More Finnish summer

After sending off Rafa and Ollie to Paris, we still had the rest of the week to spend in Finland. The “main event” of our stay was to be the Archipelago ring road, an itinerary I’ve wanted to complete for quite some time now. It is, as the name suggests, a road which connects the islands of the inner archipelago (in the virtual sense, since often the crossing between islands is done by ferry), taking in the islands of Nagu, Korppo, Houtskär, Iniö, before finally hitting the mainland again at Kustavi.

Before taking on this daring road, we spent a relaxed day at Rågård together with my younger brother Janne, enjoying the unusually magnificent summer. We also took thye opportunity to play a bit of board games perhaps to bring back memories of our innocent summers of our young years, spent playing role playing games...




We set out towards the first island on the journey early Wednesday morning, leaving respectably at about 8 o’clock. We hit Nagu as planned, and sped on to Korppo from there. We decided to stop there briefly, since it’s a pretty nice island, and one that we rarely visit far (normally we stop in Nagu, which is obviously closer to our summer house). We started our visit with a short “educative hike” around Rumar (having checked out the views from the panorama tower). We didn’t learn all that much, to be honest, since the signposts along the trail were a bit too cryptic for us. Nonetheless, it was a pretty nice walk. We then decided to check out Korppo town (quickly done – it consists of a church, a shop and not much else), and gathered provisions (smoked fish purchased at the local market, yummie…), and then carried on towards Houtskär.

The thing about the ring road is that you need to keep moving, as the ferries between the smaller islands are small, and not very frequent (the archipelago gets pretty busy with tourists during the summer as well). We sped across Houtskär to make it to the Iniö ferry. But alas, our rushing was for naught, as we missed the ferry by a whisker (we were the third car not to get onboard). The trouble with missing the Iniö ferry is that there is only one every 3 hours or so, and there’s absolutely nothing to do at the ferry terminal. Well, there is a camping, and a café, but that’s pretty much it. Not even a good beach for swimming. So, we got slightly bored, and happily welcomed the eventual return of the ferry. Iniö is a very small island, and according to some, nice in the sense that it’s very much off the tourist trail, and hence quite "authentic". However, we had a ferry to catch again, so apart from a quick stop by the old church, we didn’t see much of it… This time we made it – the Iniö-Kustavi ferry is pretty big so no problems boarding.

A 40-minutes journey later, and we were back at the mainland. By now, we were rather hungry, so decided to have dinner in a very nice-looking restaurant at the guest harbor in Kustavi. Good choice, the food was very nice as well. And it was nice to sit down for a while and enjoy the evening sun, having spent all day either waiting for ferries, in the car, or on a ferry ;-). After a short walk around the harbor we carried on to Taivassalo, where were spending the night (or rather, nearby Hakkenpää). Not much to say about Hakkenpää – to call it a sleepy town would be an understatement. Our guesthouse was attached to the only bar in town – and there were no customers tonight. So not much excitement for tourists, then. I suppose that’s not why people would come to these types of towns, though.





After a good night’s sleep, we carried on, passing Asikainen and Merimasku, until we arrived in Naantali. Naantali is one of the nicest seaside towns in Finland, a lively little town with a bit of history as well. And finally, we found a nice beach for swimming, a couple of kilometers from the town centre ;-). After a relaxing and cooling swim, we walked to the town centre, where we spent a couple of hours taking in the traditional wooden houses (and grabbing a bit of lunch as well as an ice cream for dessert, naturally!). On the whole, Naantali is even nicer than I recalled. It is very busy, with loads or restaurants, but I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a tourist trap (not sure they exist in Finland yet?).

From Naantali, we carried on back towards Pargas, making a brief stop in Turku for a bit of shopping. We also made a slight detour to Bjursäng, where my friend Jani’s mum has a summer cottage. In spite of its remote location off the main road, we found our way rather easily, seeing as it’s located next to one of the biggest strawberry plantations in Pargas (Jani’s mum and her sisters run the place). Nice to see Jani and Katja again, and their little twins…

That brought an end to our little road trip. I guess my narrative has hinted at the problem with the ring road. There are just too many ferries to take, so it’s hard to actually enjoy the islands themselves. Hard to plan the day as well, since you never know whether you make it on a ferry or not. In retrospective, we should’ve probably spent the night at one of the smaller islands, like Iniö. But, anyway, I think the best way to see the archipelago is by boat (or perhaps by bike?). Oh well, at least I’ve done it now ;-).

On Friday, it was time to head back to Helsinki. Kind of wistful, really, leaving the peace and quiet of summery Pargas. On the way back, we stopped in Kuusisto, where we did a nice hike, and then visited the ruins of the old “Bishop’s castle”. The castle was built in 1317 - respectably old for a young country like Finland – . Not much left of it, but it was pretty interesting nonetheless. The museum in the nearby wooden manor was interesting as well – didn’t have time to go through it all this time.

We arrived in Helsinki late afternoon, in time to prepare for the evening’s activities. After grabbing a beer with Jonas, we headed off to Virgin oil, where we were all meeting up for dinner. Jocke, Aki and his bride-to-be were all present. Janne, the master organizer, also eventually showed up with Katja (only about 3 hours late – that’s impressive going even for a Turtiainen). Great to catch up with everybody, and the food was pretty decent as well…

We didn’t have time for much on Saturday, but did have the chance to have a family lunch in a real Helsinki institution called Salve. The place dates back all the way to 1897 (which, by Finnish restaurant standards, is WAY back…), when it was just a kiosk selling fish, tobacco and the like to fishermen and other unsavory types. In 1927 it was transformed into a sailor’s saloon, and not one with the cleanest of reputations. These days it’s a very nice restaurant, and only some photos on the walls recalls the less-reputable days of the past… Their speciality is still herring with mashed potatoes, though, which I naturally had… (followed by Finnish pancakes). A nice way to end a memorable week, catching up with my family!