Posts In The “Destinations” Category
Suomenlinna sea fortress was built on an island group outside Helsinki in the 18th century to protect Swedish-held Finland from a Russian attack. Today much of the fort is open to the public and is a popular day-trip from Helsinki. Besides the extensive fort ruins to explore, the island also is a prime viewing location…
Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, was a German-dominated Hanseatic League port starting in the early 13th century and has a marvellously preserved Old Town, one of the best in Europe. The city also has an excellent maritime museum, a TV tower with great views and a wonderfully restored 18th-century Russian palace and grounds. And Tallinn…
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…
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…
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 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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Stora Nassa and Norrpada are exceptional island groups on the outer edge of the Stockholm Archipelago. We loved their wild “out-there” feel and the complex channels through their hundreds of islets, ideal for exploring in the tender. Each group also had several good lookout points for sweeping views of the area. Below are trip highlights…
The 5,000-acre (2,000 hectare) Moja nature reserve is a busy boating destination in the summer season, with complex channels ideal for exploration by tender or kayak and many sheltered anchorages. After departing Sandhamn, we spent two nights at Moja while a weather system passed through, catching up on some boat projects and taking a tour…
The Royal Swedish Yacht Club, formed in 1830, is one of the oldest yacht clubs in the world and an active competitive sailing organization. Represented by Artemis Racing, they competed in the 2013 and 2017 America’s Cup events. The club has had an outpost at Sandhamn for more than a century and currently maintains several…
Biskopson and Namdo, in the south-central Stockholm Archipelago, are nature reserves managed by the Archipelago Foundation and are popular boating destinations. The lookout tower on Namdo is a particular draw, with its sweeping views of the area. From Fjardlang we made two short hops first to Biskopson and then to Namdo, spending one night at…
Fjardlang is one of forty nature reserves the Archipelago Foundation manages in the Stockholm Archipelago. The island has excellent trails throughout and several sheltered anchorages. The weather continued to be clear and calm as we proceeded north from Huvudskar. From near-freezing a few days earlier, the temperature had risen to 53°F (11.7°C) when we reached…
Huvudskar is a fabulous anchorage on the outer edge of the Stockholm Archipelago. We’d so far seen only one pleasure craft underway since arriving in Sweden, let alone shared an anchorage, and had the place to ourselves for the first two nights. But despite its remoteness, Huvudskar is popular enough that as the weekend arrived,…