Finnish Finnmark

We left from Pisa on a direct flight to Helsinki. Two days spent in the Finnish capital and then off again by plane to Rovaniemi, from where, in a hired car, we headed for Norway (see that country for the itinerary and photos in the Norwegian Finnmark). We stayed in a hotel near Vantaa airport (15 km from Helsinki), easily reachable by public transport, although we preferred to hire a car. On the first day we headed for the delightful little town of Porvoo, about 50 km from the capital. We then faced a tour de force by car following this route: Porvoo, Kotka, Luumaki, Lappeenranta, Imatra, Puumala, Mikkeli, Heinola, Lahti, Vantaa – a good 600 or 700 km in a single day. Don't do it, it's not worth it. We were hoping to see landscapes that we then actually found in the north. Only at one point did the road run alongside the hundreds of lakes there are in that area.

We put up with kilometres of boundless forests that, though beautiful, get quite boring after a while. Much better to take a boat trip on Lake Saimaa, starting from Lappeenranta or directly from Helsinki. The second day was devoted to Helsinki, which is a beautiful city and deserves a stay of three or four days to visit it properly. Nice is the Kauppatori, the market at the port, the Parliament, the Orthodox church (it's all in the centre). Beautiful is the true heart of the city: the covered market (also at the port) with many shops, not only of souvenirs but also bakeries, fishmongers, butchers and of course a delicatessen run for a good 35 years by a nice gentleman from Catania! In the afternoon, a visit to the island of Suomenlinna, situated in front of Helsinki.

On the third day, departure for Rovaniemi, where we met the infamous Father Christmas who, just as in the imagination, is a big man with a big voice, big legs, a long white beard and a big pointed red hat – even in July (he doesn't suffer much from the heat, since in Rovaniemi we never found more than 15 degrees). From Rovaniemi (do visit the Arktikum museum, it's very interesting!) we headed for the far north of Finland, passing through Ivalo, Inari (the Siida museum is exceptional, on the flora and fauna of the Arctic world), where we slept. Along the way we finally had the landscape we had hoped to find but without success during the tour de force from Helsinki. Beautiful forests practically resting on hundreds of lakes, reindeer in herds that force you to stop when they cross the road and don't seem to fear cars.

Stretches of endless water with as many stretches of uncontaminated woods follow one another throughout the Finnish Finnmark up to the border with Norway. From here, at Karasjok (Norway), our adventure continued in the Finnmark that has now become Norwegian. I refer you to that country for the continuation of our journey.