Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Europe’ Category

Mar 12

Warm autumn in Stockholm

I’m trying to catch up on adventures that I’ve yet to blog about. So bear with me if this isn’t flowing as according to timeline.

My friend ML had some time off last year and decided to come visit in early October. The week before she arrived, the weather was falling to below 10C and I had warned her to bring more warm clothes. But she was lucky as her 10 days in Helsinki and Stockholm were gloriously warm and she didn’t need much layers at all.

During her visit, we decided to take a girls’ trip to Stockholm. It was my first time, as well as hers so we were quite excited. ML took care of all the arrangements, and we got a good price for our overnight cruise – surprisingly she bought 2 two-way tickets via Viking Line and Silja Line, and the combined cost was still cheaper than buying separate return tickets. Note: Two-way tickets means you depart Helsinki in the evening and arrive to Stockholm in the morning, and the return to Helsinki is on the same day as arrival, later in the evening – this gives you a couple of hours to spend in the city. But if you want to stay couple of nights, then the two-way tickets would be more expensive.

Added to our ticket prices were buffet dinners (you can choose to exclude this, which would be cheaper) and boy, oh boy, there was a lot to eat! Reminds me of buffets from home 🙂 Best part was, they had sushi on board! (I missed sushi and Jap food in general)

Blue Eyes had mentioned to go upstairs to watch the view as the ship leaves the port and it’s good advice! The view of Suomenlinna was awesome, as well as the next morning when we were near to Stockholm, which is part of an archipelago – group of islands and islets.

Seen here is Suomenlinna, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is a maritime fortress off the coast of Helsinki.

Seen here is Suomenlinna, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is a maritime fortress off the coast of Helsinki.

2013-10-04 SWE Stockholm

Nearing the port of Stockholm

Travelling within the city is easy as the transportation system is well organised and easy to understand. ML booked us a suite in a business hotel in the suburbs, which included a 3-day Stockholm card. The card was handy as it gave us unlimited rides on public transport – saved us quite a bit of money 🙂

Here are some of the highlights of our trip (in my humble opinion, hehe …)

Gamla

This is the first place we visited upon arrival – Gamla, Stockholm’s old town and where the Cathedral is located. Also within the old town are rows of (not-so-cheap) cafes, souvenir shops and museums. ML and her mom went to visit one of the museums while I decided to enjoy the sunny day by exploring some narrow alleys. It’s a charming place. Loved the artistic display of shops and cafes, as well as the view of the sea before me.

St Gertrude church, which aka the German church, was built in 1571. It was built to cater to the needs of German merchantmen in Stockholm who formed a large part of the population in the 16th century.

St Gertrude, aka the German church, was built in 1571 to cater to the needs of German merchantmen in Stockholm who formed a large part of the population in the 16th century. (Source: Wikipedia)

Cute lil' crafts shop with stool and table outside

Cute lil’ crafts shop with stool and table outside

Vasa

Vasa Museum is one of the key attractions in the city, as it housed its namesake ship, “the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged.” I’m not exactly a museum person but I must say, this one was entertaining and interesting. Historical facts and other information were arranged and presented creatively via interactive multimedia – there were also marine uniforms for visitors to try on and take pix.

Vasa Museum is located on the island of Djurgården

Vasa Museum is located on the island of Djurgården

The great Vasa ship that sunk on its maiden voyage in the 17th century

The great Vasa ship that sunk on its maiden voyage in the 17th century

Drottningholm

This UNESCO World Heritage site earned its status from being the “most well-preserved royal castle built in the 1600s in Sweden” while at the same time represented all of European architecture for the period. One of its key highlights is the Chinese Pavilion, which we found to be rather toned down compared to the ones in China – perhaps it’s not a fair comparison considering that this is probably one of the few (if not the only one) Chinese pavilion found in Europe. Drottningholm  is still used today by the King and Queen of Sweden as permanent home residence.

Drottningholm Palace and its garden

Drottningholm Palace and its garden

The Chinese Pavilion found at Drottningholm Palace

The Chinese Pavilion found at Drottningholm Palace

We went for a tour of the palace’s theatre, which was the most memorable one for us of the place. The theatre, while not huge, is well equipped for performances. We were even brought on stage to observe the various tools to stage a live performance. The walls, while old, have been well preserved over the years and little have been changed from its origins.  

