Sunrise: 4:33
We always traveled around Europe. I could say I grew up traveling, I already visited more than 12 countries before we went on this road trip. Some would think it gets boring, but it doesn’t. Various people, cultures, nature. It is different in every country. That is why it does not get boring, because you are learning something new all the time and there is always something new to discover.
Today once again we discovered a new city and learned something new about the cities culture. What better way is there to do so, as visiting the cities or countries ourselves? So, today we visited Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It is a beautiful city directly next to the sea with more than 130 km of cost line and 300 islands. That’s why the sea is visible most of the time in the background. First, we visited one of the most recognizable sights of Helsinki: the dome, build back in 1852.
It is indeed something special and unique and also one of my personal favorites of the city. There are many thigs to see in Helsinki as in all other cities. So, we walked along the cost, pass the Market, where we took a ferry to the Suomenlinna. On the ride we had the opportunity to see the city from a different perspective and drove past some pretty, small, and probably privately owned islands.
Suomenlinna is a group of islands with an interesting history. Today the sea fortress is known as one of the most popular visitor’s attractions in Finland. Due to its unique example of the military architecture, it was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Not only the history, but also the nature is very interesting. In fact, I am more of a nature person, therefor I was so fascinated by the coast, the island, the sea…
After we took a ferry back to the mainland (btw. in Helsinki the ferry is also a part of public transport) we still visited the Uspenski-cathedral, the biggest orthodox Church in western Europe. On the way to these attractions, we saw many other sights, like the presidential palace, senates place, the main building of the University and the Knight’s house. After some time (probably 5 hours) we decided we had enough and headed back to our camper. Since we didn’t want to sleep in the city we drove further. As we drove quite some time, we made a quick break at a lake. It is impressive how different the lakes are, although they are all so close to each other.
Our sleeping destination was Ruutana national park (kilometer: 2.354), still a little bit northern from the lake. Now I am very happy we stayed here because it is absolutely stunning. We parked on a small parking place in the forest, next to an observation tower. The observation tower looks exactly, how I would imagine an observation tower in Scandinavia. The view from up there is gorgeous; the big lakes all around, the forests and then there was the sunset. The highlight of the day was watching the beautiful, red sun slowly setting behind the horizon.
Sunset: 22:30
