G&B: 2008: Suomenlinna Sea Fortress

On our second day, we took the ferry for the short trip to Suomenlinna, a sea fortress built on islands just off the coast of Helsinki. It is a national monument and one of Finland's "cultural treasures". Despite this, there are nine hundred residents of the islands and the fortress installations and garrison buildings have been restored to create homes, workshops for artists and craftsmen, restaurants and museums. There is also a church, a shop and a school in the village. We enjoyed walking around the islands and taking in the relaxed atmosphere.

Above: Ships departing Helsinki and entering the Baltic Sea do so through a seemingly very narrow channel

Above: The tomb of Augustin Ehrensvärd (1710-1772), the founder of the fortress Suomenlinna. A re-enactment, of which
we understood nothing because it was in Swedish (we think), was taking place. It was quite entertaining nonetheless.

Above : Playing Kubb

We returned to the city in the early afternoon