The well preserved theatre building (at the back) standing tall at Drottningholm Palace

The well preserved theatre building (at the back) standing tall at Drottningholm Palace

Skansen

Before our departure in the evening, we managed to visit Skansen, the first open air museum and zoo in Stockholm. This was my second time to an open air museum – the first was in Lithuania back in 2003 – and boy, oh boy, how I enjoyed this place! First of all, the museum is full of colourful autumn trees and it’s such a pleasure to walk around, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the sights. Secondly, it is such a well planned out museum – there are workshops where workers are handling glasses, or wood crafts. There are also ladies dressed in traditional costumes serving food and drinks, just like in the ol’ days. Plus, the zoo was such a delight, featuring some animals that are only found in this part of the world, such as reindeer, mooses, white bear, wolves, foxes and lynx.

The entrance of Skansen where you can buy tickets

Best thing about visiting in autumn is the lack of crowd. Got to enjoy Skansen all to ourselves (and a few others)

Stockholm city seen ahead from Skansen

Stockholm city seen ahead from Skansen. Autumn colours at their best!

Happy after feeding, this sea lion played with the trainer at Skansen

Happy after feeding, this sea lion played with the trainer at Skansen

I think we were really lucky that the weather had been so kind to us during our visit. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Stockholm for the first time.

Breakdown of costs per person for 4D/3Ns in Stockholm:

Cruises (with added meals): 150 eur

Accommodations (inclusive of Stockholm card): 273.33 eur

Meals: 73.55 eur

Feb 27

Hot, hot Austria!

Austria was literally HOT! Some of the highest temperatures were in the 40s (felt like back in KL!) while most days were in the high 30s. Some commented that since I’m from tropical country Malaysia, such temperatures don’t matter but they forget that most Malaysians (and Sporeans, and Indonesians, and Filipinos, etc, etc…) spend their time indoor, inside highly air-conditioned buildings to hide from the heat. Unless really necessary, we hardly go out under the sun – hence why we’re usually bewildered by foreigners who sun-tanned at the beach. To us, that’s like the easiest way to get skin cancer! LOL …

Ok, back to Austria.

We were in Austria for a glorious 14 days in summer in August (yes, yes, I know, it’s last year’s summer; I blame it on procrastination *wink). I can sum up Austria in three words: What glorious food!

Reason being, Austria has fried chicken (with skin on!), plus we were very fortunate to have local hosts in Graz and Vienna who brought us to some local delights. So here is an illustration of our itinerary:

4D/3N: Salzburg

4D/3N: Innsbruck — IMPORTANT: Get the Innsbruck package that includes Innsbruck card, plus discounts to hotels and free entrances to main attractions

4D/3N: Graz

4D/3N: Vienna

Salzburg

“The hills are alive with the sound of music…” Ahh, who haven’t seen The Sound of Music? I was excited of the idea of seeing Salzburg cos I am a fan of the movie (watched it a dozen times, maybe more…) but I must say, Salzburg didn’t turn out to be the highlight of the trip. Perhaps it’s the rain and the gloomy weather – the only days we had sun and blue skies were the day we arrived and the day we left (irony!), or perhaps I just had too much expectations. Having said that, Salzburg was pretty and cosy and the ol’ town is magnificent. I could walk over and over in the ol’ town and not be bored. Literally.

The stone sculpture outside of a church in Salzburg Old Town

The stone sculpture outside of a church in Salzburg Old Town

It was the Salzburg Festival 2013 during our visit and we took the opportunity to watch an opera (our first time!). The opera was about Falstaff, a character in Shakespeare plays. We bought the tickets online months earlier and Blue Eyes checked the dress code for the evening and we thought we were all set. Until we arrived at the Haus fur Mozart theatre. What we didn’t know was the day we chose happened to be the opening night, when the audiences were dressed to the nines. No kidding. Tuxedos, suits, evening gowns, plus numerous camera crews cos’ there were some public figures and celebrities at the event. So we felt totally under dressed. But the opera was entertaining and we had good laughs.

Standing in front of Haus fur Mozart, the venue for the opera. As seen, huge cars and people dressed in suits and evening gowns are going into the theatre hall

Standing in front of Haus fur Mozart, the venue for the opera. As seen, huge cars and people dressed in suits and evening gowns are going into the theatre hall

Besides the movie, Salzburg is also famous for being the city where Mozart was born. Everywhere we go, there’s mozartkugel (mozart balls), mozart chocolate bars and mozart museums. We visited one of the museums, the family home where the talented musician was born and grew up in. There were some interesting stories; for me, I was impressed by the way Mozart’s parents dedicated themselves to grooming his talent.

