Turku

On September 25 it was the time to go to Turku! Turku has about 175.000 inhabitants and we needed about 2h to go there by bus. It was (like ALMOST always) a very nice and quiet drive to Turku with some power-napping and a small breakfast. The first stop was the city center with a nice and bustling market. And I think we actually found one of the descendants of Elvis Presley on this market - let's have a look:

 

Turku Elvis

After the market we spend some time in a nice coffee house (again) had some coffees, buns and pieces of cake... Then we walked to the river side (Aura River) where we found a lot of boats and cafés with Swedish/German names, like Manuela, Rudolfina and so on. You can see the Swedish influence on (street-, café-) names quite often and it helped most of us to understand a little bit more and find some places even faster ;-) It was beautiful on the seaside and the weather started to get really good. Here are some impressions:

 

The next destination had been the TURKU CASTLE! It is largest surviving medieval building in Finland, even in whole Scandinavia. It stands as a national monument, on the banks of the Aura River, as it has done since the 14th century. Here are some pictures of the castle:

 

To sum up the history of the castle: Swedish conquerors started to built the castle at the end of the 13th century and it was first intended to be a military fortress. For the next 200 years, the castle served as a bastion and administrative centre in Eastland, as Finland was then known, during the Swedish period. The castle lost its status as an administrative centre in the 17th century after Per Brahe's period as governor-general of Finland came to an end. Many accidents have assailed the castle, especially numerous sieges. In 1614, when King Gustav II Adolf visited the castle, a tremendous fire destroyed the wooden structure of the main castle almost completely. After this the main castle was abandoned and used partly as a store, partly just stood empty. A new accident beset the castle in the summer of 1941 soon after the Continuation War had begun when an incendiary bomb hit the main castle. 

The renovation of the castle, which was begun before the Second World War and interrupted by Finland's two wars with the Soviet Union, was completed in 1987. The castle was handed over to its users completely restored on 12 October 1993. The building is owned and maintained by the Finnish state and is entrusted to the use of the city of Turku. The castle functions in its entirety as a historical museum as part of the Turku provincial museum. 

The museum was really great and kinda scary! There was a large dining room called the King's Hall, a collection of old, fancy clothes and toys (remember the little bike of Jigsaw ;-)). Several rooms showed some old statues, weapons, armours and war documents. The museum even had a little church - a beautiful one - with a lot of maritime signs, just as boats and sails. We spend quite a lot of time in this museum, because it had a lot to offer. Of course it was pretty exhausting seeing that much in just a few hours, but I really have to say: it was certainly worth it! I can truly recommend Turku Castle!

Another building we must not have missed was the Turku Cathedral! At the official page it is described as the following: the Turku Cathedral 'is the Mother Church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and the country's national shrine. It is the central church of the Archdiocese of Turku and the seat of the Archbishop of Finland, Kari Mäkinen. It is also regarded as one of the major records of Finnish architectural history.' Today the cathedral is the symbol of Turku and very popular (not only amongst tourists).

After the visit of the great cathedral the day was almost over... Before we went back to the bus station, we had a walk through the university neighborhood and the last destination was the Turku Art Museum up the hill. By the way: it was quite impressing that the center of Turku reminds at the famous streets of San Francisco - at least that is my opinion! You have those little hills and streets going up and down with them - and on top of one of them the museum is located. It was jsut a great look, and to prove it, here is another picture: 

Turku was great!