Turku, Finland (March 2014)

In March 2014, we spent one day in Turku. By this point, Julcsi had lived in Finland for almost a year and a half but still hadn't visited the old capital of the country. I also have to confess that even if I'm Finnish, I hadn't really been to Turku other than passing through on my way to Sweden. The national railway company VR has this loyalty programme called Veturi, which allows you to buy cheaper tickets for certain trains, and we managed to score 5€ tickets to Turku so off we went! Since it was just one day, we didn't do that much, but we did have one main destination, namely the medieval Turku Castle. People from other countries might not find castles that interesting but here it's a big thing since there is only a handful of castles in Finland.

Anyway, we arrived in Turku early in the morning and wandered around, admiring the many pretty buildings and the banks of the Aura river. Turku is a very nice town even if I shouldn't be saying such things, coming from Tampere and all (Turku and Tampere are old rivals) :). The truth is that there is a very Scandinavian vibe to the city and the general atmosphere is very pleasant.

The Swedish Theatre.

The market place.

Turku Cathedral.

We also climbed up to Vartiovuori Observatory to see some views over Turku.

Some interesting statues!

We basically walked along the riverbank until we came to Suomen Joutsen, the museum ship. Unfortunately it wasn't open to the public, and I was quite disappointed as I had really wanted to see it. I have this thing for museum ships and maritime museums, you see :D! Anyways, no worries, we took a couple of pictures and continued on our way to the castle.

Now, when it comes to the castle, I highly recommend it to absolutely everyone! I had never been there before and I have no idea why because it was a brilliant experience. There is so much to see and it takes quite a long time to walk around and explore all the different exhibitions there. No wonder it's one of the most visited museums in the country!

This picture still makes me crack up :D :D :D! I think I'd make a good orc, no?

By the point we left Turku, we were completely exhausted and also freezing to the point that we couldn't feel our feet because it was quite chilly and we managed to get our shoes wet on our way to the castle. The thing here in Finland, though, is that for the most part of the year, the weather is horrible, and unless you want to miss out on life, you'll just have to travel and explore even when the temperature isn't optimal for being outside. We had a fantastic day despite the gloomy atmosphere portrayed in these pictures :D!