National Museum of Finland
A Memorable Event
The delightful receptionist at our apartment made a booking at a classy restaurant called Restaurant Kappeli. This restaurant was established in 1867 and is housed in a beautiful old building on ‘The Esplanadi’, a tree lined esplanade in downtown Helsinki. We took a chauffeur driven stretched limousine to the restaurant! Our table for two was in a unique semi-circular atrium away from the rest of the diners. Our three course meal with matching wines for each course was sensational and a great way to celebrate the big day.
A Short Cruise
Next day we took a sightseeing cruise around the Helsinki Archipelago. This is a magnificent area for holiday homes on the numerous islands, for pleasure boating, swimming and relaxing. The only problem is the short season. All boats have to be taken out of the water in winter as the ice can be up to a metre thick and would crush the hulls of pleasure boats. We then had lunch in the ‘Old Market Hall’, a unique food market with small cafes, plenty of food shops and salmon to die for. After lunch onto a Panorama Bus to see some of the outskirts of Helsinki and to visit the Arabia Design Centre.
The Temppeliaukio ‘Rock’ Church – Built into solid rock with a magnificent domed roof and filtered light
Restaurant Kappeli in downtown Helsinki
Our private atrium table in Restaurant Kappeli
Holiday House on one of the islands in the archipelago
Old Market Hall – Small cafes and many food shops
Continuous Daylight
What we are struggling to get used to is the continual daylight. Whilst the sun is setting at 11:00 PM and rising again before 4:00 AM it never gets dark. Between 11:00 PM and 4:00 AM it is like dusk in Melbourne. People are still out in the park opposite our apartment having picnics at midnight. Winter is different, only 6 hours of daylight. Light at about 9:15 AM, dark at 3:15 PM. An interesting sideline. In Croatia there are ATM cash machines on every corner. In Helsinki we could only find 6 in the entire city and none in the tourist areas. Finland is almost a cashless society.
A Ferry To The Fortress
An early start with the tram to Market Square and a ferry to the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. A video presentation and the museum gave a good understanding as to why the fort was built. We then went on a guided tour of the fort giving a great insight into the history. Back on the ferry and lunch at the Old Market Hall. Delicious smoked salmon on rye bread. Then onto the hop-on hop-off bus for a tour around Helsinki. This really is a beautiful city with some stunning architecture along with usual crappy buildings all cities have. A stop at Senate Square where we disembarked to walk up to the Helsinki Cathedral and then descended into the Crypt where Liz became an “angel” for a minute! What a magical place.
Downtown Helsinki
Downtown Helsinki for our third day, first to the Amos Rex Private Art Museum, a walk around the city and then to the Ateneum, The Finnish National Gallery. This is a beautiful city with some sensational buildings. It is hard to believe that Helsinki only has a population of 650 thousand people and Finland a population of 5.5 million. On the way back to our apartment we called into the modern Helsinki Central Library and were blown away. This place is amazing. Not just a library, but a meeting place and learning centre for everyone. Hundreds of people in the library, children everywhere and two cafes. Over three floors, the top floor being the library, the second floor a learning centre with computers, 3D printers, robot labs and even sewing machines and ironing board. All for everyone to use.
Suomenlinna Sea Fortress
Suomenlinna Sea Fortress
Senate Square & Helsinki Cathedral
The Crypt at Helsinki Cathedral – An art display in the crypt
A Day in Tallinn, Estonia
Up at 5:00 AM this morning for our day trip to Tallinn, Estonia to visit the ‘Old Town’. Ferry departed at 7:30 AM and arrived in Tallinn at 9:30 AM. A 15 minute walk and you are in the ‘Old Town’. We wandered the streets searching out the main sights, the Gothic Town Hall, Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral, Toompea Castle and other notable sights. A late lunch in the ‘Old Town’ then we wandered back to the ferry via the Nautica Shopping Centre located close to the terminal. On the way back on the ferry we watched people going crazy buying clothes, food items and especially alcohol to take back to Finland. Duty free allowances are very high in the EU so people had trolleys stacked with beer, wine and spirits.
