Stockholm, Helsinki and South Savo region of Finland

Day 2 continued....
I like the clothes of a particular Swedish designer called Gudrun Sjoden and had heard that there was a factory shop in Stockholm which could be worth a visit. It was a bit of a trek requiring a subway train and a bus and then a bit of a walk, but it seemed a pity to come to Stockholm and not check it out.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped in another central area of the city, an island called Södermalm. This is supposedly the hip, trendy part of the city, so I have no idea why we were there! It was quite hilly, but there were some interesting, independent shops and eventually we made our way back down to the harbour to catch the public ferry back across to Djurgården and our hotel. Public transport here is brilliantly integrated, ferries, buses, trams and underground trains all seamlessly linked.

Day 3 Museum Day
Today was going to be hot, so we decided it was a good time to hit two museums close to our hotel. We made a very early start, taking a short walk from the hotel along the waterside to the Vasa Museum arriving at 0830 to beat the tour groups. We had it to ourselves for around an hour and then the hoards descended. The Vasa was a war ship that sunk on its maiden voyage in August 1628. If this sounds familiar to British readers then, yes, there are clear similarities to the fate of the Mary Rose. Both built for kings, both with design failings being inherently top heavy, both hit by gusts of wind causing them to topple, and both having the left lower gun ports open, causing flooding of the hull leading to sinking of the vessels. This was a feat of marine archaeology, just like Mary Rose. But the Vasa is 98% intact due to the nature of the water in which it sank, being brackish which kept wood destroying worms away. Anyway it’s amazing, the museum experience and storytelling are brilliant. Not to mention the incredible Vasa herself. Worth a journey to Stockholm just to see it.

After the Vasa we headed across the road to the Nordiska Museum. Housed in an incredible building that looks like a castle, this museum tells the story of Sweden and the wider Nordic area from 1500 to the present day, but it does it through broad themes such as religion, folklore, the forest, marriage, the Sami, etc, and through artefacts and character stories. Each room advances history by 100 years. There’s another floor that tells the history of dining tables through the ages (crockery, cutlery and what was on the menu), then another floor that tackles Arctic climate change and finally a recreated 1947 apartment, next to some very cool doll’s houses. We had lunch in the Nordiska Museum too. Simple sandwiches but very tasty and good cakes. Everyone told us Sweden was really expensive, but we’ve found it very good value for the quality on offer.
After two museums, we both had a bad case of ‘museum foot’, that foot pain and fatigue that comes from shuffling slowly from exhibit to exhibit. So in a bid to make the most of our 3 day SL public transport passes, we went across town by tram to catch a commuter ferry, the 89 from Klara Mälarstrand to Tappström and back. This was a 2 hour round trip, heading west from the city centre, and stopping at lots of small communities. Very relaxing and ‘free’ as it was a public transport ferry included in our pass. I think we were the only non Swedes on board. We sat outside on the upper deck and lapped up the sunshine and scenery.

Day 4 - ABBA museum in the morning and a ferry
Like all the attractions in Stockholm it’s best to go early or late before the coach parties have been corralled at their hotels and ushered on to their tour buses. The ABBA Museum opens at 9am so we were there on the dot. There’s no doubt that this place is overpriced and overhyped but it did turn out to be good fun and when the music has been part of the soundtrack to your life’s journey, well, what’s not to like?
We had great fun in the sound booths, attempting to perfect our duet of ‘Thank-you for the Music’. We then did the ‘design your stage outfit’ thing, a fairly low grade AI program that produced a fairly unlike likeness. The final interactive opportunity was a stage performance with the ABBA avatars, two song choices, Dancing Queen or Mamma Mia. There are plenty of costumes, gold discs, and it’s fun, but probably only for a true ABBA fan!

After the museum we picked up our bags from the hotel and called an Uber for the ride to the Viking ferry terminal. It is possible to do the journey by (privately operated) ferry and a 10 min walk, or by public transport and a 10 min walk, but it was hot and we had two large bags, so we opted for the taxi. Taxis are unregulated in Stockholm, so the hotel advised us that an Uber would be cheaper than a taxi called by them.

