As far as I remember we
were to Finland a very long time ago and made a couple albums
walking around Helsinki.
Now I would like to present several albums about Finland but from a little
bit different perspective.
We will start from city of Turku which is located 166 kilometers (103
miles) west of Helsinki.
Until 1812 Turku was a capital of Finland
when by the order of the russian Czar Alexander I status was given to
Helsinki (back then Finland was a part of the Russian Empire).
In this
picture - a Lutheran Cathedral "Tuomiokirkko".
It has existed here since XIII century but got it's present look in
1830s.
It's said that there are more than 4 thousand people are buried.
To be honest I don't understand how it is possible especially
considering that it says "buried in the walls of the cathedral..."
It seems that there was not cremation in the past, was there?
The cathedral stands 85 meters (280 feet) high.
The main river in Turku - "Aura".
The cathedral is on the embankment of the river so we will take a walk
alongside the shore.
In general, it's considered, that all
main attractions in Turku are located on the shores of Aura.
The sign
"RENT A CANOE" is a rare enough exception of the general rule: the
majority of signs and announcements are in Finnish and Swedish (both are
official languages, about 6 % of the population of Finland speaks
Swedish).
Turku is located in the western part of Finland closer to Sweden.
There are more Swedish speaking people and the style of life is closer
to the life style of Sweden.
For example, city signs are written first in Swedish and then in Finnish
- in the rest of Finland Finnish comes first, of course.
The city of Turku is very old - it was
established in 1229.
You can not tell it looking at the architecture though. It's because
in 1827 as a result of a fire almost everything was destroyed. Then
architect Engel developed a new plan for Turku.
Here I actually wanted to picture the
metal net on the background. For some reason everyone thinks that this
is a picture of cars.
The name of this net - "The Network"
Author - Outi Sarjakoski. It was installed (woven :) in 1995.
As well as in Helsinki area you can see a
lot of rocky landscapes.
A tunnel in a rock. For some reason with
a "Do Not Enter" sign.
An old windmill. According to the wings -
non functioning.
Let's walk a little bit of the river (you
can see a bridge over the river in the background).
The cathedral of St. Michael
("Mikaelinkirkko"), Lutheran. Was erected in 1905, architect - Lars
Sonck.
There is a sad looking dog in a car. He
probably sees food in all people that passing by :)
By the way, the name "Turku" has derived from slavic "trade" (in sense
- to sell). And in Swedish Turku will be "Obu".