Sachertorte from the Sacher Hotel. The cake is famous around the world

Sachertorte from the Sacher Hotel. The cake is famous around the world

We also went hiking to one of the mountains and watched a beautiful sunset. Food wise, we tried the Sachertorte, one of the most famous cakes in the world. Erm, maybe not my cuppa tea. We also had the wiener schnitzel, which is basically a piece of fried breaded veal. Erm, again not my cuppa tea.

Innsbruck

 We rented a car from Salzburg and decided to take a detour on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road before driving to Innsbruck. Note: Must allocate extra time for this as there are many gorgeous pit stops to make, plus a coffee breat at Berggasthof “Edelweiß-Hütte”, which stands at over 2,000 metres above sea level.

By the time we arrived to Innsbruck and checked in, we were dead tired. Unfortunately, the hotel where we were staying was rather secluded and out of the way from the ol’ town and city centre so options for food were limited. We ended up having a late dinner at the hotel’s restaurant but service was slow and food was just so-so.

Innsbruck is home to Swarovski; in fact there's a museum dedicated to it. Nope, we didn't visit.

Innsbruck is home to Swarovski; in fact there’s a museum dedicated to it. Nope, we didn’t visit.

The highlight of Innsbruck for us was the hiking trip we made (it’s free thanks to our 72-hour Innsbruck Card). Our hiking group comprised of an experienced guide, Hesse and two friendly Aussies Susie and Lynn, who in their 60s were on a 5-week hiking tour in Europe – WOW!!! Man, when I reach my 60s, I wanna be hiking mountains in Europe too! 😉 Their stamina put me to shame *sheepish grin* but I thoroughly enjoyed their company, as well as our knowledgeable guide, who happened to be a Swiss now living in Austria for the past 16 years.

Loved the lil' signboards hanging on the buildings in the ol' town

Loved the lil’ signboards hanging on the buildings in the ol’ town

Blue Eyes was adamant that we see this before leaving Innsbruck. Guess he has his point.

Blue Eyes was adamant that we see this before leaving Innsbruck. Guess he has his point.

Innsbruck, btw, is a gorgeous city surrounded by the Alps. In wintertime, it’s a popular skiing place – every year it plays host to the international ski jumping competition; it also hosted the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976. It’s in Innsbruck that I had my first Austrian iced coffee and boy, what a treat! It came with whipped cream plus a choc waffle roll topped with an umbrella.

Graz

When I was planning for the trip earlier, I read about Graz and its reputation as the culinary city of Austria. Now being Malaysian, and generally every Malaysian loves food, I have to visit a food city like Graz. And coincidentally, Blue Eyes met Hans during one of his boys’ club meeting just 3 weeks before our trip and Hans happened to be from Graz. He graciously offered to host us and we delightedly accepted – the best trip is usually with a local host 🙂

View of Graz's Old Town in the evening from the Clock Tower

View of Graz’s Old Town in the evening from the Clock Tower

And boy, Graz was so much fun! And oh, such scrumptious meals! I’m still salivating from thinking about the fried chicken I had at the cafe outside of Eggenberg Palace.

We also had the privilege of joining Hans and his family for dinner at Steinberghof Weingut Firmenich, which the view of the Styrian farming landscape before us. The meal was quite a journey as it highlighted all the fresh produces of Styrian that are in season, plus lovely wine. One of the best and most memorable meals in Austria, not just for the food but the great company too. We had good laughs and exchanged stories, and all the worries of life seemed so far away.

Schloss Gamlitz - this pretty place was once the wedding venue of Hans' sister.

Schloss Gamlitz – this pretty place was once the wedding venue of Hans’ sister.

Not your typical pigs in blanket, the bacon wraps around a plum instead

Not your typical pigs in blanket, the bacon wraps around a plum instead

Fried corn fritters with dust of icing sugar - so simple but oh, so good!

Fried corn fritters with dust of icing sugar – so simple but oh, so good!

Blue Eyes & I enjoying the moments at Steinberghof Weingut Firmenich in Berghausen.

Blue Eyes & I enjoying the moments at Steinberghof Weingut Firmenich in Berghausen.

Vienna

While in Graz, we met another Roundtable member, Victor who was also in Hml with Hans 3 weeks before. When he found out that we’re heading to Vienna next, he contacted Florian, who’s also a member of the same club based in the capital city, and asked if he’s free to meet us. So that’s how we met Florian and Karin, who gave us great tips of walking around the city as well as brought us to some awesome sights in Vienna.

