Issue:
Fall 2001

Text:
Toni Sacher and Colin Brunskill

Photography:
Toni Sacher and Eckhard Zimmermann

Geographic Region:
Finland, Europe

Pages:
56 - 63

Visit the gallery for more pictures

(Translation by Colin Brunskill)

We took the night ferry, the M/S Finnpartner, from Lübeck, Germany, to Helsinki and after a calm crossing left the ship shortly after 7 a.m. At this time of day the morning rush hour had not started and the streets were free of traffic, enabling us to make an undisturbed orientation tour of the Finnish capital. The 14-day tour was planned in a counterclockwise direction, heading first east towards the Russian border and then north to the Arctic Circle and Lapland.

Our first destination was the town of Porvoo. Shortly after leaving the city, the scene pleased our eyes: roads with almost no traffic, bordered with masses of lilac lupines and “Danger: Elk Crossing” signs. In the forest clearings, traditional wooden houses, red with white window frames, gleamed in the sunlight. Porvoo is a town with many old wooden buildings, narrow alleyways and nice cafés in its center.

Continuing on through Kouvola, we reached the area of the Finnish Lake District, starting with the fish-rich Lake Saimaa, also called the “Lake of the 1000 Islands.” The lake flows into the river Vuoksajoki through the town of Imatra where a hydroelectric complex has been built. Every evening, to an accompaniment of classical music, the sluice gates are opened and the water tumbles down under a bridge into the old riverbed....