’s parents and headed off towards Juva and then decided we would go as far as Lahti for the night so that we would only be an hour or so from Helsinki. The campsite in Lahti was due to be relocated after this summer and because of this it was in dreadful condition – probably the worst campsite I have ever been to and it was expensive. The facilities hadn’t been cleaned for some time and there were mosquitos everywhere. What we have found in Finnish campgrounds is that they obviously don’t worry about their privacy in the bathrooms as all the campgrounds we have been to so far have had one open shower room and everyone just showers in together (each sex separately). On the shore of this camp were a few guys using a mechanical water ski rope and learning without having to use a boat. It looked really great – a little like the one at Mudjimba but on the lake.
Wednesday 26th August
We headed off to visit with Saija at Nurmijarvi. We arrived at their home and met Saija and her husband and son. They were so welcoming and it was so lovely to meet the family. Saija had put on the most beautiful Finnish food for us. We talked all afternoon but unfortunately it was soon time for us to leave and head for Helsinki. It was a huge buzz for me to meet a penfriend from my teen years. Some things we learnt from our visit were about the winter war between Finland and Russia just before the second world war which we hadn’t heard of before. It is interesting that each Finn male will do about 10 months of compulsory conscription duty – army training – when they are trained. Females are able to apply to do it but it isn’t compulsory for them. We were interested to learn that obviously Finland still has concerns about their relationship with Russia hence their training regime. Finland was also right on top of their game with winter sports and have had many champions, but since the 90’s the other countries have caught up and now challenge them for their sporting titles – particularly Sweden.
We leave Stockholm and head north to Norrtalje which is about an hour drive. We need to spend all the Swedish money we have left since we leave tomorrow so we head for a supermarket and buy a few things. Its funny we always seem to get a couple of favourite things in each country we want to buy more of so we tend to buy a couple of extra of them before we leave. In Sweden it was the muesli I have each morning which is really nice and the berries. We decide to stay in Kapellskar rather than Norrtalje as it is only 5 minutes to the ferry. This camp ground is in the middle of nowhere right on the sea and there is only a port close by and it isn’t a big port. It seemed like the place you would only go and stay before you left for Finland or when you arrived from Finland, but when we got to the campsite there were a lot of permanent residents there which was quite surprising. It was quite a barren area and not in the least pretty with greenery. These people must get sick of campers like us who arrive late in the day and get up early and take off for the port. You can hear the trucks unloading off the ships from the campground which would bother me if I was staying there for any length of time. I did wonder why these people wouldn’t stay in a more pleasant place as this campsite wasn’t a cheap one either, so there are many others that are much nicer to stay.
Tuesday 18 August
We were up early and all sorted and arrived at the docks early. We waited an hour to board and then we were on. We parked the van, added electricity to keep the fridge running and headed upstairs. They had a hot buffet breakfast which was amazing for free, plus free juice, tea, coffee etc. The ferry isn’t a passenger ferry – it only takes vehicles and no walk on passengers, so it was really quiet and you can book a cabin and even take your pets on board. If you have a dog you have to have a cabin for them and outside they have an area for the dogs to pee and poop. Scot enjoyed the bar because the beer is so much cheaper than we have had to pay in Norway and Sweden. The scenery was interesting – lots of little islands most of the way over. We stopped in Aland on the way which is an island that is owned by Finland but the people there speak Swedish. It is an area with lots and lots of little islands. Here we took on more vehicles and there could have been a couple get off.
At 4pm they serve dinner which was smoked salmon and 3 other types of hot fish, beef, spaghetti bolognaise, 3 types of potatoes, lots of salads, breads and then several types of cheeses and crackers. An amazing meal for free. I thought of what this would have cost us if we had to pay and it meant the trip would have almost been for free. During the day there were only a handful of people like us who hadn’t taken a cabin and we sat looking out at the scenery or went up on deck to enjoy the sunshine. They had a duty free section on board and we bought a few cartons of beer and cider as it was the cheapest we had seen in quite a while and hopefully it might last Scot until we get to off the boat…..lol. I do hope a lot longer than that but I am not holding my breath.
We arrived at Naantali around 7pm where we drove off the ferry and to the nearest camping ground a few miles away. I was quite disappointed as we pulled into the area the port was as in my mind I had imagined this pristine looking country with just a small port and no industry, but I clearly wasn’t thinking. This port although not a big one, Tuurku and Helsinki are much bigger, was still full of industry and refineries. The campsite was quite cool, located on a hillside overlooking the water although the view blocked a bit by pine trees, they had a memorial to the naval seamen who had lost their lives during WWII. We had been without wifi now since well before Oslo, so I was a little desperate to get on to some, but this camp had a poor signal and it was only near the main building. In the morning as I was sitting down on some rocks trying to quickly upload some photos for our blogsite, when I saw two squirrels having fun chasing each other around a tree up and down. They were like two little kids they were so hilarious. I called Scot to come and have a look and as he tried to get close to take a photos they got spooked and started tree hopping. They jumped and flew in the air to other trees so well they were amazing. I haven’t witnessed squirrels in the wild like this before. They reminded me of Chip and Dale.
