Visit to Suomenlinna (Fri., Aug. 18)

On the schedule for today was a visit to Suomenlinna, which is an island fortress that sits in Helsinki's harbor. You take the journey on a ferry that is really just public transportation for the Finns and many of them go out to the island just to walk around, picnic or walk their dogs. It's only a 20-minute trip. In the photo to the left, you can see Helsinki's marketplace as we left the dock.

The fortress was built by the Swede's starting in 1749 as protection from Russia for Finland which was under their domain at the time. The original name of the fort was Sveaborg (Castle of the Swedes), but it was renamed in Finnish to Suomenlinna (Castle of Finland) when the Finns got their independence in 1918. In case you were wondering, the name of this country is really Suomi (in Finnish) and not Finland.

The fort worked as a deterrent for several years, but ultimately it was forced to surrender with barely a shot when a land attack from Russia cut the fort off in 1809 and Sweden was unable to send reinforcements because the Baltic was frozen. That started 100+ years of Russian occupation of Finland.

The fort, in Russian hands at the time, came under attack during the Crimean war in 1855 by a fleet of English and French ships. The Russians hadn't upgraded the cannons installed by the Swedes and hence they didn't have enough range to reach the ships, who pounded the fortress for days. They did considerable damage, but this wasn't a major event in the war.

Today Finns and tourists alike come to enjoy the peaceful island. We had a nice walk, and the weather was perfect again. In the low-70s and just cool enough to make you put on a jacket from time to time. There were people partying on the rocks below the guns (photo to the right) and sitting on blankets in the open areas.

As the trip goes on and the miles build up, we are starting to take advantage of Uber more and more to save our energy for sightseeing. Our hotel is about a mile from the departure dock, so we took an Uber down to start the trip. When it was done, we still had energy and so we walked back. We did part of our trip yesterday by Uber because we had to pick up our laundry and it was too heavy to carry. We also use Uber frequently in the evening to go to restaurants that are a bit distant. Uber is quick, efficient and typically 6.5 EUR. Well worth it especially when your feet are tired!!!