After a comfortable bus trip from Helsinki we walked our luggage into Turku. Our first couch surfing host for the trip had told us that Finland's biggest medieval market would be on that day. Oliver, Rob and I took turns scouting out the market and trying some food before heading to our respective accommodations. It was a nice way to enter town and the weather was stunning. It reminded us of having a tasty spit at our friends, Amy and Dave's house!
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| What a spit! |
Our couch surfing host, Pia, was very friendly and let us borrow her bicycles to wander around town. (Rob's bicycle didn't last long but that wasn't the point!) On our first night Rob and I bought some wine and cheese and salad and enjoyed our first European picnic by the river.
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| View from our picnic dinner |
Turku seemed like a great place to do some cycling and see a teeny tiny bit more of Finland than just Helsinki. We probably could have allowed a bit more time for cycling around Turku and the islands. In fact, I have extensive plans for another time. It sounds like there is accommodation set up all around the archipelago for cyclists who have been cycling around all day, hopping on and off ferries and having picnics!
In the end, we did a nice day trip cycle to Ruissalo Island. We packed a lunch to enjoy amongst nature, treated ourselves to coffee and ice cream and then put our foots to the pedal to make it back in time to return Rob's bike rental! It was hard work making it back in half the time we took to get there, but also great to get some (forced) exercise.
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| Cycling on Ruissalo Island |
A pleasant way to enjoy Turku is to jump on the ferry and have a drink as you float down the river. Our captain was a bit of a character and we chatted to him for awhile. Oliver asked what typical Finnish food he recommended we try that night and he said "Swedish meatballs" with a smirk. This was quite amusing because Finland was part of Sweden.
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| Ferry drinks |
After the ferry we headed towards our dinner destination, choosing to go with Ann Dashwood's recommendation, rather than our ferry captain's! Why did Ann have a restaurant picked out for us from across the other side of the world? Well, Ann had thought about taking a plane all the way from Australia and meeting us for dinner at Tinta restaurant! Unfortunately Ann couldn't make it but had a wonderful meal - she chose well for us!
What was less clear was the view from our table. An empty coffin placed beside the river. Unique art instalment? Missing body? We still aren't sure...but it HAD DISAPPEARED the next day!
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| A great dinner along the river |
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| View from our table |
In Turku we farewelled Oliver as he journeyed onwards to Sweden, Germany then France. Rob and I hopped back on the bus to Helsinki for further exploration before our flight to Dublin.
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