Blue Eyes enjoying the sunny day during our Vienna city walk

Blue Eyes (together with other tourists) enjoying the sunny day during our Vienna city walk

Vienna Naschmarkt has many cafes. Liked the atmosphere of dining amidst the shopkeepers

Vienna Naschmarkt has many cafes. Liked the atmosphere of dining amidst the shopkeepers.

Vienna is huge and there are many magnificent and huge historical buildings spread out in the city. The old town itself is impressive and full of tourists. Most of the expensive brands lined the shops in the old town. There are many cafes to choose from for the famous Viennese coffee. Florian and Karin brought us to Cafe Landtmann, and I had the prettiest dessert ever. Ahh, and such lovely coffee!

Berries mousse with tea @ Cafe Landtmann

Berries mousse with tea @ Cafe Landtmann

Pardon the bones, was too eager to dig in and only remembered to take pix later. Pork knuckles at Schweizerhaus.

Pardon the bones, was too eager to dig in and only remembered to take pix later. Pork knuckles at Schweizerhaus.

One of the best meals was at the beer garden at Schweizerhaus – read Tripadvisor’s reviews here. We had crunchy fried pork knuckles (I love pork btw!) served with sauerkraut, which is my favourite. So yums!

On Sunday, our last full day before departure, we took a drive to Wachau Valley thanks to Florian’s recommendation. The drive was beautiful with gorgeous mountains and fresh green fields. Note: Most shops are closed on Sunday so it’s best to be out of the city.

Bratislava

Vienna is neighbour to several other European capitals. We decided to take a day trip to Bratislava by boat, which is about an hour ride. While we’ve read about many beautiful rides on the Danube river, ours wasn’t that memorable. The view of the riverbanks wasn’t interesting and we soon dozed off and slept through for most part of the trip.

Bratislava's old town has some cosy cobbled streets

Bratislava’s old town has some cosy cobbled streets

Bratislava’s old town is easily accessible by foot from the port. It’s also not a big place so spending half the day there was just nice to explore the old town and have a nice lunch at one of the many cafes/restaurants. We went to Prasna Basta after reading some good reviews and the restaurant stood up to its reputation. Blue Eyes and I shared a plate of potato zucchini pancake stuffed with beef with a chili-based sauce cos’ we weren’t that hungry and the portion that came was huge.

Prices in Bratislava were cheap compared to Austria. For a shared meal, we paid about 15.80 euros including drinks. Bratislava however, has a tipping culture – about 10%.

Here’s an overview of our expenses for 2 pax for the trip – prices accurate at the time of spending.

Accommodations (9 nights at 3 locations): 812.10 euros

Car rental (12 days): 410 euros

Petrol & parking: 185.74 euros

F&B: 647.84 euros

Austria has been a beautiful place to explore. Love the mountains and scenery. Love the food and coffee. And best of all, we made some really great friends, whose friendships I hope will last a lifetime. Thank you for a splendid summer!

Oct 17

A Nordic Road Trip – Part 2

This is a continuation from the previous post on our Nordic road trip. If you didn’t read that earlier, you can find it here.

Here’s a recap of our itinerary:

Day #1: Drive to Oulu, Finland ~ 5 hrs ~ Overnight in Oulu

Day #2: Drive to Kiruna, Sweden; passing the border towns Tornio, Finland and Haparanda, Sweden ~ 5 hrs ~ Overnight in Kiruna

Day #3: Drive to Tromsø, Norway ~ 5 hrs ~ Overnight in Tromso

Day #4: Drive to Brensholmen (~1 hr) to take the ferry (~1 hr) to Botnham, Senja, Norway ~ Overnight in Senja

Day #5: Drive to Gryllefjord (less than 20 minutes from Hamn i Senja) to take the ferry (1 hr 40 mins) to Andenes, Lofoten, Norway ~ 3 nights in Lofoten

Day #8: Drive to Mokenes (~ 1hr 20 mins from Ballstad) and take the ferry (~ 3-4 hrs) to Bodo, Norway ~ Overnight in Bodo

Day #9: Drive to Haukipudas (~ 9 hrs 30 mins) ~ Overnight in Haukipudas

Day #10: Drive home (~6 hrs 30 mins)

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the island of Senja; it’s calm and peaceful, and best part, not crowded at all even though it’s summer. Hamn i Senja, where we stayed the night, is an attraction by itself. It’s the largest resort in the island and right along the Senja National Tourist Route. It fitted our plan perfectly. At the back of the resort is the wide Arctic sea. It’s chilling to watch the view but the cold is worth it.

