Journey to the far north 2022

Travel to the Far North 2022

Stage 1 from August 20 to 28, 2022

Departure at 10:40 in Liestal in rainy weather. Drive via Mulhouse - Strasbourg - Karlsruhe to the first overnight stop at Camping Fuldawiese in Melsungen. On Sunday, continue driving on the highway towards Hamburg. We once again experienced how traffic jams and convoys work in Germany, even on a Sunday, really annoying! Via Frankfurt - Kassel - Hamburg - Lübeck, we reach our destination in Travemünde. After exploring the city and harbor, we drive to the ferry terminal at Skandinavienkai at 21:00 and check in without any problems. Then we wait patiently until we can board our huge ferry, the FINNSTAR, at 00:30. Surprisingly few vehicles and passengers, so we depart towards Helsinki at 01:30, the exit from the port of Travemünde is very impressive. Time passes relatively quickly in a cozy outside cabin and on board during the day. On Tuesday morning, we arrive punctually at 09:15 at the ferry port of Helsinki, before the ferry passed the impressive archipelago islands in front of Helsinki. After a few minutes, we were off the ship and drive directly to the Rastila campsite just outside the city, where we are already at our site at 10:15. A few hundred meters from the campsite is the metro or subway station from where we take our first trip to the city center. We visit the market and the market hall as well as the cathedral and other sights. We buy fresh golden chanterelles for dinner, which are sold in liters, like almost everything else in the market, and are accordingly expensive. However, when they asked for 5 euros for a bunch of parsley, we politely declined... but the chanterelles were very good!!! We also spent the second day in Helsinki with various sightseeing, including the impressive Orthodox Cathedral with the golden domes.

On Thursday, we continue driving and enjoy the journey in warm summer weather through impressive landscapes between lakes, partly on natural roads. Our destination for today is Turku, where we make a 2-night stop on the very beautifully located Camping Ruissalo just outside the city on a peninsula. We experience a beautiful sunset in a great landscape again. On Friday, we actually wanted to cycle to Turku for sightseeing, but due to the unfathomable bicycle computer, we took the bus to the city, the bus stop is right on the site and the bus goes right into the city of Turku. There we visit the cathedral (max. 1 church per day...) The weather is a bit overcast and cooler, but clear again in the evening!

On Saturday, we start a tour of the Turku Archipelago. This route leads over various larger and smaller archipelago islands, which are connected to each other either by bridges or by free, state-owned yellow ferries. Very impressive landscapes with lots of water all around, the ferry crossings all work smoothly, and the waiting times are practically zero. We make a stop on the island of Houtskär and settle in on Camping Mossala at the northern tip of the island. The beautifully located campsite has only a few motorhomes, well-equipped with a restaurant and even its own sauna, which is reserved for campsite guests only and even free of charge. We spend a quiet Sunday occasionally watching the ESAF report and doing laundry at the campsite before the journey continues tomorrow, once again with a ferry that departs directly from the campsite and takes us to the next island, Jniö.