From Rauma to Naantali to Turku

Trip Start Aug 31, 2008

Trip End Oct 05, 2008

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Where I stayed

Holiday Inn Hotel Turku

(Turku hotels)

Flag of Finland Turku, Western Finland, Finland
Saturday, September 6, 2008

Friday 5th September, 2008 Turku

It's been an exhausting day today - again we've probably done too much. Just fell back in the door planning to relax and check emails etc & turned on TV & stumbled on "Crocodile Dundee in LA", which we have not seen before. So if this report sounds distracted, it might be because of tiredness - or it might be because of TV!

We were agonising over whether or not to have a sauna & swim tonight, or if we were too tired. I think now we'll opt to stay in. The other night we saw an episode of Ballykissangel, with Finnish sub-titles, tonight Dundee! The Finnish ads are interesting too, although sometimes as much for trying to work out what they're advertising!

Anyway today

Rauma - Old Town

. We woke up in Rauma, looked around there & later went to Naantali & looked around there & then drove on to Turku - and looked around here! See, that was simple.

But for more details. I'm glad we looked around the old town of Rauma last night, because that was sunny & if the shops were shut, there were good photos to be had.

This morning the shops were open. Many of the Rauma Old Town houses house craftsmen and craft shops. It used to be lace makers. I'm not sure how to explain why there seem to be so many hairdressers & also bra & underwear shops though.

I enjoyed visiting a craft shop & bought some papers & stickers. Another shop I thought was going to be a pottery shop but it turned out to be a kitchen ware shop. And the place I'd specially noted to return, that I thought was a fabric & quilting shop? Well that turned out to be carpets & wall papers. Ah well.

The market place was fish & fruit & veg - and some sort of chocolate wheel! People were queueing to get tickets & spin the wheel - we didn't work out what that was about

1-Rauma - Old Town

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We walked around some more but it was overcast & we had good photos from yesterday.

Next stop was the port - well actually we were looking for the port where they build the big ships but what we found first was a marina with row boats as well as yachts. The port, when we found it, was not particularly special.

Well the letter hasn't progressed too far but the movie has just finished, so I can concentrate now. The movie wasn't much, but it was in English, and now the credits are rolling accompanied by "I come from a land Down Under".

Anyway, I left you with us just leaving the port at Rauma. Next stop was Naantali. Our guide book described it as a pretty little port town, crowded with tourists in summer, and in winter looking like a movie set after all the actors had gone home.

It was an extremely pretty old town, and not much was open. We walked up to the lovely church that was originally a 15th century convent

Naantali street

. The church wasn't open for us to go in, but it was beautiful in itself, and stood high enough for good views over the harbour. There was a small gazebo nearby that made for a pretty viewing platform.

There is a bridge to a small island just off from the church. The island has a children's amusement park. In English they call it Muumin World, in Finnish it's Muumimaailma. The pictures of the characters look like the cartoon characters on my umbrella from Finnair. So now I know what they're about.

Also across the bay is the summer residence of the president of Finland. The gardens are open to viewing in the evenings when the president is not in residence, but we didn't have time to wait for that.

We walked down from the hill with the convent church & proceeded through the town. Only a couple of shops were open, and the one we went into was full of Disney as well as Muumin characters & souvenirs & the shelves and passages were so crowded I was afraid we'd bump something, so it was somewhat of a relief to get out of there.

This was our first experience of meter parking & we had allowed enough time for the town to actually be open

Naantali - Convent Church

. So, with the car parked, in lieu of lunch we went to one of the cafes near the water & had a coffee/hot chocolate and cake. We've been having large smorgasbord breakfasts, tending to skip lunch & then eat in the evenings. I'd wanted the time to sit down somewhere at a caf� with a pretty view, and this filled that wish.

We debated whether to detour to anywhere else first, but as the weather was improving further, we decided to come on to Turku & see what we could see in sunlight.