Hamn i Senja is the biggest resort in the island; not the cheapest but the view is amazing

Hamn i Senja is the biggest resort in the island; not the cheapest but the view is amazing

We had limited dining options as we didn’t want to drive for too long as we’ve already driven for hours earlier so we ended up having dinner at Hamn i Senja itself. Before dinner, we took sauna at the resort and after being bodily warmed up, our stomachs were growling with hunger. Since it’s Sunday, the restaurant offered dinner buffet instead of ala carte. It included fresh salad, pasta bolognese, potatoes and a fish dish. Not exceptional but taste pretty good!

The next day we continued drive on the remaining part of the Senja National Tourist Route, which ends at Gryllefjord and where we could take the boat to Andenes, Lofoten.

Safe and sound boarded the boat that leaves Senja for Lofoten

Safe and sound boarded the boat that leaves Senja for Lofoten

Facts of Senja National Tourist Route  

  • Road: Fv. 86 and fv. 862 between Gryllefjord and Botnhamn on the island of Senja in the county of Troms
  • Length: 90 kilometres

The boat journey was a longer trip – 1 hour and 40 minutes. When we arrive to Andenes, I only realised it’s over 4 hours drive to Ballstad, where we’re staying. The Lofoten National Tourist Route only starts from Fiskebøl to Å, and Ballstad is a bit out of the way. And since we took the afternoon boat, by the time we arrived to Lofoten’s Andenes, it was almost 16:00 and didn’t leave us much time to spare in between to linger and make pitstops.

Finally at the start of Lofoten National Tourist Route

Finally at the start of Lofoten National Tourist Route

Facts of Lofoten National Tourist Route

Facts

  • Road: E 10 between Fiskebøl and Å in Lofoten in the county of Nordland
  • Length: 166 kilometres

There are 11 stops recommended on this route but we only managed to see one of them, which was Torvdalshalsen. It was a windy evening when we arrived and the breeze was a bit too cold for my taste but the view of Vestvågøy island was quite satisfying despite the rain. We passed Eggum on the way but it was getting late and we were tired so we skipped it. Did hope to revisit but didn’t manage to.

Driving through Lofoten islands, I began to understand why this is popular tourist attraction. The scenery is amazing even without stopping at all the viewpoints. On the coastal roads are fishing villages with colourful houses.

As Lofoten is a big area, there are several recommended villages for visit. They include Henningsvær, Nusfjord, Tind, Sørvågen, Moskenes, Reine and Hamnøy. While there are many fishermen cabins available rent, we decided on Solsiden Brygge due to the recommendation on the Visit Norway website. The price was quite reasonable as the cabin was equipped with kitchen and that means we could save on food also. We stayed 3 nights here as we wanted to linger a bit in Lofoten.

The fishing cabins at Solsiden Brygge in Ballstad, Lofoten

The gloomy weather when we finally arrived at Solsiden Brygge in Ballstad, Lofoten

Day after, a bright sunny warm summer day welcomed us

Day after, a bright sunny warm summer day welcomed us

We arrived to Solsiden Brygge about 21:30 and fortunately, the manager has read my message and kept the room for us. True to Scandinavian culture, the cabins are furnished almost IKEA-liked. After a good night’s rest, the next day we woke up and it was a sunny day, and we got a nice view of Solsien Brygge – the night before it was slightly gloomy due to the rain. There are several boats docked at the jetty. The owner of the fishing cabins still goes out with his crew to fish, aside from running the guesthouses.

I started our laundry while Blue Eyes made friends with some kids playing in the area.He brought them for a drive on his car and in return for his favour, the children’s grandmother came and offered us coffee and cakes! They live in one of the cabins, as one of the kids’ parents work here while another runs the cafe at Solsiden. In fact, the cafe owners are expanding their home in the building right next to our cabin.

There was a huge mountain fronting Ballstad and we noticed people going up. We asked the innkeeper for directions and packed lightly our bags with water, hot tea and snacks. We weren’t sure of the trail so we had a bit of challenge at the bottom of the mountain, trying to find our way. But soon we were on our way and it’s quite a climb up. The innkeeper had earlier said it would take about 40 minutes to reach the top but we definitely took more time. The mountain was rocky for most parts from the bottom but as it gets higher, there are more plants on the ground.

A walk worth the journey with such a view before us on the Ballstad mountain

A walk worth the journey with such a view before us on the Ballstad mountain

Upon reaching the top, where ferns are growing everywhere, we found there are still several rocky peaks that we could climb further. Blue Eyes picked one and we set on our way.  Finally, we reached the peak and could settle down and have our tea and snacks. The satisfaction of having overcome a challenge! And the view that stands before us is so perfect that we couldn’t ask for a better day, a better mountain to be.

