FINLAND: RAUMA ~ Beautiful places of Barcelona and Catalonia

miércoles, 8 de abril de 2015

FINLAND: RAUMA

The train arrived from Rovaniemi to Tampere at 5.45 am. We had to pick up the car at the office of Europcar inside the station, but at that time it was closed. We took breakfast until the office was opened

Yyteri Beach near Pori

Our first stop was in Yyteri beach near the city of Pori. It is one of the most important centers of summer holidays in Finland. We parked our white Volkswagen Polo in the parking of the spa and we walked to the beach by a wooden walkway.

Before hitting the sand we crossed a small forest with some very typical Nordic cottages.

Wooden path for going from the parking to Yyteri beach

Typical Finnish landscape beside Yyteri beach

The long sandy beach of Yyteri was deserted. We were breathing the clean, fresh air for a while and enjoying the sea views.

Yyteri Long sandy beach

Yyteri beach near Pori in Finland

From Yyteri we drove to Rauma to stroll around its old wooden and colourful houses. The old town of Rauma, called Vanha Rauma, is World Heritage by UNESCO as the houses of this old Nordic wooden town have hardly changed since its construction.

We entered the old town of Rauma crossing a small wooden bridge over a canal surrounding the old town. This wooden bridge was between the church and a very typical wooden house of Rauma painted in yellow which we would see many times as we walked around the old town.

Church of the Holy Cross in Rauma beside the Old Town

Wooden bridge in Rauma

Then we walked through a street which took us to the central square, called Market Square, where the town hall and the best known restaurants and cafes are.

Like all the streets of the old town, the street that led us to the Market Square was cobbled and extremely clean. Generally all the old town looks like an open-air museum where everything is really tidy and quiet. The main square is quite large with a space reserved for the market.

We walked through this cobbled street in the Old Town of Rauma from the previous wooden bridge to the Market Square

Old Town Hall of Rauma. Today it serves as a museum

Cafe Sali beside the Market Square of Rauma

Finnish flag on the building of the Café Sali

Market Square in the old town of Rauma

This is the place for stalls in the Market Square of Rauma

One of the wooden houses in the old town of Rauma

We enjoyed our meal in the restaurant Ravintola Goto for just over 10 euros: a pasta salad and a chicken dish very tender as a main dish.

Ravintola Goto restaurant in Rauma

After lunch we kept walking through the streets we had not seen yet, including the narrowest street, called Kitukrann. We kept seeing houses painted in blue, yellow and red, really clean with wooden walls without any visible damage.

Cobbled and incredibly clean street in Rauma

More colorful wooden houses in Rauma

Kitukrann street in Rauma

Kitukränn, often cited as the narrowest street in Finland, runs between the streets Kuninkaankatu and Kauppakatu

I saw this red wooden house of Rauma previously in an information booklet

Walking through the streets of Vanha Rauma in the afternoon

Hauenguano Square in the Old town of Rauma

Hauenguano Square is located at the junction of the two main streets of Old Rauma: Kauppakatu and Kuninkaankatu

By mid-afternoon we went to Cafe Sali where we were almost to the evening talking to Finnish people. I liked the decor of the cafe where there is even a piano. At night we drove to Turku where we arrived around 11pm, our next and final destination in Finland before returning to Helsinki.