Last week I've been i both cities (1 day for each). I liked more Turku. Walking down near the river, visiting the Castle were good highlights. Also i visited a nearby island (Ruissalo). In Tampere I liked very much the all Pyynikki area. I was in Helsinki the week but i planed do visit at least 2 cities and by train si extremely easy to get to it. Loved Finland
Talking of hidden history: the Aboa Vetus has the exhibit of the old town of Turku that was excavated and turned into a museum. You can see the old street layout and buildings. That's where the actual history is. Very cool.
As a fan, I've got to say it's interesting to see you do this about my hometown. One thing I need to add is that even without the burns Turku has been bad about appreciating the history it has. Especially in the 1970's and 1980's a lot of historical buildings were torn down to make room for bigger concrete buildings, the most famous being the Börs building made in art noveau style being replaced with a regular hotel (and last that hotel was torn down for a new one).
I love that you mentioned Kurjenrahka! Even some locals haven't visited and it's sad because it's sooo beautiful. Another tip: Ruissalo island in Turku has some very nice short trails and beautiful sea scenery too. There is also Botanic Garden of the University of Turku in Ruissalo, which is a great experience even in winter.
Here I am, a finnish guy sitting in Utah during our cross-US road trip, having a drink on my airbnb porch and watching Mark talk about Turku on my phone. Cheers!
I think the information about that old little historic village (Luostarinmäki) was a bit short. It is really nice there. Dozens of small buildings and a exhibition showing almost every craftsmanship around. Sometimes they even have live presentations. So don't miss that.
One reason for why there is not so much old buildings in Turku is Turun tauti (Disease of Turku) what means at especially in 1970's people in power at Turku wanted to destroy old buildings and build new buildings (those "beautiful" 1970's buildings). Lot's of old buildings where lost in that time.
"Marina" means whining in Finnish - or to be more precise it means the kind of thing kids can do on a long car trip: "are we there yet?". "Kuka" means who, and "kina" a quarrel. Rekku is a male name that is often given to a dog rather than to a boy. So your name in Finnish is ... just perfect. I jus couldn't help myself when I noticed the Finnish words there.
Marina means many things, including "small harbour". The name of our city "Turku" originates from the Old East Slavic word, tǔrgǔ, meaning "market place". In the old days - say 1200s - merchants from Novgorod, Sweden, etc. would sail to the small harbour to sell and trade goods at the marketplace. So welcome here - Tervetuloa / Добро пожаловать!! - when you find the time to do so. Дружбы и мира!
Right next to the River, on the same side as the flower And the funny statues, there is a little blue building, yeah that used to be my moms little kiosk where she sold asian food. It is now a cafe but it holds many memories from my childhood❤
I have been to Turku many times since I first worked there in 1998 at Turun Sanomat. I made some good friends and have been back to work at TS a couple of times since. I also took the family and rented a cottage at Merimasku, just past Naantali.
I stayed outside Naatali a few years ago. Near where I stayed was a disused mill and you could still see hear the sails spinning round in the wind. Love the bit of forest as well. :)
And don't forget that the boat to Stockholm from Turku that you talked about stops in the Åland Islands, which are some beautiful Swedish speaking islands. They are autonomous but still a part of Finland. I highly recommend a trip there.
9:00 That's a good point by the way for people planning to visit Finland. It's easy to think that it's going to be chilly in the summer because the country is so far up north, but nope. Thanks to the sun being up almost 24/7, the temperatures can get similar to Italy or Spain. For example, the highest recorded temperature in summertime so far was 37,2 degrees Celcius (~99 degrees Fahrenheit).
The statue of man and a helmet is Jarno Saarinen, not a formula driver but a motorcyclist, very famous in Italy during his era and the statue is actually a gift from his italian fans. Jarno Saarinen is a WC of 250cc 1972, he died in an accident during monza GP the 20th of may 1973.
Jarno Saarinen's legacy can still be witnessed in every street motorcycle race today. Before him, riders took corners pretty slowly and quite upright. You can see this e.g. in protographs. Then Saarinen started to shift his weight around and over his bike, hanging off the handlebar with his knee out, to the amusement/derision of his peers. The results were profound, and it wasn't long until everyone adopted the technique and started refining it.
This is such a timely video! I relocated to Finland for work in 2021, and it is only in Turku that I've had that 'wow' feeling and where I felt like home. I've made a decision about moving to Turku but it's a big change from Tampere, so started having cold feet. Your video is a timely reminder why I instantly fell in love in Turku! Kiitos!
Whale tale statue. It is over concrete witch was used on Vickers yaerd to build u boots prototypes for Germany. Fori, the small ferry across river was for Vickers yard workers as yard was on both banks of Aura river.
In the beginning you were talking about the great fires of Turku. An interesting trivia is that there are only two old wooden towns in the Nordics that haven't burned in great fires. Kristiinankaupunki, Finland and Røros, Norway.
