Visited Porvoo old town

We finally made it and visited the Porvoo old town! Sanna has been talking about the trip for a few weeks now, and today we got packed in our car, drove there and spent several hours there doing mostly nothing.

As you might remember, we were planning to go there a couple of weeks ago, but Aapo got sick. This weekend there were no signs of illness and the weather was also excellent.

The Porvoo old town is one of the few medieval Finnish towns that have not been burned down or demolished. To be honest, there were not that many towns in Finland in medieval times… The place has a feel of its own, it’s somewhat detached from the rest of country — people seem to be happier, the buildings look completely different than you are used to, and the quality of boutiques, cafés and restaurants is outstanding for such a small region of land.

The old town is quite compact, we spent less than four hours there by foot, and had enough time to visit all interesting shops (10+), sit a while in an excellent café (Helmi), and eat a lunch in Finnish archipelago style in Timbaali restaurant.

It felt like being on a holiday in some foreign but still familiar country; for example, being in Tallinn, Estonia. No worries and no agenda, just good time with family. Heartily recommended.