We left this campsite and decided to head off north. We were going to go to Pori, then across to Tampere and up to Vaasa. We didn’t get that far though, we only got to Pori and decided to stop for the day. The campground was a little west of Pori right out on the sea where there was a big port. Because it was a beautiful day again we thought if the beach was nice we would stay. The lady at the campsite said it was possibly Finlands most beautiful beach, so we stayed. We parked up and headed down to the beach and were surprised as there were hundreds of people on the beach and in the water. It was about a 6km long beach and people were spread out. The water looked lovely and wasn’t that deep – you had to walk out a way to be able to swim and it was really flat. We had a swim and enjoyed the sun for a bit. The water was very strange though. Although it was the sea, the water wasn’t salty at all, it was quite unusual and when you got some in your mouth you expected the sea taste but that didn’t happen. I have no idea why it was like this, I thought all the sea was salty end of story.
We had thought we may stay another day, but our morning walk the next day put a stop to that. The beach, although appeared lovely the day before was quite different when walking along it. There was a strange rusty coloured substance floating in some parts and washed up all over the sand in others. It was trapped in little puddles and looked very odd. Then I started to look quite closely at what I thought was just normal weed, but to me it appeared to look more like strange algae. There was definitely oil slick type looking bits of water and the sand away from where we had been sitting the day before was dead and awful looking. The strange thing was there was no wild life here. No sea birds, no sea shells, no crab tracks, no little fish swimming in the shallow water. Maybe what we saw was just normal for here, but I felt this beach was very polluted from the large ports that were around the corner and the rusty stuff was something coming off the ships. I don’t know but I felt quite sick looking at the beach and didn’t want to go back in for a swim. We decided to leave and head north.
We drove across to Tampere which is quite a big city such that we drove in and back out again as there is never anywhere to park and they get too hectic to try and find a place, so out we went. We tried to stop just outside of Tampere for a coffee but the cooling in the van wouldn’t stop when the engine was turned off and last time it ran the battery down, so we started the van back up and kept driving…buggar!
It was quite a drive to Vaasa again on the coast and we found a campground late in the day – after 6.30 that had it’s reception closed for the night. They had a notice saying to come in and see them in the morning when they opened at 10am. Who stays later than they intend just because they aren’t there to collect money? Not us! Again we had a look at the little beach maybe for a swim but as we looked around the bay there was a huge industrial plant of some description not far away and I didn’t think it would be wise to swim again. I am so disillusioned with Scandinavia. My vision was of these very pristine, natural, beautiful countries with no pollution, but each country was destroying their environment in a huge way and feel very sad indeed for all of them. I guess it is also difficult having to share seas with many countries in close proximity to them, you have to put up with whatever your neighbour is doing to their waterways and countryside. Norway’s western side is perhaps the cleanest of all Scandinavia – maybe because there is no neighbours.
We left early the next morning – well before the office was manned. Nothing like the security of a campground without having to pay. This campsite closed it’s gates for winter in a weeks time anyway so I don’t think they would have cared less. One thing we have found so far in Finland is there don’t seem to be any vans from any other countries here. We have only seen Finish vans in the grounds and travelling or in car parks. The facilities aren’t as good as other countries so maybe others don’t come here, I am not sure. In all other countries we always saw vans from at least a couple of other countries and I don’t think it is the time of the year that is the reason.
We leave Vaasa, a town I would like to have seen more of if there was time as it looks very nice. This is about the furthest north either of us have ever been anywhere in the world – further north than we went in Norway. Still had not had any wifi in any of the campsites so far and I desperately needed to get into my banking and bill paying – securely this time. So I am getting concerned. We head off east towards Juuyvaskyla. At a tiny settlement we stop for fuel and a coffee. A lady asks us in English if we have finished with the paper Scot was looking at so I decide to ask her what the headlines translate to English as, because we can see it is about the refugees. She tells us and we tell her our internet access has been nil for a while, so she tells us there is a little library around the corner where we can get internet access for free and secure too. It is a library in a school but the little community obviously use it as well. We venture there and talk to a lady with not bad English and she helps us so I can get some banking stuff done in a secure fashion – well the most secure I am going to get around here. We decide to donate our English novels we have both read so far – about 12 of them – to the library as she has some people who would love to read them. She was really thrilled to receive the English books as they didn’t have too many of them, so I figured that was a great swap. We both gained and we felt great that someone else was going to benefit and enjoy the books we bought with us. She wanted to give us something so she gave me a memory stick with some library stuff on it and some book marks – what a lovely feel good afternoon.
The Finish scenery is very similar to that of Sweden. They have lots of pine, spruce and fir trees, but also lots of paddocks with crops growing. A number of the trees looked like they were about to start changing colour for the autumn which is a shame we will miss here as I imagine it will be quite spectacular. There are a lot of yellow wheat looking crops growing which is the same as we saw around the rest of Scandinavia. There are more lakes in Finland I think than in Sweden especially in the middle of the southern part of the country.
I had found a campsite not far from this place where we could stop for the night as I had had to mark out which grounds were now open and which were likely to be closed. The campsite was on a lake in the middle of nowhere. On arriving it looked like a baron deserted camp, but after checking in and driving down to a spot near the lake we realised what a gem we had found. A beautiful clean wilderness. We could swim to our hearts content and they had saunas and fireplaces, row boats and lakeside walks. A lovely spot. We loved it so much we stayed for two nights. When you are on the road driving almost all day – particularly in these large countries it is really nice to stop for a full day and enjoy the rest.
The ferry to Finland
Docking at Aland
Finnlines ship like our one
Islands on the way
Arriving in Finland
Chipmunks
Trying to get wifi 🙁
Memorial at the Naantali campsite
The beach at Pori
Finland Ambulance
At the free campground at Vaasa with the plant in the background
