Tall Ships Races @ Helsinki

Once a year there is a Tall Ships Race set out for sail in European waters consisting of more than 100 huge ships designed "the old fashion way". The rule is that 50% of the crew has to be within the age of 15-25 years old to promote sailing for young people. Ships look great and it's a great chance for you who are young and want to go and experience something new. They set sail in Helsinki 17.7-20.7 this year and next stop was Latvia. 

The Russian replica of a ship from 1704

 Swedish Gothenburg fregat

 Suddenly the sky went dark and rain started pouring down, the light look sorta gloomy though

 Wonder how it is to sail with 5 masts

 The army's Jurmo boat with jet engines, use to spend a lot of time on it in the army when I was serving 9 months

 The western harbour of Helsinki

Archipelago - Pellinge

Midsummer, when the sun does not set. All these pictures have been taken in the archipelago of Pellinge, it's just about 1 hour drive outside Helsinki to the east. It's midsummer night. Went to Tunnholmen, on my way back the engine was suddenly out of gas. Worse thing was that my phone was also out of battery. Luckily got some help on an island I went to and dad came to bring more gas (at 5 am or so, thanks!!!) But the sunset and rise was truly beautiful...

 Bonfire @ Tunnholmen

 The moon is in the south, the sun in the north, both visible at the same time

 On the way back in the morning, loads of waves making the cameralens a bit wet

 Got some help from these people when own boat out of gas 

The Sibelius Monument

A monument raised for the composer Jean Sibelius, national anthem song. Finland will soon be 100 years independent already. Great in the summer when the sun never sets, took these photos around 22-23 in the evening! Then again in the winter it almost never shows. On/off

To Estonia by Eckerö

Going to Estonia by boat from Helsinki just takes 1-4 hours depending on which boat you take. The slowest but biggest one if Eckerö Line. Takes about 4 hours, tickets are only 30 Euro ish and tax free shop is big! Plus if it's good weather it's great to sit on the deck :) Boat leave morning 8.45 and comes back about 21, good way to spend a day off or weekend. 

Baltic Sea

Plenty of space on the deck

 

Tallinn ahoy!

 Welcome to Tallinn

 The old town dates back about a 1000 years, the old gates and many of the houses are still original remains

 Old town cathedral

 Houses here look much like the ones in Amsterdam with hooks to move goods upstairs before there were elevators

 Central Square

 The Russian Church

 Skyline view

 An old wine cellar from 1900 where they had wine tasting and history tour

 Bottles dating back 100 years