Finland

July 2018: This was the start and end of our trip through the Baltics. We flew in and out of Helsinki, however we didn’t spend too much time in the city. We spent the first and last nights of our trip there before taking a ferry to Estonia the next day, and then before heading to Russia we spent 4 days in a cottage on a lake near Mikkeli (with a few stops in between, and a visit to an opera festival). Finland has a lot to offer in all seasons. You can’t go wrong with the Lakeland in the summer, and Lapland in the winter (Santa lives there!). We have friends who visited in the winter, and I desperately want to take another trip out there…we’re definitely used to the frigid northern temperatures and snow where we are!

highlights

Clean . Organized . Nature . Markets .

lowlights

Expensive . Summertime Bugs .

helsinki

Helsinki is very modern, and mostly what you expect from Scandinavian countries. It was clean and organized, and quite easy to find our way around. From the airport we took the I or P train to the central station, and from there we walked to Hotel Finn. It was a nice hotel, but our room was quite small. We were in a jet lag daze and didn’t stay in the room until we were ready to pass out for the night, so we didn’t mind. Our hotel was close to the waterfront, which has a lot to offer. There’s a large outdoor market, as well as a very impressive indoor one (we went to a few while in Helsinki). Just be warned - there was a lot of reindeer meat sandwiches! We absolutely loved all of the indoor markets we visited in Helsinki. Lots of neat shops and interesting gifts, as well as coffee shops, delicious restaurants, etc…and just aesthetically pleasing. Also at the waterfront is a pool with multiple pool decks to hang out if you’ve got some time and it’s warm enough (we were there during their one and only heat wave of the year apparently…this happened everywhere we went in the Baltics). We walked up from the waterfront, through some cobblestone streets to the Helsinki Cathedral. On our last day in Finland there was a military marching band (?) event going on in the square in front of the cathedral, with many participating countries. It was pretty cool! On our last night in Helsinki we stayed at Ullis Pearl Apartments, which is a bit further from the waterfront, but it was a nice apartment in a quiet area.

porvoo

On our way to our cottage in the middle of nowhere, we made a few stops along the way. We rented a car for our trip to the cottage, however, we almost had no car and no way to get 3 hours outside of Helsinki. We took a taxi from the ferry to the car rental place, and didn’t know that they closed at 1pm. I think we made it literally minutes before, and were running down the street with our suitcases when we realized it. I don’t know why they closed at 1 for the day, as I’m pretty sure it was a regular week day, which is probably why we didn’t catch it. Anyways, our first stop was Porvoo, a quaint riverside town with picturesque shore houses along the river. Inside the shore houses are shops, museums, and there is a cool looking cathedral (although we couldn’t go inside at the time). In their Old Town, the streets are small, uneven cobblestones, adding to the charm, and a small market in one of the squares. It is a beautiful little city with great shops, cafes, and character, and it’s only about an hour from Helsinki.

kotka

mikkeli and the cottage

The cottage that we stayed at (booked through airbnb) was just outside the city of Mikkeli. Mikkeli is a nice, clean city (like most in Finland), and it’s got a big square in the middle of it with lots of outdoor patios and bars. We didn’t spend too much time here, just to cool off honestly, as the cottage, especially at night, had the sun coming in, and I think I’ve mentioned this before, but we were in Finland for the hottest week of the year. It was unbearable at times. Mikkeli was also where we got our groceries, and we found a great craft beer place here.

25 minutes away was our cottage. It is right on a beautiful little lake, and I know there were other properties around the lake, but had no idea where, as it was so quiet. There was an outhouse for the bathroom, and a separate cookhouse. There was a smaller building closer to the lake where you could have extra guests, and of course, like everywhere in Finland, there was a sauna (which we obviously did not need or want to use). There was also a dock, and a rowboat that we used often. We unfortunately didn’t spend too much time sun tanning or in the boat, because those stupid bugs (flesh flies maybe?) were around. We’d seen them in Latvia and knew that it hurts when they bite you, and they just don’t give up. You can swat them for hours and they will not let up until you kill them. Lisa is terrible with bugs (mostly mosquitoes, as they bite her like crazy), so she spent a little less time on the lake. However, you were safe in the water! So lots of swimming was done. We spent four days here, and it was so peaceful and relaxing, and we highly recommend cottage life when traveling to Finland!

savonlinna

One of the reasons we decided to stay at the cottage, was because we had bought tickets to the Savonlinna Opera Festival. It is an annual festival, and the opera is at Savonlinna Castle. How cool is that? We decided that we couldn’t go to Finland and NOT go to an opera in a castle. So we drove the 50 minutes to Savonlinna to see Faust, which is the opera we had tickets for. We originally planned to stay in Savonlinna, however, as you can imagine, most places were sold long before we were even thinking of going to Finland, so our cottage 50 minutes away seemed like a good (and much cheaper) option. The castle is beautiful, right on the water, and the harbours around Savonlinna were pretty. We didn’t get the chance to explore Savonlinna much, but the restaurants and bars looked great and were packed with people. The opera was amazing, and worth the pretty penny it cost to attend!