Day 16: Finnenburg?

The day started with an opulent breakfast of toast, salami, cheese, salmon, avocado, yogurt, and juice. After this hearty meal, we set off happily to the city center.

At the marketplace, we boarded the ferry to the fortress island. Suomenlinna, the 'Finnenburg', welcomed us with bright sunshine, and we first made our way to the military museum. It is operated by the Finnish military and displays artifacts from all epochs since Finnish independence - which, by the way, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. 🎉

Among other things, there were uniforms (also for trying on), a replica trench, and even German exhibits such as soldier's books and canteens. It also became clear again that Finland was always among the losers, but somehow managed to get by. 🤔

We then visited Vesikko, the only Finnish submarine to survive the reparations payments after World War II and now serves as an exhibit. It's hard to believe that 20 people once lived in this tiny tin can...

The islands on which Suomenlinna stands are also worth seeing. We explored them as part of a guided tour, which also explained many historical connections. The resourcefulness of the residents was also pointed out, for example, there is a church/lighthouse as one building.

The former Swedish and later Russian fortress was initially called Sveaborg (Sweden's Castle) and was adapted to the conditions of the islands. At first glance, it has few typical features of a fortress, but it was still very modern at the time of its construction - at least at the beginning of the construction period, which suddenly lasted 40 years... 😅

After surviving the guided tour with several rain and thunder showers relatively unscathed, we visited a small museum that provided information about the construction and life in the fortress at different times. By the way, Suomenlinna now belongs to Helsinki as a district and has 800 inhabitants. 😉

In the museum, there was also a basement room that depicted an initiation scene of a 'secret society', which used to be very popular in Finland. Who wouldn't want to be almost beheaded...

The museum about the island itself didn't teach us much new. After a short film about the wars that the fortress experienced and a walk through the exhibition, we took the ferry back to the mainland.

Back in the city center, we treated ourselves to a buffet dinner at the Chinese restaurant, where we got surprisingly authentic food for €12.50 per person. After a bus ride, we are now exhausted and looking forward to getting some rest in our accommodation.