We opted for the Viking Line to Helsinki, over the Silia line because a) it was cheaper and b) the Stockholm terminal is more central.
Check in opens 90 minutes before departure – not a second earlier, and is by self service machines. We were sailing on the Gabriella which departed at 4pm and arrived in Helsinki at 9am the following day, with a brief (10 minutes) stop in Mariehamn.
We chose a “seaside premium cabin with a balcony” (for 455 euro, a fraction of the price of a similar cabin on Sillia Line) and were very glad that we did. We sat on the balcony for hours as the ferry glided out through the archipelago. Wonderful to see the beautiful islands and small settlements. We paid an additional 54 euro each for a 3 course dinner in the a la carte restaurant, which I highly recommend. You can either use your voucher to cover the full cost of the set 3 course menu, or can put it towards a la carte choices. We chose the set menu. Our cabin also included breakfast in the same restaurant. We were so glad to have access to that restaurant as the buffet and grill restaurants were very busy, with long queues.
We slept very well and arrived into Helsinki on time the next morning.

Day 5 - 7 Helsinki
The main purpose of our trip was to visit our Finnish friends. They met us at the ferry terminal and drove us to their home. But if you arrive on the ferry there are good public transport options to take you wherever you need to go. We downloaded the HSL app, the best way to buy public transport tickets for the Helsinki area, valid on buses, trams, local trains and some ferries. We spent the next few days in Helsinki and here are a couple of highlights that were new to us (we’ve been to Helsinki many times).

Boreal Restaurant. A Michelin one star place. Using Finnish ingredients to create a wonderful multi course tasting menu. Very good value and excellent wine list.

Views over Helsinki from the small rooftop bar at the Torni Hotel. A great spot. Lift to the top then a narrow spiral staircase to the bar. The toilet was most definitely a ‘room with a view’.

Lunch, Kahvitupa Laurentius in Vantaa. A locals’ favourite Italian restaurant serving great pizza and pasta in a lovely old building and near a historic church that is apparently a favourite for weddings.

We love searching flea markets (Kirppis) for Finnish souvenirs. Ceramics & Iittala glass are favourites. We found a fabulous Red Cross shop in Vantaa. We bought 3 ‘Sami’ plates by Arabia, a famous Finnish ceramics company. They depict colourful scenes from Sami life and we found 3 for 5 euro each.

Day 8 -14 A cottage in Lake Country
We picked up a rental car at Helsinki airport and then headed with our friends for the 2 hour drive to a summer cottage near Mäntyharju in the South Savo region, north east of Helsinki
It’s very traditional for Fins to take quite a lot of time off work in the summer and to go to a cottage by a lake. Either a family cottage or a rental. It’s essential of course for the cottage to have a traditional wood fired sauna, which became our evening ritual, sauna then dip in the lake and repeat as many times as needed.

We tore ourselves away from the cottage a couple of times. We visited Taidekeskus Salmela, an art gallery on the shore of Lake Pyhavesi. The gallery is the town's main attraction and every summer it exhibits the works of established Finnish artists, alongside emerging talent, in the old parish buildings beside the lake. The artwork was quite diverse and there was a mixture of paintings and small sculptures. Although all of the paintings were very interesting, we found the sculptures more to our taste. There were also some larger stone sculptures in the outdoor green spaces and a very reasonably priced cafe serving an excellent three course buffet lunch.

Across the road is Mäntyharju Church, a timber built church dating from the early 1800s and one of the largest timber built churches in Finland. There was a large cemetery, a large part of it given over to what were obviously war graves for those who died during the conflicts with Russia and Germany during 1939 - 1944. Finland’s 20th century history is complicated so there was also a memorial to those who died in the Finnish civil war in 1918 and another to the loss of large parts of Karelia which were ceded to the Soviet Union following WWII. About 400,000 Finns were forced to leave their lands and homes and resettle further west.

We also visited Mikkeli, the centre of Finnish military command during the Second World War.

We first visited the Infantry Museum, which was mainly concerned with the war period, but also covered Finnish involvement in UN Peace Keeping and latterly NATO activities. Most of the interpretation was understandably in Finnish, but there were some QR codes with Swedish and English translations. Then it was onto The Headquarters Museum, which as the name suggests was Mannerheim’s command centre. Housed in an old school, Mannerheim took over the head master’s room as his personal office, and while there were maps, charts and other wartime paraphernalia in the room, the walls were still lined with school books! There was also a chart room from where land campaigns were planned and tracked and there had been similar rooms for naval and air campaigns during the wars. The presentation was very slick with full English translation covering the strategic military decision making and outcomes. Upstairs there was a different emphasis, with highly interactive and thought provoking exhibits about the social impacts of the wars, and also testimonies from various people who’d lived through them. We followed the story of a veteran who lived to be 100, told via 5 short films in which aspects of his life were retold by actors. He appeared in the final film at a presidential banquet aged 100. This part of the museum made more use of multimedia and presented facts very clearly. Kids seemed very engaged, but it worked for adults too.