As we prepare to walk back down, we saw a Norwegian couple picking some orange yellow berries. We were curious to know what berries they were so we asked them. They are gooseberries (my first, never seen one before this!) and the couple said they’re really tasty and expensive to buy from the shop due to its limited supply. Conversation continued between us for a while and after finding out that we’re staying at Solsiden, they recommended us to try the cafe and order bacalao.

Found wild gooseberries growing on the Ballstad mountain; was told that they're one of the more expensive berries

Found wild gooseberries growing on the Ballstad mountain; was told that they’re one of the more expensive berries

We parted our ways and Blue Eyes and I started our own hunt for gooseberries. They have a sourish taste but quite nice to eat. Going downhill was much faster than going up, partly because we could see the trail quite clearly. We went to the shop and stock up on food for our stay here and went home, tired but happy. After an early dinner, went to the cafe to check it out. I ordered a red velvet cake plus latte while Blue Eyes had a chocolate drink. The cake was the best velvet cake I’ve tasted so far. And I loved the huge cup of latte. Great meals in my trips are the best highlights, and this is one of them 🙂

The next day, we decided to complete the drive along the Lofoten National Tourist Route. Although we will drive through this the following day on our way to the pier for our boat to Bodo, we decided to do it a day earlier so we can spend more time lingering at some places of interest. I also wanted to see Reine, as it was once voted the most beautiful place in Norway.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t for us as it started to be grey and dark, as we drove further away from sunny Ballstad. By the time we arrived to Reine, it was drizzling. We parked the car and went to the nearby cafe to have coffee/tea and cakes. The cafe was quite pretty with English style furnitures in pastel colours but the drinks and food weren’t as memorable as the night before.

Reine is not a huge fishing village. Fishing cabins are mostly in red while others are colourful homes. We took a stroll around the village and watched the boats speed off to the fjords. There were also a group of divers preparing for their dives. Must be cold to dive in this waters under this kind of weather.

We arrived to Å and it was raining quite heavily by then. After making a stop to buy postcards, we headed back to Ballstad. After a nice warm shower, we headed to the cafe for bacalau. It was a huge pot of stockfish (made from cod) with vegetables in a spicy broth. Really yummy! It’s also my first time having dried cod fish. (Bacalau I found out later is a Spanish word for dried salt cod) I was too stuffed to order coffee and dessert but I went to see what’s on the pastries table anyway.

The next day, we packed and got ready to drive to the pier at Moskenes for our boat ride to Bodø in the afternoon. This is the longest ferry ride that we have in this whole trip – more than 3 hours. It was raining in Bodø when we arrived. We checked into our hotel in the city centre and went to look for food – found Burger King in the nearby mall.

One of the sights in Bodø is to visit the Saltstraumen, the world’s strongest maelstrom. Blue Eyes had been here before when he was a kid and he remembered seeing the maelstrom. The natural whirlpool happens every 6 hours when the tides from opposite directions flow through the narrow sound. Read more here. We arrived slightly past 20:00 but it wasn’t too late to see this natural phenomenon. We stood on the bridge watching the maelstrom below and later walked next to the river to have a closer view.

This basically capped the end of our trip as the next day, we drove for almost 9 hours back to Finland. We stopped in Haukipudas and stayed the night before driving the following day back to Hämeenlinna. A long but satisfying 10-day drive to Norway.

In case you’re interested to plan a similar trip and want to know the budget, here’s a brief breakdown of our basic cost for 2 pax and 10Ds/9Ns:

F&B: 480 Eur

Petrol & parking: 560.27 Eur

Ferry trips: 198 Eur

Accomm: average 100 eur / night / 2 persons

Here is a lil’ #gallery-3 { margin: auto; } #gallery-3 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-3 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-3 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Sep 3

A Nordic road trip – Part 1

I used to assume that Finland was one of the Scandinavian countries but it wasn’t, as corrected by Blue Eyes (definition found here) – Scandinavia is comprised of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Instead, Finland is one of the Nordic countries, along with the Scandinavian countries and Iceland.

Since I had not been to any of the Scandinavian countries, we decided to take a summer road trip to Northern Norway in July. Blue Eyes had been to Northern Norway twice prior to this and he liked it a lot. He kept saying how impressive the landscape was. So within less than a week, we decided to pack our bags and head to the north.

