Katajanokka Island is home to Helsinki Marina, where Dirona berthed for two weeks, and to several large commercial docks, including the Icebreaker Base and the terminal for Viking Line ferries. The island also has some beautiful Art Nouveau buildings and a wonderful modern construct, the Allas Sea Pool, with terraced decks overlooking the harbour. On…
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Helsinki City Walk
Helsinki is a city of striking architecture, both modern and traditional, including Neoclassical, Art Nouveau and Modernist. The city also is full of sculptures and other works of art. As is normally our custom when arriving in a new city, we went on an extensive walking tour, this one a 10-mile Lonely Planet-inspired Helsinki “Iconic…
Helsinki Arrival
From Oro we made a two-day run to Helsinki, where we would stay right downtown for two weeks to explore the city and make trips to Tallin and St. Petersburg. We had wonderfully calm conditions for the entire run, enabling us to check out a couple of offshore lighthouses. We also passed a large fleet…
Oro
Oro has been a restricted-access military base since the early 1900s, when Russia built a fortress here, and has only recently been opened to the public as part of Finland’s Archipelago National Park. After a century of military activity, the island is full of fortifications and ruins, most open and publicly accessible. And the park…
Kokar
In 1965, baron Goran Akerhielm purchased land on Kallskar, a small island on the edge of the Baltic Sea in the Kokar island group at the southwest extreme of the Aland Archipelago. There he spent 18 years building extensive gardens and a villa where he lived spring through fall until 1983. He later donated the…
Kumlinge
Kumlinge is a group of about 800 islands in the northeastern Aland archipelago. Besides the complexity of islands to explore, a major attraction for us was an old Finnish coast guard station, now converted to a resort and marina, with a 130ft (40m) observation tower that provides sweeping views over the area. Below are trip…
Bomarsund
The Russians began building Bomarsund Fortress in 1830 as a western outpost when Aland and mainland Finland were part of the Russian Empire. The overall plan was for a massive fortified circle almost 3/4 mile (1.1 km) in diameter and extending north-to-south nearly two miles (3km) and designed to house 4,000-5,000 men. The fortress was…
Kastleholm
Smakbyn restaurant in Kastleholm, Aland is the creation of award-winning chef Michael Bjorklund and receives rave reviews. Kastleholm itself gets its name from Kastleholm Castle, built in stages from the 14th to 17th centuries and open to visitors after two major restorations. Other local attractions include Jan Karlsgarden, an open-air museum made up of about…
Mariehamn, Aland
Six weeks into our Baltic cruise, we departed Sweden at the end of April from Arholma to Aland, an autonomous region of Finland. We made landfall at the capital, Mariehamn, where we spent a great few days exploring the town and visiting their excellent maritime museum. But the highlight of our visit was a day…
Arholma
Coastal defense posts always have great ocean views and Battery Arholma is no exception. The Swedish Cold War coastal battery was built in 1968, decommissioned in 1990, and now is open to the public. Onsite you can see guns, bunkers, radar and artillery-range finding equipment, and those amazing views. The island of Arholma also has…