Turku is just across the water from Sweden, and when Sweden ruled Finland the town was called Abo (with a circle over the A). Even now the town is called Turku Abo and Swedish appears on street signs under Finnish.

As part of the Finlandisation process, Russia was not happy that the Finnish capital (then Abo/Turku) was so close to Sweden, so the obliging Finns moved their capital to Helsinki - on the Russian side of the country.

We parked the car, checked in, and then went out again to do some sight seeing in sunlight. We decided to go to what is called the Handiwork Museum

Turku riverside

. Not an ideal name reallly. There was a small group of workers / craftsmen cottages dating from the late 18th century that happened not to burn down during one of Turku's many fires. These continued in use until the 1930s when they were becoming very shabby. One suggestion was to knock the lot down, but the town decided to preserve them as a historical museum.

These cottages haven't been moved here from anywhere, and they genuinely were the homes of wool carders, the violin maker, shoe maker, glove maker, cigar maker, printer, etc. In some of the houses women dressed in period costumes either continued the craft or else answered the questions of tourists.

Very interesting. We hadn't gone far though when we realised quite how tired we were. A couple of times I just had to sit down.

The route we'd taken to get there started by going down to the river and crossing, and then up quite a steep hill & over the top to the museum.

When we left the museum we returned to the top of the hill and over to the cathedral on the other side

Turku - Handicrafts Museum - old fire truck

. By this stage not only were my feet sore but my knees were screaming at me on steps - and there were a lot of those.

However we made it over to the park beside the cathedral & sat & rested for a little, and then opened the packet of biscuits I'd bought at a supermarket a day or 2 ago (I'm losing track of the days).

My spirits were OK, just my body was yelling that it was enough. However the sun looked so pretty on the cathedal. This church was consecrated in 1300 & is an absolute mishmash of materials on the outside. Stones & mortar & then areas of bricks then a stone arch bricked in here & newer bricks filling in a hole there. Still it is absolutely huge & towers over the town & the river even today.

The late sun was just beautiful on it & so I suggested we go inside & sit down there for a while. Rehearsals were just getting underway for a concert for later that evening, and the choir was magnificent. I contemplated getting tickets for the concert but David said we'd get much of the benefits as we looked around.

We did video a little with our cameras - I'll be interested to know if the sound worked

Turku - Handicraft Museum

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The chapels around the sides of the cathedrals are mostly tombs to various knights & VIPs of the area. Interesting to look at, but, as I say, I found sitting listening to the music so special & restful, that I felt happier to move on afterwards.

At the Handiworks Museum, we'd bought the Turku card, giving free entry to museums & discounts to various places in town. One was a Viking restaurant, called something like Harald the Viking.

As it happened we didn't get a discount there because it only applied to certain meals & we hadn't known to order them, but nevertheless it was a fun & friendly place, most unusual & the food was good.

We hobbled back to our room to collapse - and that's where this letter started.

This is our first place of 2 nights in the same hotel, so hopefully tomorrow can be a little easier. I have very much enjoyed all the things we've done today, but it has been exhausting.

This is one of the few hotels we've been where both the men's & women's saunas are currently working. And I wouldn't want to leave Finland without having a sauna, so I'd like to plan that for tomorrow night. There's a pool here too - and those would be a nice (nearly) end to our time in Finland. On Sunday we return to Helsinki & then take the ferry across to Tallinn, in Estonia

1-Turku - Handicraft Museum

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Just when we've mastered a few words of Finnish too! I doubt I'll ever forget that an "elevator" in Finnish is a "hissi". I might remember that "thank you" is "kiitas". Hi/hello/good bye is pronounced like "hey". Kahvli is coffee & Kahvila (not sure about spelling) is a caf�. Otto is the sign at an ATM.

"-katu" and "-intie" mean "street". "Ulos" is exit, "linne" is castle. The genetive or possessive ('s) is -n or -en. There are a few more but those are the ones that come first to my mind.

Good night for now. I'll see if David is ready for me to load this up.

Love to you from Kerry