Amos Rex Private Art Museum
Ateneum – Finland National Gallery
Library 3rd floor – Book, reading areas and lots of children
Library 2nd floor – Computers, 3D printers, sewing machines, robot lab
Tallinn Gothic Town Hall in the centre of the ‘Old Town’
Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral
A Trip Out of Town
A slow start next morning due to the big day yesterday. We took a local bus to Porvoo about 50 km from Helsinki. What makes this town unique is the beautiful old wooden houses and shops painted in soft pastel colours. An excellent tourist walking map is supplied so we walked the streets and looked at the highlighted sights of the ‘Old Town’. The cobbled streets are a feature but certainly not good for wheelchairs, bikes or scooters.
A Moment of Silence
Back on the bus to Helsinki and our last tourist stop was the Kamppi Chapel or as it is known ‘The Chapel of Silence’. A non-denominational church built of timber and acoustically designed. You walk into this building and it is totally silent from the hustle and bustle of Helsinki. You can sit and contemplate life without interruption. At the entrance door are counsellors and a priest and if you are having any issues, they will confidentially talk with you and help if they can. Just a great way to finish our 9 week trip.
Porvoo Old Town – Unique wooden buildings in pastel colours
Porvoo Old Town – Cobbled Streets
Kamppi Chapel – The Chapel of Silence in downtown Helsinki
Kamppi Chapel – Total silence once you enter
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A Week In Caernarfon, Wales
Our Brecon Beacons Cottage – Bailea Coach House
With a touch of sadness, we said goodbye to our host, Marjorie, whose company we did enjoy, and our beautiful cottage after a fabulous week in Brecon Beacons. As we were in no rush, we decided to head for the coast road for the 150 mile (240 km) drive to Caernarfon. It was a Bank Holiday weekend so there was a bit of traffic on the roads, but it flowed well so no holdups. We stopped in Porthmadog to top up on food and drinks and proceeded to our accommodation just out of Caernarfon in a little village called Caeathro. We met our host Julie and again we found the cottage to be beautifully decorated even with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the bedroom.
Our bedroom in Bwthyn Bach Cottage – Note the chandelier
Caernarfon Castle…. On Sunday a visit to Caernarfon Castle was on the agenda and we spent 4 hours in the castle climbing the steep spiral stone staircases to the turrets, exploring the stone walls, going through the museum, watching the archery displays, talking to the Black Knight. He turned out to be a good knight. King Edward I ordered construction of the castle which began in 1283 and took 50 years to complete at a cost of £25,000.
Caernarfon Castle
Following our visit to the castle we explored the town of Caernarfon including Palace Street where the council just this week had erected a colourful canopy of umbrellas suspended above the walkway. It was then time for a very late lunch sitting on the foreshore overlooking the Castle in nice sunny weather. We called in to Caernarfon Golf Club and talked with the Professional about golf in Wales. A nice golf course with spectacular views over Snowdonia National Park. Annual Membership fee is £550 (A$1050), and their golfing competition year is between May to September.
Umbrella’s above Palace Street
We Venture Further Afield…. Next stop was Llanberis to book tickets for the Snowdonia Mountain Railway. On the internet it showed it was booked out for the whole month of May, so on the off chance we called into the ticket office, told the girl we were all the way from Australia and all of a sudden we had tickets for the next day in the best two seats on the train in the front row. We then drove the Pen-Y-Pass which is the road to Betws-Y-Coed. This road is spectacular with stone fences either side of the road and mountains and slate soaring on either side of the road. This area was full of backpackers who are off for a day of hiking in this beautiful area.
The spectacular Pen-Y-Pass
Snowdon Mountain Railway…. We took a walk around the township of Llanberis before walking to the mountain railway station which is just out of town. Front row seats enabled us to see both the track ascending the mountain and out each side window to the spectacular and sometimes scary drops into the valleys below.
View out of the front window of the train
This train climbs 1085 meters in 8 kms with gradients in some sections as much as ‘1 in 5’ which is steep for a train. Once at the summit you can see 3600 views over Snowdonia National Park. We were very lucky as there was no cloud when we arrived but within 15 minutes we couldn’t see more than 50 meters. A unique experience.