There was of course a museum cafe, the usual high standard. Filled rolls and cardamom buns for us, but there was the typical generous 3 buffet option too!

We rounded off our Mikkeli activities with a quick stop at the railway station, where we saw Mannerheim’s personal “salon” railway carriage. While we were unable to go inside as it’s only once a year on Mannerheim’s birthday, we were able to look through the windows. It’s primarily of interest because Mannerheim had a meeting with Hitler in this very train. The conversation they had was partly recorded and it’s the only recording that exists of Hitler speaking in his normal voice, rather than the hysterical ranting of his speeches. For such a historical item, it seems incongruous that it’s just left at the side of a railway platform.

On the way back to we stopped at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Verla, a pulp and paper mill that closed its operations in 1964. The mill had been in operation since 1872, was out of action for a time after it burnt down but a bigger and more extensive mill was built in 1882 which included a cardboard manufacturing facility. Because of its location it was not possible to enlarge or modernise the mill and factory so it remained in the form we see today. It is, apparently the only existing example of a late 19th ground wood mill in the world hence its UNESCO status. You can wander about the site, visit the gift shops and cafe for free but if you want to see inside the mill buildings you need to book and pay for a guided tour. The tours are in Finnish but the usual headphones and remote are provided for other languages.

Day 15 – Helsinki

Our last full day was spent in the city by bus and train where we visited the amazing city library. Not only books, but free 3D printing, crafts and games like chess and Go, as well as a restaurant, coffee bar and stunning views. The kids section is ‘shoes off’ to read and play, and there are glass work boxes that you can rent to work in peace. There are also board games to borrow. The building is incredible and was well used and clearly well loved by locals and tourists alike.
The area also houses the concert hall, music conservatoire, and parliament building. It’s a beautiful area. We walked through the ‘open all hours’ concert hall building, and could see into the auditorium as the walls are glass. Then out the other side to an Italian Restaurant “Osteria dei Gusti” for lunch. Homemade pasta and meat main courses were excellent, as were our starters of filo baskets filled with delicious taleggio, quail egg and truffle. Puddings did not disappoint. Their tiramisu is so famous that they sell it to take away, but only until they run out. It’s an excellent restaurant, well worth seeking out.

Then it was off to the airport where we stayed at the Clarion Hotel. We’ve now tried all the airport hotels and this is by far our favourite. It’s right next to the terminal building, the rooms are very comfortable, excellent sound proofing and the breakfast (which starts at 4am) is superb.

Our flight to Edinburgh left on time at 0750 and we were home in Skye by late afternoon.

Such a wonderful trip you seemed to have! I really enjoyed reading through all of the activities you did. It seemed like a perfect balance- go when you want to go, early to the museums, ferry ride when your feet are tired. I would love to go there someday! Your trip report makes it even more enticing! I hadn’t read about what exactly was offered in the ABBA museum before. It sounds quirky, but fun! I got tickled last week when my husband and I were visiting our 30 yr old son. I was in the car with him and what do I hear but an ABBA playlist lol. I had no idea he, too, loved ABBA. So, if we go together we’ll have to make a point to enjoy it as you did! Thanks for taking time to write about your trip!

A very good report. I found the info about the WW II history sites outside of Helsinki to be especially interesting. I was curious what you meant about filling in EU entry information online in advance. You’re referring I assume to the EES system to collect information when entering the Schengen zone? Everything I had heard indicated that there was nothing one had to do, or voluntarily could do, in advance of arriving at the entry port to speed this process.

@Mustlovedogs. Thank you! I think you’d enjoy the ABBA museum.

@Slate. At the moment Sweden and Portugal are the only two Schengen countries signed up to an app called Travel to Europe where you can input some data ahead of your trip. Both countries allow you to complete the data questionnaire and Sweden also allow you to upload a selfie for the facial recognition. As we started our trip in Sweden we were able to use the app.

Thank you Skyegirl.

I must say I had not considered going to Sweden but you make it all seem so appealing. I really enjoyed your descriptions. And how fun to have friends in Finland to visit!

@BethFL, I am not a city person, but both Stockholm and Helsinki are appealing to me as they are beautiful, located on water and not too large, but with plenty of interesting museums and sites.