Thank you for sharing this, coming to Finland this May and plan to take the ferry to Stockholm from Turku. Enjoyed your video and now know the sites to see.
6:42? 🤭 Loved the video, this guy is super knowledgeable! These days theres a water bus that you can take towards the archipelago, really recommend that. Same price as taking a bus in the city. And the city centre which is in shambles right now will eventually be done and is beginning to look great already, I personally like the casual feel of the new Hamburger Börs hotel terrace 👌🏻 Turku has some good restaurants like he mentioned so be sure to check them out (Kaskis with an exceptional wine list and Michelin level kitchen, Mami for excellent no bs kinda local food, a total vibe 👌🏻 etc.) The only downside is that our summer seems to be over for now so youll have to wait for next year 😆
Turku city's Central plaza (Keskustori) is under total renovation already for 3 years, and should be completed by springtime (- let's keep fingers crossed) . So Welcome anew especially in summer of 2023 to Turku city and the totally remodelled square with even more greenery, cafes, stalls and cultural events.
My first summer after moving to Turku they had jousting championships at the Turku castle during my summer holiday. Was absolutely amazing! Also love the sea level marks on "tähtitorninmäki" over the millenia, especially combined with the infoboards in kurala and kuusisto piispanlinna (bishopscastle). Also, some decent bouldering right within walking/cycling range 😊
Cathedral is of course the most famous church to see, but there are others, as well. There is the beautiful neogothic/art nouveau Mikaelinkirkko (St Michael's Church), there is the neoclassicist/fuctionalist Martinkirkko (Martin's Church), and a bit North from the centre, there are two small medieval churches, Pyhän Katariinan kirkko (St. Catherine's Church) and Maarian kirkko (St. Mary's Church). And maybe you like to visit Luostarinmäki open-air museum, as well.
4:51 "The pearly gates of heaven... toast... devoured from the inside out." --vocational school friend circa. 2009 12:11 I don't know how new it is, but there's a small exhibit on the west side, somewhere around the middle in 'the old trade center' / "kauppahalli" that has old snacks and items on display. I got a bit of a kick out of that. And towards the end you mentioned the 'ferries' that go from Turku to Stockholm... I dunno about 'ferries', but you can take a boat cruise to Stockholm on a pretty spicy boat from the harbor and that's a thing people like to enjoy every so often. I think I've done that some 40 times in my life, though we disembarked over there only a couple of times. :D It's more about eating, hanging out, having fun, shopping in the 'tax free' and other boutiques on the cruise liner and probably most of all (not in the winter), grabbing drinks (and snacks) and going out on the top deck to bask in the wind and watch the islands and seascapes roll by. Think it's about time I did that again sometime soon! When I saw that you did a vid on my hometown, my eyes lit up. But then I hear that you lived here for a year! And you like to come back every so often...! Damn! I definitely want to say hi sometime! :D
forum marinum has to be one of the best museums I've been to, the full tour with Suomen Joutsen included is so interesting and you could spend an entire day
I'm in Helsinki now and I skipped Turku because it didn't like It was my jam....I did visit Jyvaskyla. It was nice and quiet.....Heading to Tallin in a few minutes.
Can confirm the thing about Helsinki prices, most big companies and franchise chains have an elevated salary for people working in Helsinki specifically because of the increased cost of living
9:03 About the sun. I am a native, and I never care about the sun. Not once I have had a sunburn Finland, but in Ireland yes(located about 500km south). Maybe I would have had, if I had visited a beach in Turku for hours, but that is way too boring for me.
Yeah, as a Turkuian (turkulaisena in Finnish) those are disgraces. The police can't apparently remove the addicts from the otherwise most precious places in the city center. I can't understand why. Why not just patrol there and tell them to move on. After a while they would start gathering in some more remote place. The market square, on the other hand, is gonnna be nice.
Don't do not go to the church = go to the church. It's not real don't, it''s clickbait and makes the video very painful to watch. If it's your standard, I'll never subscribe for sur.
It's more about mixed marrige and most Swedish speaking Finns were originally Finnish speaking but took Swedish as their language to become something in the Swedish empire. Not that hard to understand.
@@hurri7720 Both ways. There are offspring from swedish public servants and there are descendant from finns that changed language because higher education was available only in swedish under swedish rule.
The way in different cultures it’s common decency? But ask yourself? Does it really matter? I’m not saying do or don’t? Hypothetically speaking of course? Different Cultures lack in this field as do Americans? But in the end? Does it matter? Absolutely not! It’s Cultural respect
I don’t say anything about them, so in my mind? What gives them the right to bluntly conjure up some provocative insult or disregard? The fact is? Nothing! It’s personal, and in moments anywhere! When someone launches this attack on me? I go straight into rage, and I’m at that point looking for alternatives to either embarrass them? Or shut that hole in their face, because I don’t start anything? I finish things and I’ll warn anyone
