Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
There are several other eating places, largely mediocre. Best for a beer or bite is
Suo-
noon-10pm Mon-Sat, noon-6pm Sun May-Aug, shorter hours winter)
, by the quay. It brews
some excellent beers including a hefty porter and offers good food to accompany it. Tak-
ing a picnic is a great way to make the most of Suomenlinna's grass and views. Around
5.15pm find a spot to watch the enormous Baltic ferries pass through the narrow gap
between islands.
Ferries head from Helsinki's kauppatori to Suomenlinna's main quay. Tickets (one way/
return €2.50/5, 15 minutes, three times hourly, less frequent in winter, 6.20am to 2.20am)
€4.50/7; May-mid-Sep)
runs a waterbus at least hourly from the kauppatori, making three
stops on Suomenlinna (one way/return €4.50/7, 20 minutes, 8am to 7pm May to mid-
September).
SUOMENLINNA: THE LION THAT SQUEAKED
In the mid-18th century, Sweden was twitchy about a potential Russian invasion, and de-
cided to build a state-of-the-art offshore fortress near the eastern limits of its declining
empire. At the time, Helsinki wasn't a major town, and the bastion itself, Sveaborg, be-
came one of Finland's largest settlements and a thriving community.
Despite Suomenlinna's meticulous planning and impressive military hardware, its his-
tory in war has been rather less than glorious. When the Russians finally came calling in
1808, the besieged commander, alarmed by Russian threats to bombard every last civil-
ian to smithereens, tamely surrendered the fortress to spare the soldiers' families.
Once Finland was under Russian rule, the capital was moved from Turku to Helsinki, but
the fortress was allowed to deteriorate. A wake-up call came with the Crimean War and
rapid improvements were made. Or so they said. As it turned out, British ships pounded
the islands with 21,000 shots in a two-day bombardment, but Suomenlinna's guns were
so out of condition that they couldn't even reach the attacking ships.
The fortress nevertheless remained in Russian hands until independence. During the
Finnish Civil War it served as a prison for communist prisoners; these days there's still an
open prison on the islands.
