Start of an Adventure in Southern Finland | Nordic Road Trip 2022 [1/6]
It is already 2025 and it’s finally time to look back on the Nordic road trip we did in the summer of 2022. In thirteen days, we saw a rather large part of three Nordic countries: Finland, Sweden, and Norway. This first post of a few is about the first stage of our Nordic road trip, southern Finland.
In the aftermath (at least it feels like the aftermath) of the covid 19 pandemic, we really felt like traveling somewhere. At the same time, we didn’t feel all too comfortable flying anywhere. In the end, we decided to go on a road trip with my parents in my parents’ caravan, all the way to Lofoten in Norway.
Our great Nordic road trip began on the Åland Islands the day before Midsummer Eve. We had a ferry to catch very early in the morning from the other side of the island. In order to get at least a little bit of sleep, we set off at midnight, knowing that we could sleep in the car. As it turned out, our trip did not start smoothly as there were some issues with the fuses. Fortunately, a colleague of my dad’s picked up the phone at this late hour, fixed the problem and we were on our way.
First Part of Our Nordic Road Trip: Driving to Nastola
There are a few different types of vessels that traffic the Åland Islands. Usually, we opt for the large cruise ships that take passengers and cargo between the main ports and cities around the Baltic Sea. This time, however, was different. The Åland archipelago consists of thousands of small islands and the main ones are connected by regular ferries owned by the local government. If you take this route, you see many of the small municipalities. Instead of Turku or Helsinki on the Finnish mainland, you also end up in a place called Kustavi (or Gustavs). It was about eight am when we arrived in this town, which has a supermarket and a church. Some of us relaxed for a bit while Jesper decided to check out the place.
We knew that we had a long day ahead of us. The plan was to drive all the way to Nastola, where we would spend the night at my aunt’s place. Without any stops, the journey is somewhere between three and four hours. We already knew that we would visit Uusikaupunki, so that was the first stop on our trip.
Nordic Road Trip: A Stop In Uusikaupunki
From Kustavi, we started driving in somewhat the wrong direction. Instead of the east, we turned toward the north. My father had an appointment in Uusikaupunki, which is a town between Turku and Pori, right by the Baltic Sea. It was also on Jesper’s wishlist with some very distant ancestors having spent time in the town in the 18th century. It was a sunny day, so after leaving Little A and my mother at a fairly large playground, Jesper and I took a quick walk in the central parts of the town. It was a rather cozy place with a summer feeling to it, with the water and old buildings. Uusikaupunki is apparently famous for its wooden houses, and it seems like we missed most of them.
The stop was well-needed, though, and I think we all enjoyed the break. From here it was finally time to start driving east.
A Train Wagon Somewhere Near Tampere
After Uusikaupunki, we need to head east to get to our destination. There are a few different roads to choose from and we settled to take the road via Tampere, one of the biggest cities in Finland. I haven’t been to Tampere since I was a child so I was rather excited about this. Unfortunately, we got lost. At some point, we all started to get hangry so it was time for a late lunch break near Sastamala. My dad pulled up at a restaurant by the road. It was not just any place, there were some old locomotives standing outside it. Of course, we needed to check why they stood there, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
As you might know, during the World World II, Finland was in war with the Soviet Union. During that time, the leadership of the country under Marshall Mannerheim, also had some contacts with Germany. In fact, he spent quite a lot of time in that train wagon and apparently Hitler himself visited Mannerheim in that wagon during the latter’s birthday once. So, in other words, we bumped into a piece of unexpected history.
After lunch and the history lesson, we all felt that we just wanted to reach our destination for the day.
The First Day of Our Nordic Road Trip Comes to an End
From the restaurant and the train wagons, we continued all the way to Lahti. What looks like a short distance on the map actually takes a while to drive in real-time and it was late afternoon/early evening before we reached Lahti. Jesper needed a charger for his smartwatch so we stopped for some shopping before continuing to my aunt’s place. However, there were still some things we needed to get sorted out before we could call it a day. My dad wanted to check some things with the car and then there was that little thing called dinner. All in all, we were happy (but tired) after the first day of our Nordic road trip.
Read more about the places we visited
