It's spring break in schools in our region. My wife did not have to teach this week and my daughter did not have school. I had a day off to spare. We decided to head for Porvoo, a medieval town to the south of Lahti on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. It's an hour's drive away.The town of Porvoo has a population of about 50,000. Its has an old town made up mostly of wooden buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries. The oldest parts of the cathedral was built in the 13th century.
The central part of Old Town.
The cathedral is near the top of the hill. It was destroyed in an arson in 2006. The damage was worth millions of euros. The destroyed parts were rebuilt after the fire.
The iconic storage buildings at the riverfront. The Town Hall is on the left.
We're going to the town hall. The town museum is there. The municipal council meets probably somewhere in the new part of town, which is much uglier and less touristic.
The Town Hall.
There is so much to see that the museum is definitely worth a visit. Here's a fun doll collection.
The same ticket entitled to entry into a building next door that was the home of a wealthy 18th century merchant, Johan Holm and his wife Anna-Maria.
Their living room
Anna-Maria and Johan Holm.
A view down the street past the town hall.
My wife wanted to go to that cafeteria. We never did because after we'd eaten at a restaurant, it was too late.
Coming back from dinner.
A typical narrow street. It's hardly surprising that wooden towns and cities would suffer from devastating fires from time to time in the good old days.
Up the hill towards the cathedral.
It was getting dark and a high ISO value was needed. This street was already a bit dark. Probably works better as a black and white version.
Nice river views.
Porvoo Cathedral. The river is not navigable and to my knowledge it wasn't many centuries ago despite the sea level having been several meters higher in the early days of the town thanks to post-glacial upthrust. But the town must have become an important trading post because the harbor is very well protected and because the distance of Porvoo is halfway between Turku and Viipuri, two other medieval towns.
The belfry.
The cathedral square.
What a stunning sunset!
Over the rooftops and down the river.
Time to go back to the river. Incidentally, the source of the river Porvoo is on the southern slopes of the First Salpausselkä ridge in Lahti.
The Town Hall.
Up the river from the other side of the bridge. Good night!