Suomenlinna Island & Fortress, Helsinki

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Suomenlinna is actually made up of eight Islands.

We caught the Ferry across to the Island to spend a few hours there.
After disembarking, we made our way to the Visitor Centre, this is where the Suomenlinna Museum is located. First, we had a look here, then made our way to the Church.
We could see the Church, rather like a greek orthodox church, it was built built for the Russian troops in 1854.
Originally the Church had five onion domes.
It was converted into an Evangelical Lutheran church during the 1920s.

I thought this interesting....
The central dome doubles as a lighthouse making it one of only a few churches in the world that does this! The signal blink is the Morse code for the letter "H" for Helsinki.

The Visitor Centre is about 500 metres from the main pier. The waterbus stops at the Visitor Centre pier during summer.

I had read about this Submarine being here and decided to pay it a visit, as my husband hadn't been in a Submarine.
The Vesikko is actually a part of the Military Museum and is docked at the shore of the island of Suomenlinna, near the Suomenlinna Fortress

Submarine Vesikko was one of the five submarines that served in the Finnish army. Vesikko was in service during the World War II, and patrolled the Gulf of Finland during the Winter War against the Soviet Baltic Fleet.

It's also the only surviving German Type II submarine in the world.

The Submarine is very small, we found it crowded with only another couple in the Sub.
I really was disappointed after having been in a big Submarine.
At least the entrance fee wasn't a fortune and was included on our Helsinki card.

OPEN....12th May - 31st August from 11am - 6pm Dailly

ADMISSION.... Adults 4 euro

The old fortress on an island just 10 minutes by small boat from the harbour. This place build long time ago to defend the city from invaders. These days its a great place for sightseeing, picnic and even beer tasting in local brewery restaurant.

If you are interested in history, then you will enjoy it.

Its a great place for a little picnic and a little dip in the sea :)

It used to be a Swedish fortress (its also called Sveaborg in brochures) and the guide shows you around the old shipyard, look-out posts etc. The island was a strategic look-out point against the Russians.

Most embarassingly, we got sunburnt there! (thats how pathetically white Irish people are!). Lots of sandy stretches where you can dip in the water, guided tours around the island, which seems to be some sort of arty commune.

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The most outstanding tourist sight in Helsinki

One of the largest sea fortresses in the whole world, "The Gibraltar of the North". Founded in 1748. Included in UNESCO's list or World Heritage Sites.

Many museums (the Suomenlinna Museum in the same building with the Information Centre, the Doll and Toy Museum in the old Russian villa, the Customs Museum with hundreads of old dolls from the 1830`s to the 1960´s, e.g. about one hundread antique bears, and three Military Museums with a restored 250 000 kg Submarine Vesikko of the Second World War), swimming beaches, cafes, a summer theatre and restaurants. You can also buy home made pastries, old-fashioned lemonade and Russian style tea from the Doll and Toy Museum.

Sveaborg Experience is the award-winning multivision show of the history of Suomenlinna. This show in the Information Centre is "the must" for every visitor in Suomenlinna.

Jetty Barracks Gallery next to the boat quay inputs on contemporary art exhibitions. Admission free.

Suomenlinna is also a living suburb of Helsinki with almost 900 people living in the renovated ramparts and barracks.

The big island outside Helsinki is a perfect place for a romantic walk. Green everywhere, and lots of history, from all the war Finland had with their neighbours Sweden and Russia. You can still see some of the guns they used.
There is also some restaurants, a couple of shops, and a food store, so you can stay out there the whole day without problem.
I got here with my ex-girlfriend before lunch, and walked around for a couple of hours, sat down and looked at the sea, took another walk, made some photos, and had a couple of beers.
Really nice…
To the island you go by boat, which take off from the big Market place in Helsinki. It cost 2 euro, or you can do as my dear guide said, “don’t pay, and pretend that it’s raining if someone ask your for the ticket”.
Well, then I had to be nervous during both trips, so I don’t know if it was really worth it… But still…

Also the boat trip is nice, takes around 15-20 minutes, and you pass a lot of small islands during the way to and from Sveaborg.
Just make sure that it’s good weather, or at least not raining, when you’re there. When it’s sunny it’s a wonderful place, but when it’s raining… Well, let me just say that it’s not crowded with places to hide away from the rain…
Make sure to take a look at all the old pieces of the fortress. My friend said it looked like the place where the hobbits, in The Lord of the Rings, were living. And I must agree with her.

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The Vesikko was built in the early 1930s for the German navy. In 1936 she joined the Finnish navy ans saw active service around the Baltic and surrounding areas during the Second World War.
After the war all Finnish subs were destroyed ---except for the Vesikko.

So, you can visit her on the island of Vargon Susisaari, which is part of Suomenlinna. To get there you can catch a ferry from Helsinki harbour. Only 20 minutes at the most!

The submarine is on dry land and for very little money (a few Euros) you can climb in and explore as well as take photos. Okay, she's a small sub at 40m length but I felt huge admiration for the sailors who were confined in her vulnerable shell.

You can see the torpedo tubes, the two groups of bunks (the ones at the stern are so small and the noise from the engines must have been awful. The engines, galley and radio room can also be seen. When I was there, the radio room light wasn't working and so I used my flash and camera screen to see what was in there.
I know little of engineering or bravery ---but I was impressed by both.

Would I go again? Yes, as part of a whole day on Suomenlinna.

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A brief public ferry ride from Helsinki harbour across to Suomenlinna is fun ---even in the slight rain that we experienced.

You are visiting a World Heritage Site!

There is the huge Sveaborg fortress here with parts of it on all of the six islands. It really is a fascinating place, reminding me of the anti-Napoleon fortifications in England ---but on a larger scale!

We only had time for one island which is called Vargon Susiaari. All of the islands are linked but we just ran out of time!

So, what did we see and enjoy? There is a small ship yard still in use to a limited extent. There are museums with plenty of maps, painings, artefacts, cannon, models and so on. There are plenty of buildings (many people live on these islands and so there is a range of fascilities (e.g. a primary school, a library) for the inhabitants. Of course there are cafes, artists studios, a visitors centre, parks and the unusual tomb of Field Marshal Ehrensvard ---the planner, supervisor and champion of the fortress.

The history of the fortress is fascinating: Swedish, Finnish and Russian wars etc and it was a prison at the end of the First World War.

I have also wriiten a page about the Finnish submarine that is on the island.

Would I go back there? Yes! However, I'd like to spend a whole day there!