Nordic charm from the start to Finnish
It takes just four days to pack in the best that Helsinki has to offer, but what a holiday, writes Ingrid Piper
THE aroma of barbecued salmon, meatballs and frying potatoes wafts over Helsinki’s harbourside market where wild blueberries, rare cloudberries, redcurrants and strawberries are sold next to stalls selling fur hats and antlers.
With long sunny days and mild temperatures, August is a good time to visit Finland’s capital and the wonderfully unspoilt Turku archipelago to the city’s southwest.
In just four days, it’s possible to get the hang of Helsinki, go island hopping, horse ride through forests and fields and visit artisan towns such as Fiskars or historic Porvoo.
Driving in Finland is a serene experience. Even in peak holiday season, the countryside feels remarkably free of cars or people, despite its 5.4 million population, so the two-hour drive to Turku, through small towns, past brightly painted farmhouses, ripening cornfields and pine forests where you’re reminded that despite the world-wide influence of Angry Birds and former telco giant Nokia, timber is still the country’s major export.
The Turku archipelago, one of the largest in the world, is dotted with low-lying islands linked by free ferries, making it easy to drive, cycle or walk between them.
On a summer day with just a light breeze tickling the sea, it’s also a great sailing destination.
On the helpful advice from the friendly staff at the Centro Hotel in Turku, where breakfast is a spectacular affair, we headed for an island called Nauvo for lunch at a restaurant on a pier.
Despite the warmth of the day, a swim in the lake-like sea leaves your skin tingling for minutes after drying off.
We organised to go horse riding in the forests and farmland near Bilnas. Cantering through golden cornfields under the bluest of skies has to be one of the most memorable rides I’ve done.
Around mid-morning, our guide Katya leads us into an enchanting forest where a basket of morning tea had been carefully stowed between the knotted roots of a tree.
While the horses splashed in the sea, I picked tiny wild raspberries and blueberries.
Later on, as the shadows darken within the forest canopy, we come across wild deer, which watch us with trepidation as the horses pass by. In a few months, when snow covers the ground, hunters will lure them out of the protection of the forests by growing fields of cabbages, apparently quite irresistible to hungry deer.
An exhilarating canter across the fields brings us back to the stables and, after giving the horses a wash and rub down, we end the day with a wild blueberry pie, straight from the oven. Heavenly!
Heading off into the long evening twilight, we turn towards Fiskars, a tiny artisan town less than an hour’s drive away. Have you ever owned an orange-handled gardening tool or pair of scissors? Well, this is the place where the company making those implements began life in about 1649. Today, it’s grown into a multinational business owning a number of other notable Finnish designer wares, including Iittala.
Once the town was a hub of steam-driven industrialisation, now it’s a picture of serenity, where water wheels lie idle in millponds dotted with flowering waterlilies and tubs of bright flowers line the streets and window sills of houses.
A stroll around the town centre helps stretch those saddle-sore muscles. Then it’s time for pre-dinner drinks on the terrace of the beautifully restored Fiskars Wardshus, which dates from1836, where a wonderful dinner of risotto with peas and chanterelles and local pike perch makes for a perfect end to a perfect day.
Before heading for Helsinki the next morning, there’s time to explore Fiskars’ boutique shops for designer pieces.
Less than an hour’s drive from Helsinki, heading along the highway towards the Russian border, is Porvoo, which claims to be Finland’s second oldest town.
Its town centre is a beautifully preserved part of Finnish history, with cobbled streets and timber-framed houses painted in contrasting colours, from the deep red of its wooden shorehouses which line the riverside, to shades of pastel.
Porvoo Cathedral dates from medieval times and restoration of its belltower has exposed layers of centuriesold rebuilding, which is a sobering reminder of the town’s violent past.
Back in Helsinki, finish your four-day Finnish flirtation sitting in the sunshine, with an excellent coffee and cake at Cafe Ekberg, which dates from 1852.
Make the most of stylish Helsinki’s design paradise on the wonderfully elegant Etelaesplanadi Boulevard, where fellow tourists jostle for bargains in the Iittala outlet, just a few doors away from a Marimekko store and, of course, don’t even think about leaving Helsinki without a Moomin trinket or two.