Depending on where your final destination is, there are several options of driving to Norway from Finland. Here are 2 options that we considered for the trip:

1. Drive through northern Sweden via Tornio, Finland and Kiruna, Sweden.

2. Drive to Vaasa, Finland and take the ferry to Umea, Sweden and drive through Sweden to Norway.

On one of the pitstops, we found a church and took a walk

On one of the pitstops, we found a church and took a walk

It is possible to drive to most northern part of Finland that borders Norway and cross the border from there. It depends on where in Northern Norway you want to go as it is quite a huge area. We chose option #1 as we wanted to go from Tromso to Bodo, Norway and thought it might be a good opportunity to see a bit of Sweden, since I’ve never been.

Our road trip itinerary looked something like this:

Day #1: Drive to Oulu, Finland ~ 5 hrs ~ Overnight in Oulu

Day #2: Drive to Kiruna, Sweden; passing the border towns Tornio, Finland and Haparanda, Sweden ~ 5 hrs ~ Overnight in Kiruna

Day #3: Drive to Tromsø, Norway ~ 5 hrs ~ Overnight in Tromso

Day #4: Drive to Brensholmen (~1 hr) to take the ferry (~1 hr) to Botnham, Senja, Norway ~ Overnight in Senja

Day #5: Drive to Gryllefjord (less than 20 minutes from Hamn i Senja) to take the ferry (1 hr 40 mins) to Andenes, Lofoten, Norway ~ 3 nights in Lofoten

Day #8: Drive to Mokenes (~ 1hr 20 mins from Ballstad) and take the ferry (~ 3-4 hrs) to Bodo, Norway ~ Overnight in Bodo

Day #9: Drive to Haukipudas (~ 9 hrs 30 mins) ~ Overnight in Haukipudas

Day #10: Drive home (~6 hrs 30 mins)

First city in our summer road trip - Oulu, the most populous city in northern Finland

First city in our summer road trip – Oulu, the most populous city in northern Finland

The drive across Sweden wasn’t very memorable; our accommodation in Kiruna in particular wasn’t hospitable at all despite being one of the top rated places to stay on Tripadvisor. But as soon as we crossed over to Norwegian side, the landscape changed almost immediately. Huge mountains sprung out of nowhere and huge rocks piled next to the riverbank. Colourful houses perched on top of those rocks, and sound of strong stream coming down from the mountains.

Cloudy and rainy day in Tromso

Cloudy and rainy day in Tromso

It was raining when we arrived to Tromso. We already expected that weather might not be favourable so we took the rain in our stride. After checking in, we went to look for food and found a cosy seafood restaurant – Kaia – fronting the wharf area. Prices in Norway are at least 30% more expensive than Finland. For example, a steak dinner in a restaurant cost about 24 euros, in Norway it’s about 30 euros or more.

This is why we try to save some cost by packing our cooking equipment so we can cook along the way by taking advantage of Norway’s many rest areas – travelling by trailers and caravans are popular. Some of the rest areas even come with a great view. I’ve not done this before but Blue Eyes had some experience so he planned our meals – canned mackerel, canned ham, pasta, pre-cooked soup, pickled cucumbers, tea bags plus packets of salt and pepper.

Our cooking supplies and equipment during the road trip

Our cooking supplies and equipment during the road trip

After a restful night in Tromso, we drove to Brensholmen, where we took the ferry to Senja. Senja is less in demand versus its bigger sibling, Lofoten. But I read some pretty good reviews of the island online and decided “Why not?”. Finding accommodation in Senja wasn’t easy in summer, as firstly, summer is a popular season. Secondly due to its less popularity, it means there is less number of accommodations to choose from. In the end, I found Hamn i Senja had available rooms, and we took the cheapest option (which wasn’t cheap at all, sigh!).

The route therefore became simpler, as we could take the Senja National Tourist Route at ease as our accommodation for the night was along the way. Btw, I think it’s a brilliant idea for the Norwegian Tourism agency to develop such routes for tourists, as they’re convenient and helps in planning, plus they really have great views that take your breath away!