A steam powered train heading for the summit
The trip down was also interesting as this time we were going backwards down the mountain as the train does not turn around. After descending about ½ km we were again out of the cloud and presented with the spectacular Snowdonia Landscape.
Hikers walking to the summit alongside the rail line 
At the summit
Betws-Y-Coed & Conwy Castle…. On Monday we decided on a round trip firstly to Betws-Y-Coed, one of our favourite small towns nestled in the heart of Snowdonia NP.
Beautiful Betws-Y-Coed Village
It was then on to Conwy to explore Conwy Castle just up the road. Another of King Edward I impressive castles that has been well maintained and fun to explore. We climbed all of the round turrets for spectacular views over Conwy and the castle. A very good way of getting fit and building up the muscles in the legs. We then walked the town and were able to see the smallest house in Wales.
Conwy Castle from the top of one of the turrets
Llandudno, A Holiday Mecca…. Five miles up the road is Llandudno, a bigger town and popular holiday destination. This town has so many hotels, guest houses and B&B accommodation. All along the waterfront is a popular place to be and a walk out on the pier is a “must” for everyone. And so, we walked it on a beautiful sunny day with all the Brits enjoying the sunshine, though a bit nippy with a cool wind blowing. The pier is typical British with lots of amusements for everyone. It is also the longest pier in Wales. After a full day of fun, it was time to go home.
Llandudno Hotels and Amusement Pier
Llechwedd Slate Mountain…. Our first rainy day in Caernarfon, but we were off to the Slate Mountain on the off chance we could participate in the Mine Tour. We took one of the B roads through a village called Beddgelert. The scenery was spectacular with open fields and lush forests. It was continual rain all the way and on arrival there were cars everywhere. We managed to get two tickets for the 2pm tour so had lunch in the café with all the wet and cold people warming and drying themselves near the wood fire. These people had ridden the Zip Line which is a flying fox ride across the slate quarry for a distance of 1.5 km. At the end of the ride the participants were drenched but smiling.
500 feet below ground on the slate mine tour
The mine tour, 500 feet below ground via a funicular railway was excellent and our guide provided the history of slate mining and how the slate was extracted and processed. We had to wear hard hats because some sections of the mine were very low and a few times, we hit our heads on the ceiling of the tunnels.
One of the small tunnels in the slate mine
Isle of Anglesey…. The next day we decided to slow the pace a little and headed to the Isle of Anglesey. This island joined by two bridges to the mainland has farming villages and seaside town scattered over the island, so we headed for one of the more popular towns, Beaumaris, walked the streets of the town, found one of the oldest houses in Great Britain (circa 1400) and along the pier. There was a crowd on the pier, and we were curious to see what was going on. It turned out the people were crabbing. This consists of throwing a net with bait into the water, waiting patiently and hopefully pulling it back up with a crab on the net. We asked a couple of girls what they did with the crabs. They just throw them back was the answer.
The strange pastime of crabbing
The Longest and Smallest…. After a tour of the island and driving past the village with the longest name in Wales, “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery-chwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch” we headed back to Caernarfon to the smallest bar in Wales, Bar Bach. We met a couple of very nice locals and spent time talking about Wales, the lifestyle and differences from Australia.
Bar Bach – The smallest bar in Wales
Our Final Day…. For our final day in Snowdonia region we decided on taking another rail journey. The Ffestiniog Railway is the world’s oldest narrow-gauge railway with almost 200 years of history which took us on a 13½-mile journey from the harbour in Porthmadog to the slate-quarrying town of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Rhododendrums grow wild alongside the train line
This historic trains climb over 700 feet from sea level into the mountains through tranquil pastures and magnificent forests, past lakes and waterfalls, round tight bends (even a complete spiral) clinging to the side of the mountain or tunnelling through it. It was a very relaxing journey to unwind after our hectic week in the Snowdonia region.
The historic Ffestiniog Railway