2 thoughts on “Visit Finland”

1. I attended the Sibelius 150th Birthday Festival in Lahti last year and loved it. I would like to explore a return for the Festival this coming September. I would also like to visit other parts of Finland, either before or after the Festival. Please send any relevant information.

   Thank you.

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2. Places to see in Finland

   Helsinki “white city of the north”
   Capital city of Finland where more than one fifth of Finns live
   Mostly built since 1815; no building higher than 10 stories
   Tourist Information office (Pohjoisesplanadi 19) sells 2/3 day public transport tickets.
   Ninety minute bus tour starting near Information Office gives orientation of interesting sites.
   1952 Olympic city: see Olympic Stadium and Youth Hostel there.
   Harbour (fish) market and ferry activity
   Suomenlinna Fortress 15 minutes ferry trip from Harbour
   Academic Bookshop and Stockmans Department Store
   City Square with Lutheran Cathedral, University, monument to Czar Alexander, Gov’t buildings
   Great Hall of the University where Sibelius premiered many of his works
   Russian Orthodox Cathedral built 1867
   Railway station, Finlandia Hall, new concert hall, several museums and art galleries
   Botanical Gardens.
   Rock Church carved out of quarried space and with copper roof
   Sibelius Monument (near an apartment he owned for a short while during WW 2)
   Seurasaari Open Air Museum (catch a bus to its entrance)
   Café Ursula, Seahorse Restaurant, Zetor, etc.
   Marshall Mannehheim Museum opened occasionally
   Direct train connection to St Petersberg, ferries to Talllin, Porvo, Turku, Stockholm

   Turku
   Previous capital of Finland with strong Swedish influence
   Most was burnt during the great fire of September 1827, but a small section remains as a museum, rebuilt
   !3th Century Castle
   13th century Lutheran Cathedral
   University city with Swedish ansd Finnish Universities
   Sibelius museum
   Youth Hostel which is a sailing ship
   Turku Archipelago with ferries and bridges includes Hafstrask and Korpo where young Sibelius wrote Trios

   Porvoo
   Less than one hour by bus from Helsinki but much older
   Also a ferry service exists between Helsinki and Porvoo
   Small cathedral (badly burnt in 2006 but faithfully restored)
   Traditional wooden town with town square, red painted boat-sheds and marina
   Home of Finland’s great poet, J L Runeberg which is now a museum
   His son was a sculptor and his busts are on display in his house next door

   Jarvenpaa
   About 35k from Helsinki; short trip by train or bus. On Hooked-on-cycling route
   Was the home town of Jean Sibelius and Finland’s first novelist, Aleksis Kivi and other artists
   Ainola home (1904-57) and grave of Sibelius: 3k from railway station and Sibelius statue.
   Visit the former home of landscape painter Peka Halonen friend and neighbour of the Sibelius’s

   Hameelinna
   Old military town on “Kings’ Road” with medieval castle
   Birthplace and schoolplace of Jean Sibelius and Juho Kusti Paasikivi, a Finnish President
   Beautiful Lakeside setting; (4 hour?) ferry trip (via sculptor Emil Wikström’s Visavuori studio) to Tampere trough locks.

   Tampere, Finland’s largest inland city, near the smaller Nokea
   Industry there founded by a Scott on the rapids which provided power to drive industry
   University

   Lahti
   100k north of Helsinki (by bus or train)
   3 Ski-jumps and ski museum. Radio museum.
   Sibelius Hall built 2000: location of annual Sibelius Festival, by Lake Vesijarvi and heritage boats.
   Nearby Sibelius wrote Fire on the Island, piano pieces, and Lemminlainen and the Maidens.

   Rauma
   A world heritage wooden town near Pori where there is a famous mausoleum and a jazz festival

   Savonlinna
   Beautiful lake district setting in the heart of Karelia
   Castle setting for annual opera festival (which Loreto has attended).
   Short distance from world’s largest wooden church at Kerimaki

   Koli and Lieksa
   In the heart of Karelia. Perhaps the most spectacular view in Finland is on the Koli Mountain (350 metres high) where Sibelius began his Symphony No. 4
   Kuhmo in east-central Finland close to the Russian border where an annual chamber music festival is held

   Rovaniemi:
   Starting point for Finnish Lapland
   Father Christmas tourist town on the Arctic Circle. See reindeers.

   Lovisa
   Spa town with marina on way to St Petersburg
   Young Sibelius visited grandmother and aunt here where he wrote Lovisa Piano Trio.
   Also on way to Vipuri/Viborg, former jewell of Finland taken by Soviets in 1943.

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