Family Reunion in Turku

What a special day today was. We had been looking forward to it ever since Simon left Australia in August last year.

The flight from Hong Kong was on Finnair and the service on the plane was outstanding. Finnair like to feature the lovely Finnish designs of their country, I loved my Marimekko slippers and my blueberry juice served in Ittala glassware .We left very late ( after midnight) but were served a very tasty late meal. I really enjoyed my Finnish salmon soup and dark rye bread. After that I was very ready to get some shuteye and managed a reasonable 5 hours sleep befroe we finally started to descend into Helsinki airport.

We arrived very early ( 5.15am!) so had to fill in time with a coffee before we col collect our rental car at 7am. Then it was time to break out the TomTom and direct to Turku, an hour and a half drive from the airport.

We’re staying at the Scandic Julia hotel which is only a block from Jatta’s apartment. Our room wasnt ready yet but they were happy to store our luggage and after a quick message to Simon we waited in the lobby for them to come down to met us. Words just can’t describe how wonderful it was to hug them both.

We set out with them to expplore some of the sights of the town. Turku is a beautiful small city, much much older then Helsinki. It’s roots go back many hundreds of years and our first stop was the beautiful cathedral , parts of which are 800 years old. It’s set in a lovely square beside the river.

From the cathedral we wandered down along the lovely Aura river. Simon had sent us photos in the winter when it was frozen over but at this time of year its banks are green with beautiful trees and flowers. There is an installation of huge fibreglass duck sculptures bobbing along at one point.

We enjoyed a coffee at a riverside cafe and then visited the Turku Handicrafts Museum. Turku was devastated by a huge fire in 1827 which destroyed many of the older buildings but a small area of 200 year old timber cottages remain and have been preserved as a living museum of the area. Each cottage has displays of the craftsmen who lived there and staff were dressed in historic costume demonstrating their crafts such as lacemaking and violin making. Some of the old cottages even have turf roofs.

We were pretty hungry after that so we walked down along the river to a lovely restaurant. On the way we passed an area where several restaurant/bar boats are moored. These are very popular places in the summer months but will be closing very soon for the winter. At the cafe I had an absolutely delicious reindeer pasta dish.

On our way back through the town we stopped in to see the huge market hall. Its a vast hall with soaring timber beams and row after row of timber booths selling all sorts of quick meals as well as a huge range of fresh food. You could buy everything from lovely breads and cakes to reindeer sausages and cold smoked horse meat.

Almost everything in this picture is Reindeer meat of some type or another

The one in the middle is cold smoked horse meat

Our tour guides then took us up to the top of one of the hills to see the Art Museum building which is set in a pretty city park. After that I was ready for a rest so we headed back to the hotel to soak my steaming toes 🙂

We knew we’d flag early but wanted to try to reset out body clocks by eating meals at the right time so Simon came and joined us for a drink and some light Tapas style food at another lovely cafe overlooking the river. By pure chance we were visting on the night when Turku is celebrating their night Arts festival so the riverbanks and cafes were teeming with people out enjoying the live music and market stalls along the river. It was wonderful sitting with a drink enjoying the festive atmosphere and catching up on a years worth of news. Jatta was spending the evening with work friends at the Beer festival across the other side of the river, I suspect Neil might have liked to join them too! 😉

After a final short stroll along the riverbanks past the old Library building we headed back to the hotel to bed. Closed the blinds and tucked up in bed by 8.30 pm. Of course it was still borad daylight at that time but luckily the hotel has great black out curtains.