Touring Helsinki’s Suomenlinna Sea Fortress

Two travel posts in one week? You better believe it and that makes me so happy! I had such an incredible time on my solo trip in Scandinavia and I hope that with these thorough recap posts you feel like you were there too! As I mentioned in my post of how I spent 24 Hours in Helsinki, three of those hours were spent touring the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. There are half a dozen ferry services that will take you to a variety of points on the inhabited fortress which covers six islands and I opted for the high speed HSL ferry. 

I learned a ton from the brochure and my few mile walk around the island learning all about how Suomenlinna was built during the Swedish era as a maritime fortress and a base for the Archipelago Fleet.  Right when I got off the ferry there was an overwhelming amount of information available at the beautifully done UNESCO museum right when you get off the ferry but I chose to wander instead.  I popped by the Church, the barracks, got lost down a couple of paths, passed more cannons than I could count and loved all of the wooden doors and hideaways for soldiers and ammunition alike.  I can not imagine how bitterly cold the windy islands would be in Winter if they were brisk in July but it was a great time!

I have more than a hundred more photos from the Suomenlinna but if I listed to anything my parents told me over the weekend they think that my blog posts have too many photos in them.  So here is my compromise – the top 12 from my visit instead of 20+, hopefully you still get the picture of the top attraction in Helsinki and one of Finland’s claims to fame! 

Would you want to visit the sea fortress??