Finland Video Clips: Turku and one streetcar ride in Helsinki

I spent 2-3 weeks in Finland in May and about 5 days were in Turku. I walked around the circled area. We see mostly pedestrians. Most of the through traffic in cars is marked in green. Off the map on the left is a maritime museum, quite good, and the Turku castle. It's a medieval town with a population under 200 000. The early 1800s fire destroyed old Turku. But enough churches and the castle remain. Transport is by bus. Swipe a contactless credit card as you step in and you get a 3 euro ride.

Here are some video clips from my walks inside that area. It's all good walking, but the riverside trail has a lot of bikes. I walked to the castle off map and took the bus back.

Still the same area.

The pedestrian bridge near the cathedral.

Continuing. I rode 5 miles out to Ruissalo by bike. The route was easy to figure out with Google maps. Puutarhakatu leads you to the East. The bike path went under the busy E63 highway. There in Ruissalo the pedestrian plus bike paths are well separated from cars.

The stage looks like this in July when the concert is held. You can see a small bit of the sea. It was July 7-9 in 2023.

My rental bike on the gravel path. It is only a few miles from Kansanpuisto to the Pikkupukki area where there is a parking lot for cars.

The castle. You can find out all about the 1300s castle by googling.

I went on to Helsinki and also Estonia for a day at the end of the trip. Just a clip of a street car to point out that the downtown and the whole peninsula of Helsinki is larger than Turku and an 8 euro day pass for streetcar and metro (or bus, but only zones 1 and 2) is needed. The locals use a phone app. Each ride is then 3 euros for 60 minutes travel. Ticket machines (not everywhere) will give you that rate. You can take the streetcar to the metro station and ride a few stops on the same ticket. Longer metro trips would require another ticket at the station. My hotel was just a cheap Eurohostel in Katajanokka, a bit far to walk to many times. The downtown budget hotels and standard hotels will give you most of Helsinki within walking distance. If going to Helsinki, book the hotel a few days ahead in summer. Same day booking tends to give you the fancier hotels as all the rest are full.

Here is a bit of Pori from earlier in the trip. I had posted in FB and several people ID:d it as Pori.