My northern European adventure continues through Finland as I took the train from Tampere. The previous post can be found here: Exploring Tampere: From Saunas to Scenic Hikes
Prior to that the post on Helsinki: Exploring Helsinki: A Journey through Finland’s Vibrant Capital

I arrived early so dropped off my bag at the Truure bed and breakfast. It turned out to be an excellent choice as the location is perfect. It’s comfortable, friendly, clean and breakfast is good.

I started walking along the Aura river and ended up at Turku castle. That is VERY much worth a visit. I spent a good 3 hours there as there’s lots to see and it’s interesting.

It was hot and I was tired so I took the bus back. Public buses are easy and Google maps is pretty accurate. You can just tap your credit card. As of September, 2024 it’s only a euro per ride.

Turku has a lot of choice for foodies. I ended up at an Indian restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Turku Castle

It was ridiculously hot for Finland. I started the next morning off with a plan but I missed the bus by 2 minutes. The next was another hour. So new plan. Bus to Naantali. Then bus to Raisio where I found a lovely park to walk through. Alppiruusu­puisto Rhododendron Park must be absolutely gorgeous when the flowers are in bloom! Then still had lots of time so bus to Ruissalo, an island and park where I planned to hike. But I was hot. So I did the Finnish thing and scrapped that plan for the beach where I swam in the freezing Baltic archipelago. I’d brought my book along and spent some time just enjoying the unseasonably warm, beach worthy weather.

Naantali

Raisio. Alppiruusu­puisto Rhododendron Park

I really wanted to see more of Ruissalo so was on the bus at 8.30 am. I had planned on just doing one loop of the nature trail. However, I got a little carried away because the trail is gorgeous. There’s lots of variety in vegetation, terrain and views. I stopped and had a snack at the point, my only company a swan and a view of the sea.

I ended my walk at the botanical gardens. It was nice, though the gardens were past their prime in September. Next, I caught the bus to the beach. I had already hiked 12 km, and walking another 5-6 km on the road didn’t appeal.

Ruissalo

Today I learned the building on the beach houses a sauna. One for sisters and one for brothers. There’s a change room, lockers (1€) and showers and it’s free! It’s plenty hot at over 110°c and I was sweating no time. Most wore swim suits but one friendly naked lady asked me if I was a tourist. When I told her I’m Canadian she got all excited and told me all kinds if stories. In Finnish. I just smiled, laughed and appeared sad when it seemed appropriate.

After a bus ride back, I went to the Kmarket for the buffet salad. Dinner for less than 10 euro is a steal in Finland. Back in my comfy bed at the B&B I slept like a rock.

Saturday I checked out and took the bus to the ferry terminal where had my bag stored. 10€ seems excessive but I had no choice as I didn’t want to carry it around all day.

The next few hours I spent following a Nomadi map that identified many different sculptures in Turku. I ended up in the market square where I sat with coffee and churros for a while. I ended up chatting with two men. One a Fin and the other American. It was nice till USA dude brought up Trump. Ugh. The Finnish guy looked apologetic when I said “ok, time for me to go”. 😆 One can never escape US politics!

I wandered some more. At one point I grabbed a sandwich and ate it by the river then walked back to the ferry. I’d booked the trip to Stockholm well in advance. That was 56€ well spent. I had a nice room will my own bath and the ship (Viking grace) is luxurious. I slept like a baby and woke to the breakfast announcement. I skipped that but headed for deck 12 to enjoy the view as the ship eased into Stockholm harbour.

Stay tuned.

The next post is about Stockholm. That’s another gorgeous city!