Turku for a day or two
 

My wife and I will be in Finland's third city Turku for at least one night in mid-July, and I was wondering if FT has any interesting suggestions for places to see, do or eat nearby. I've briefly stopped in the city a number of times, but it's probably been >10y since I was last there and I only have vague memories of being underwhelmed by Aboa Vetus, reasonably impressed by Ars Nova and not too impressed either way by the Hansa shopping centre. I'm also reliably informed that I have been to the castle and probably the cathedral as well, but I'll be darned if I can remember a thing.

We're tentatively staying at the apparently fairly central Holiday Inn on points. If the weather is suitable, a quick cruise to Naantali and possibly even the dreaded Moominworld might be on the agenda. Any other ideas?

I would be interested as well and have been to roughly the same places as you have. Not too many years ago I went to the cathedral not expecting much, but was surprised in that it was quite grand for a small city like Turku. Other places I recall visiting are Forum Marinum with its Tall Ships and a museum of musical instruments (can't recall the name).

I'm perhaps a little more familiar with the surrounding archipelago which is definitively recommendable especially for sailing in the summer.

Erm... you mean fifth, and soon (with the upcoming consolidation of several municipalities around Oulu) to be sixth. :)

cheers,

Henry

I'm a barefoot Helsinkian, so Espoo and Vantaa are just suburbs to me :p

Kinda shocked to hear that even Oulu will be eclipsing Turku though :eek:

Announced a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/...y_1636450.html

cheers,

Henry

Turku had prominence in the older Swedish empire, didn't it? I'd expect to see many sites from that period.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turku

Yes, it was the de-facto capital, but the capital was shifted to Helsinki by the Russians and the fire of 1827 destroyed most of what was left.

So, just a little report on our stay in Turku. In a word, I was astonished at how ugly most of the city is, especially after flying in from gorgeously restored Gdansk. A few bits by the river have been prettied up, and the castle (quite a hike away on foot, btw!) is nice enough, but most of the city is just terrible, an endless row of 70s-era concrete monstrosities filled with kebab joints. :td:

It also turned out that we'd arrived on Ruisrock weekend (one of the country's largest rock festivals) and hotels and such were packed. Finding a decent place to eat after 9 PM on a Sunday turned out to be a chore though, the "green card mafia" (S-card group) had the city center restaurants locked down solid and in the end it came down to a choice between Rosso and Hesburger. :td: Rosso had salmon soup and won, alas (just as bad as I expected), so next day we had to go for Hese -- their pork steak on rye bread burger with cucumber mayo ain't bad. :p

And oh, Turku Airport's T2 (LCC only) is pretty shocking, it's quite literally just a utility shed. Arriving there isn't too bad, just pick up your bags and go, but waiting for a delayed flight wouldn't be fun. The taxi stand consists of a lone pole in the middle of a parking lot without even a number to call, but fortunately we'd cribbed a Turku guide and could order up one -- and the ride to the city cost nearly 30e with Sunday and advance booking surcharge. :mad: (There is a considerably cheaper bus, but we had a bit too much luggage for comfort and didn't want to wait around.)

In all, I'd have a pretty hard time recommending Turku for anything more than a short stopover on the way to/from the ferry.