“Why are you visiting Finland? Isn’t it just like Canada?” so asked one of the Finns we met on our travels. In a lot of ways, Finland is very much like Canada – a cosmopolitian capital, areas of vast wilderness, and a love of hockey. But Finland differs with it’s European architecture, cobblestone streets, passion for saunas, and historical buildings that date back hundreds and hundreds of years.
“Why are you visiting Finland? Isn’t it just like Canada?” so asked one of the Finns we met on our travels. In a lot of ways, Finland is very much like Canada – a cosmopolitian capital, areas of vast wilderness, and a love of hockey. But Finland differs with it’s European architecture, cobblestone streets, passion for saunas, and historical buildings that date back hundreds and hundreds of years.
Of the numerous pictures I took, these are 10 of my favourites that highlight my holiday in Finland.
One of our few sunny days, the Helsinki Cathedral is the prominent feature in the capital’s skyline.
A whale tail statue in the Aura River, Turku
The Finland/Russia border about 50km east of Ivalo, Lapland
Helsinki’s Bridge of Love
A whimical oversized daisy in front of Turku’s Marine Museum
Inside the Jean Sibelius monument in Sibelius Park, Helsinki
Temppeliaukio Kirkko, or the Church in the Rock – Helsinki
Maybe because it was Halloween night, but I thought this Helsinki church looked more like a haunted mansion rather than a cathedral.
One of the many “unique” statues along the Turku waterfront
Reindeer searching out food along the side of the highway north of Ivalo, Lapland
10 days was just enough time to get a small taste of all Finland has to offer. Visiting in the late autumn only provided a limited number of attractions/activities available to tourists. On the other hand, we enjoyed being one of the few travellers in the area at the time we went, catching a glimpse of the diversity of Finland without the crowds.