After the ( almost ) micro-states of the Baltics, Finland loomed large on the map of Europe. Like the Baltic countries, a place with its own distinctive culture and language ( and some incredibly long place names ! ) it has also been controlled by others over its history. The Swedes controlled it for centuries, the Russians for a period, and during WW2 the Germans even took control for a while. Finland’s geographic position means it’s always had to carefully balance relations with its neighbours but today it’s a rich, safe, clean and in many places very beautiful country. The only one of the Scandinavian countries we’d not visited before, there was much anticipation as the Viking Line ferry carefully navigated us into Helsinki harbour on a crisp but sunny Spring day. While the ferry entry to Finland is definitely scenic, the city itself ( in contrast to many others ) has a strikingly low profile. That surprised us, especially the real abscence of tall buildings common elsewhere. 

Once off the ferry a park-up spot was located ( right by the harbour ) giving us a great base to explore the city.  It was a Sunday, it was sunny, and the Finn’s were out in droves. Walking, hiking, shopping, with the dogs, sipping lattes in outdoor cafés, and just enjoying life ( apparently this was the first sun they’d seen in quite a while ). 

The day was spent doing the requisite exploration of downtown plaza’s, squares, churches and historic monuments –  Suomenlinna, the historic fortress on a small island in the harbour, was a definite highlight. Just east of Helsinki lies the historic waterfront town of Porvoo, unusual among small towns in that it has an exceptionally well-preserved Old Town – well worth the extra day we spent there.

What most excited us about Finland (in contrast to the more densely populated countries we’ve been travelling in ) was the potential to get out into the country, among the lakes and forests, and do some remote camping. The kinds of places you might need a 4 x 4 to get to – after all, we had one ! That opportunity did present itself, and the potential camp spots are endless here, however, the fact that there was still much snow on the ground (and that most lakes were frozen over ) as soon as we moved north, limited some of the activities we could engage in – hiking, for example, became a challenge. We of course expected that in the north of the country, we were just surprised to see it not far north of Helsinki itself.

Finland provided us with one other big surprise – how flat it was. We had just imagined the place would’ve had more mountains and while there are hills here and there, certainly there were no mountains to speak of, and we drove all the way from Helsinki almost to the very top of the country before turning west in to Norway. It’s covered in forests, lots of birch, especially, and logging is a huge industry here, reminding us very much of British Columbia where we live. 

Travelling north took us through the Lakes District in the south, we swung out to the east towards the Russian border before continuing directly north through the castle town of Savonlinna. A prettier setting you couldn’t find and the castle just looked so picturesque on the lake, yet once again when we tried to enter, we found it was closed on the day we were there – another Monday ( getting to be a pattern here – note to self ! ).

Probably the biggest highlight heading north, into what we often call Lapland, was crossing the Arctic circle, and spending a little time in Santa’s “hometown” of Rovaniemi. The Finn’s will have none of this “North Pole” nonsense, it’s firmly entrenched here that Santa’s hometown is the little village, just north of Rovaniemi, and a veritable cottage industry has been built around it. I’ll let the picture tell the story ( the place was absolutely packed with tourists from every corner of the globe so they have pitched it well !!).

Beyond Rovaniemi, lies the Sami ( Lapp ) village of Inari, the last Finnish town we visited before heading west to Norway. The town itself is rather non-descript but the museum depicting the Sami people‘s history and their integration into modern Finnish life was fascinating. Some interesting parallels with Canada’s own situation.

Next blog we cross into Norway – we’ll head straight to Nordkapp ( North Cape ), and the very top of continental Europe.

Till next week….