Drive along Senja National Tourist Route

Drive along Senja National Tourist Route

There are 2 recommended rest areas – Tungeneset and Bergsbotn, plus several others along the way that we stopped to enjoy the view. There are also hiking options for travellers, but we didn’t have enough time to attempt them – maybe one day we’ll get to do it 🙂 It is truly humbling to stand and witness the masterpiece of the Creator. The weather in Senja was surprisingly sunny and blue skies greeted us as soon as our ferry docked. We’re very fortunate as we had expected rainy days in our trip and were prepared for it, and found out we didn’t need it 🙂

Blue Eyes doing his signature hand stand at Tungeneset, SENJA

Blue Eyes doing his signature hand stand at Tungeneset, SENJA

The 2 panoramic viewpoints offer a different experience. At Tungeneset, it feels closer to nature as we could walk on the huge rocks right next to the sea. It’s calm and peaceful as there are lots of space to roam and explore. Bergsbotn, on the other hand, offers a broad view of Bergsfjord on a huge viewing platform. There are many visitors like us that stopped by to take photographs and therefore we had less private moments to enjoy the view by ourselves. Having said that, it is a gorgeous sight 🙂

Btw, I decided to split the post on this road trip into two; no particular reason except I wanna post something soon, and to finish writing all the details in one post would take some time – considering that I already took days just to write this *sheepish grin* So please do return and watch this space for Part 2 🙂

Aug 25

Turku, oldest Finnish city

In June, on spur of the moment, we decided to visit Turku, the oldest city in Finland. I’ve never been to Turku (and a lot of other places in Finland!) but have heard quite a bit of the city. It used to be the capital before it was moved to Helsinki. Nowadays, it’s an important port city for the country due to its close proximity to Sweden. In fact, it’s very popular to take an overnight cruise ride to Stockholm from Turku. Naturally, the city also has one of the most number of Swedish speaking people compared to other places in Finland. Note that Swedish is the second national language of Finland and every child studies the language at least for six years in their education period.

Aura River, flowing through the city of Turku

Aura River, flowing through the city of Turku

On the weekend that we happened to visit Turku, we found out that the Medieval Festival was happening. Just the right time to get to know Finland – err, maybe not, considering everything was in Finnish. Anyway, we visited the festival and had a nice stroll through the market and tried the various so-called traditional cuisine.

Turku’s river flowed through the centre and along the riverbank, there is a strip of shops, cafes and restaurants. It might seem common in other European cities but there are not many places in Finland that I know of, which have such lifestyle, not even in Helsinki. I wasted no time checking out which cafe to visit and found on Tripadvisor that it’s recommended to lunch at Mami.

The place was packed and the terrace dining area was full, fortunately we managed to find a table indoor and ordered our set lunch. Food was good and the atmosphere was elegant. We had wanted to have dessert, but the service seemed a bit slow and none of the waiters approached us so we decided to skip it for tea later.

In the evening, I wanted to check out this French restaurant, Le Porc that was highly recommended on Tripadvisor but lo and behold, when we arrived, we found out that it’s no longer in business. Urggh .. so off we went to try to find food at almost 9PM, where most kitchens are almost closing. Fortunately we found Vaakahuoneen Pavijonki, which was next to the river, and although service was bad, the food was pretty good (or maybe we’re just hungry).

My "accidental" dinner - butter fish with fries. So simple but so yummy!

My “accidental” dinner – butter fish with fries. So simple but so yummy!

The next day, we headed to the Turku Castle for a visit. Some of the Medieval Festival activities are held in the castle so there are a number of people, plus a wedding that was being held there. Due to the festival, there are free guides available to bring us for a tour and an elegant lady, Helena came and offered to bring us around. Thanks to her, we had a chance to learn a traditional Finnish dance as well as listen to a shepherd girl played self-made flutes.

Before we left Turku, we visited Tinta, a wine place that is along the riverside. We initially sat at the terrace but it started to drizzle so we moved indoor, which was a really cozy atmosphere with bottles of wines on shelves against the wall and two barrels served as table near to the counter. We took the table next to the door and while having our drinks and dessert, we watched people passed us by.

Choc cake with coffee while watching people passes by @ Tinta, Turku

Choc cake with coffee while watching people passes by @ Tinta, Turku

Blue Eyes suggested that we drive further to Naantali, one of the oldest towns in Finland. It’s also a popular tourist attraction due to the beautiful islands surrounding the town. It is also home to Moomin World theme park. Moomin is a popular Finnish cartoon based on old folks stories. We arrived to Naantali in the late afternoon and had a nice walk along its coast. It’s indeed a quaint little town with beautiful houses up on its hill. Numerous cafes and ravintola (Finnish word for restaurant) are found along the coast. And of course many boats and yachts docking at the jetty.

Summer brings many boats to Naantali

Summer brings many boats to Naantali

Naantali  is quite good for a weekend getaway. Not too big but there are enough activities to keep people occupied. It’s also calm enough to just sit in the cafe and simply enjoy the scenic view around.

« Older Entries
seo packagespress release submissionsocial bookmarking services
hostgator promo code