Pirogues in Turku

We reached the second largest city in Finland overnight by ferry from Stockholm. The ferry ride itself was an experience in itself... 

First of all, from the deck of the ship, we were able to experience an incredibly beautiful sunset behind the dreamlike backdrop of Stockholm. Then the ship's path leads past the beautiful archipelago landscape. Only the cold and darkness finally moved us inside the ship, but we didn't stay long! After only 4 hours of sleep, we left our ship cabin again at 4:30 to catch the sunrise. It was definitely worth it!! There are no words to describe this beauty. 

We arrived at Turku Harbor at around 7:30; from there, the city center can be reached by bus in just 10 minutes.

From the very beginning, we notice that Finland is very different from the other Scandinavian countries. This is particularly evident in the architecture, which shows Eastern influences. But in terms of friendliness, Finland is definitely unbeatable. From the bus driver, to the tourist office, to the ticket seller, we were consistently treated kindly, like we have never experienced in any other country! The Finns are living up to their reputation as the happiest people so far!

Turku itself, despite being the second largest city, is quite small and doesn't offer many sights. We only had one day here, which was completely sufficient.

You should visit the old market hall, where you can also buy a specialty of Finland, the pirogues (they consist of a rye crust and mostly rice or potato filling), the cathedral, the Forum Marinum, and the castle. The castle is about a 40-minute walk from the center, but you should consider whether you want to walk along the riverbank, as the waterfront is really nicely done!

In addition, Turku has various hills that you can climb and from which you have a view of the city. However, we found that Turku is unfortunately not beautiful from above... 

A tip from the tourist office that we unfortunately didn't have time for is a boat trip, which also takes you to neighboring islands. The route sounded really good though.

All in all, Turku is a nice stop for a day and can easily be combined with a stay in Helsinki. It probably won't be one of our favorite cities, but we will definitely not forget the super nice people. :)

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We left our favorite city Stockholm (check out our blog post...) by ferry and travelled to our first destination in Finland - Turku.

On the ferry we had a really nice time. The sunset behind Stockholm was so beautiful and picturesque. We passed many many Archipelago islands while eating our self made noodle salad and drinking some Apple cider on deck. We couldn't imagine a better place for that.

Inside the Viking Line ship there were a few restaurants and a woman singing and playing the piano - very cozy atmosphere. Besides we were so positively surprised by our ship cabine without window. It was much bigger than we thought, very comfortable and with a bathroom just for ourselves.

We had a really good, but short night because we got up early to see the sunrise over the calm water. We can ensure you that it was so worth it!

Finally we arrived in Turku, Finland's second biggest city. Finland is definitely very different compared to the other Scandinavian countries. It is more influenced from the eastern countries, noticeable due to its buildings.

We started our city walk in the modern part of Turku. First we strolled through a very big shopping mall with many different shops.

After that we went to the older part of the city near the river. You can visit a cathedral and climb one of three hills to get a view over Turku (which is by the way not that beautiful).

We walked along the river to the Turku Castle, passing some cute restaurants, many benches and sailing ships. We can recommend this beautiful walk.

Actually we wanted to take a waterbus which is included in public transport to reach the castle and another small island. Unfortunately we did not consider the departure times. So in the end we didn't have enough time left for that. :(

If you want to buy some souvenirs or authentic Finnish food, you should go to the Old market hall.

In our experience spending one day in Turku is totally enough. It is not the most interesting city compared to the others we've seen before, but we still enjoyed a good time there.