Jul 9
Before leaving Torku today, we rent a couple city bikes to take a tour of downtown historic Torku.
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"Turku Castle is a medieval building, and together with Turku Cathedral, the castle is one of the oldest buildings still in use and the largest surviving medieval building in Finland. It was founded in the late 13th century and stands on the banks of the Aura River. The castle served as a bastion and administrative center in Finland, which was a part of Sweden until the early 19th century. Only once did the castle figure in the defense of the realm, when Russian invaders from Novgorod destroyed Turku in 1318. It more frequently played a role in internal struggles for power within Sweden and the Kalmar Union. The castle's heyday was in the mid-16th century during the reign of Duke John of Finland and Catherine Jagellon, when the Renaissance Floor and King's and Queen's hall were built, along with other features. It lost its status as an administrative center in the 17th century after Per Brahe's period as governor-general of Finland came to an end. In addition, many of the larger rooms are used for municipal functions."
Turku Orthodox Church
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Onto the next church...
"Turku Cathedral is the only medieval basilica in Finland and the Mother Church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. It is also regarded as one of the major records of Finnish architectural history.
Considered to be the most important religious building in Finland, the cathedral has born witness to many important events in the nation's history and has become one of the city's most recognizable symbols. The cathedral is situated in the heart of Turku next to the Old Great Square, by the River Aura. It is central to Finland's annual Christmas celebrations.
The cathedral was originally built out of wood in the late 13th century, and was dedicated as the main cathedral of Finland in 1300, the seat of the Catholic bishop of Turku. It was considerably expanded in the 14th and 15th centuries, mainly using stone as the construction material. The cathedral was badly damaged during the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, and was rebuilt to a great extent afterwards."
Considered to be the most important religious building in Finland, the cathedral has born witness to many important events in the nation's history and has become one of the city's most recognizable symbols. The cathedral is situated in the heart of Turku next to the Old Great Square, by the River Aura. It is central to Finland's annual Christmas celebrations.
The cathedral was originally built out of wood in the late 13th century, and was dedicated as the main cathedral of Finland in 1300, the seat of the Catholic bishop of Turku. It was considerably expanded in the 14th and 15th centuries, mainly using stone as the construction material. The cathedral was badly damaged during the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, and was rebuilt to a great extent afterwards."
With our city tour bikes, we take in the Cathedral.
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Jul 10 (the morning, and up till about 230pm - the returning the camper van)
We stayed in one last campground last night, with full services, just outside Helsinki, to get everything set for the turn-in. The final stretches are shown here, as we bring our 20 days of camper van life to an end.
Now just 50 yards to go as we approach the Camper Van Tours company. Except for a few minor bobbles, this company provided excellent service.
To us Finland seemed, for the most part, to be about the great outdoors. We think doing the camper van thing was the best way to get this experience. Among the pros - Gerri didn't have to worry about lodging for 19 nights, we saved a ton of money eating in the van, and the convenience of camping at trailheads was huge. The cons? - can't think of any right now (except for the mosquitos, which we learned to deal with) - we had a bit of a learning curve with the van, but that's unsurprising - even with the manual shift the handling was pretty decent. It's like our experiences with the canal boats in England provided a degree of familiarity with this style of travel, only on roads versus canals.
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