Porvoo Favorites

Favorite thing: When visiting Finland, remember that unlike her neighbors, Finland is on the Euro system. At this point, we had already visited Tallinn, Estonia and St. Petersburg, Russia which used their own native currency or took American dollars in some cases.

As Porvoo was the first real stop in Finland on our day long tour, we had not previously changed money. Some of the best exchange rates are at banks and we easily found the TA-UUDENMAAN OSUUSPANKKI in the center of Old Town Porvoo. For 50 USD we received 36.20 Euros after commission.

Fondest memory: The bank is convenient to all the attractions in Old Town and also close to the Tourist Info. Center

Favorite thing: Brunberg's chocolate factory is unique Porvoo style. Brunbergs is a brand that everyone in Finland knows, it's good quality chocolate, altough not as big as Fazer is. But is national and it has roots in Porvoo since year 1871. Nowadays the factory is still located in Porvoo. The corner stones of Brunberg have always been high quality, unique products and flexibility.

Fondest memory: You can visit in Factory Shop, which is about 2 kilometers from Old Town. But believe me, the best and most delicious way to buy Brunberg's products is in Old Town. There is a Brunberg's shop in Välikatu and you can eat there candy's before you buy single one. So you can taste which one is best or are they all. Eat as much as you can=) Well, not as much, the sales women can be angry;) No, they won't, they love tourists and they are proud if their products are liked by foreigners.

Shop in old town Porvoo
Välikatu 4
06100 PORVOO
phone +358-19-548 42 35

Mon-Fri 10-18
Sat 9-16
Sun 12-16 (Dec. 1st - Dec. 22nd 2002)

Favorite thing: Porvoo is situated at the mouth of the river Porvoo (Porvoonjoki). The banks of the river invite visitors for a nice stroll. Porvoo's picturesque Old Town is located at the eastern side of the River, where at Jokikatu various restaurants can be found. Among them is the Restaurant Ship Glückauf (see my Restaurant Tips).

Favorite thing: Porvvo official tourist office located just in the centre of the city. There is a lot of information, maps, brochures etc available free of charge. The office staffs are very friendly and will be able to speak to you in 5 languages at list.

Porvoo official tourism web has lots of information available also in Swedish and English.
You can find also PDF brochures on-line in French, Spanish, Italian, German & Russian.

info

Favorite thing: Porvoo is a small town about 35 km to the east of Helsinki.
It is surely worth a day visit especially during the spring or summer.

Fondest memory: The old city, I visit here every year for a day trip and I am always enjoying it.

Favorite thing: Love sea and islands? Think that wind is something you like? Don't like to be crowded places and prefer nature and strong waves? Pellinki, island in the Porvoo archipelago is an ideal place for you. This extremely beautiful island is located about 80 kilomters from Helsinki to East and about 30 kilometers from Porvoo downtown to South.

There lives about 290 people in Pellinki around the year, but in summer there is lots of summer people. There is own church, elementary school and handel from where you can buy food.

Fondest memory: You need to take a ferry to get to Pellinki. I don't knwo why I like this place so much. It is not easy to reach, living in the winter there is pretty rough and if you need for example hospital, it is not so quickly to get there. But who said life have to be comfortab;e and easy always?

Favorite thing: .... near the Cathedral we spotted a small group of youngsters, they were difinitely foreign tourists. I decided to figure out what nationality they were, but was really confused by their accent. Gilis assumption was that they were French, I didn't belive it, I said - No, they don't sound like French, absolutely not.... Ok, if they are French, then they are from the North or from the South of France (though I'm not an expert in French accents!)....
Eventually we decided to ask them where they were from, the answer was
- From France!!!
- And where in France?
- From Paris, of course!
- ......

Favorite thing: This humble man in disguise is the one, whithout whom we wouldn't made it to Porvoo, our guide, our driver, our everything in that trip. I take off my hat and bend my head in your tribute, the best of the best!

:)))