My Travel in Scandinavia

December month has been a really remarkable month for me! I have spent Christmas in London UK. However, just before I went back, I have decided to visit few places in Scandinavia and explore the neighboring countries. I have to admit I have never thought before I come here that I would be visiting so many places. This is also an opportunity to mention that I have also visited many places within Finland too. I have visited Tampere several times, Turku (the old Finnish capital) and of course Helsinki many times. Not to mention that actually the region where I live (Satakunta) full of beautiful gems that are absolutely a must to see, similar to Yyteri beach, Reposaari, and of course Rauma that I have mentioned in the first post.

Tampere

Turku

I have to say that I have been so lucky to have Krista, a lovely Finnish friend who I met in Pori. I met Krista when I first arrived in Pori through Roosa another friend who was on an exchange in London 2 years ago. Krista is a fashion student in Stockholm Sweden, she invited me twice to Sweden and she was an amazing host and a perfect guide that showed me Stockholm and its beauty thoroughly. I cannot thank her enough for her incredible hospitality. Krista took me around the city, and its beautiful districts, she also showed me her fashion school, which I found it really interesting. Stockholm consists of many islands connected by many bridges, so you can see the sea wherever you go, it has also a beautiful old center called Gamla Stan that has small cozy streets full of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. I loved Stockholm so much to the extent that I visited it twice! The similarity between both countries Finland and Sweden is astonishing, especially to the west of Finland and its cities such as Turku. There are cities in the west of Finland that their first speaking language is actually Swedish similar to Åland Island and Vasa and many others, even where I live Pori, which is Björneborg (the Swedish name), has a Swedish school and a Swedish club. Finland therefore is considered to be a bilingual country that has two official languages Finnish and Swedish. Swedish language is a compulsory subject that all students has to study in schools, even some jobs require good understanding of Swedish similar to nursing. Nurses in Finland should have adequate level of Swedish before embarking any job dealing with public. Wherever you go in Finland you find signs in Finnish and Swedish. Not to mention some of the food is very similar, similar to eating plenty fish especially salmon, cinnamon buns with coffee (Pulla in Finland and Bullar in Swedish). Flights from Helsinki are incredibly cheap, as cheap as €25 in you book it in advance of course. I have used only Norwegian airline. Norwegian is a cheap airline that flies to many destinations around Scandinavia; it has excellent service compare to other cheap airlines. I have also used the boat once to see the archipelago between Turku and Stockholm, which was definitely worth it.

Stockholm

Gamla Stan - Stockholm

Swedish Bullar ( Cinnamon Buns)

Taken the Ferry from Stockholm to Turku

Sunrise over the archipelago between Stockholm and Turku

So here was the plan in the mission to explore the rest of Scandinavia cheaply and efficiently. Since I was planning to go back to London anyway for Christmas I thought I can take advantage of the situation and reduce the cost of travelling by stopping over in places, the cost of a flight from Helsinki to London was about € 100 while a flight from Helsinki to Oslo or Copenhagen was around € 30 more or less, therefore I have decided to stop over on the way going to and back from London. On the way from Helsinki to London I decided to do two stopovers. Since I have been really fascinated about the life above the artic circle and since I come from a sunny Mediterranean background where I don’t see the snow ever (That’s before I moved to the UK 8 years ago), I decided to go to the beautiful artic city Tromsø. So many people asked me why Tromsø in particular? and how I come across it?. The honest answer is that I come across it through Google maps. I was playing on my iPhone one day, looking at this north part of the world and all of the sudden I found the name Tromsø, it attracted my interest. I typed the name in Goodge pictures, I read some information on Wikipedia then I looked at visit Tromsø website and instantly, I fell in love, I had the urge to visit this place. I wanted initially stop over in Oslo just for the day before I fly to London, then it just came to my mind why don’t I stop over in Oslo and instead of flying directly to London I fly to Tromsø and then London.

That was the plan, and in fact it went so well! First, I went to Helsinki after I finished my first exchange period. Going to Helsinki was very emotional for me, as I had to say good-bye to my lovely friend Judith at the airport. Judith is a beautiful clever physiotherapy student who was flying back home for good to Belgium. We met in Finland at the beginning of august 2013. We learned Finnish together; we went to many Saunas, lakes and visited many places in Finland. We cycled around Pori together, we had coffee, dinners together. We had lovely movie nights at home with popcorn and wine. We even danced together! It was sad to see her go through the security gates at Helsinki airport and say good-bye. In this exchange period, I made great friends that are truly friends for life and I will always cherish these memories forever.

Me and Judith

It was nice to be in Helsinki to experience Christmas spirit in Finland. I slept over there and early in the morning I took a bus to the airport, it was effortless, everything was smooth, the flight took off to Oslo, it was so quick, I have arrived, picked my bags, and off I went to explore this city.

Christmas Tree in Helsinki

Christmas Decoration at Stockman the biggest store in Helsinki

Of course I visited Fazer for brunch

Christmas inside Fazer

Fazer Christmas Sweets

Oslo was so organized; everything was so clear and easy to find out. It didn’t take me long to put my bags for a day to be kept for me at the airport and then I took the express train to the city centre in just 20 minutes! I couldn’t believe how friendly and informative the people were there, which is no surprise for me, since I’m in Scandinavia.

Oslo

Opera House Oslo

I just had an amazing time in Oslo, I went around the city centre, I went for food, visited the famous opera house and of course I had a chance to see Oslo Christmas market which is one of a kind. Soon my day has come to an end in Oslo and I had to head back to the airport to fly to wonderful Tromsø. I spent around 8 hours in Oslo center, which I thought it was enough time to see the main attraction of Oslo, but I will definitely visit again to explore it more.

Oslo Town Hall

Oslo Christmas Market

Tromsø was a magical place that I have loved so much and definitely I will be going there again and again! It exceeded my expectation, the people were friendly, the city was so charming, with its fjords, snow and its incredible sky that sun never rose during the time I visited, still the sky was bright with beautiful twilight for hours during the day, the snow made everything bright even at night. There is no way to describe Tromsø better than seeing the video that I have made for this wonderful city.

Click here to see my Tromsø Video

Norway-Tromsø

Tromsø Harbour

Christmas time in London was a great opportunity to relax and reflect on my experiences and spend a quality time with my boyfriend who I missed so much. Sadly time has passed so quickly and it was the time to go back to Finland, on the way back I have stopped over in Copenhagen. I stayed there only one night; I have managed to see the main attractions in this cozy city. Copenhagen was actually a unique city that I felt that it is slightly different from the rest of Scandinavian cities. There is a huge amount of bikes everywhere you go in the city. Despite the fact it was cold outside, still you see people outside sitting in café shops, bars and restaurants; people seem to be more outgoing and relaxed, where in the rest of Scandinavia especially Finland people tend to stay indoors in the winter and be out all the time in spring and summer. I have also noticed the use of drugs among the young people to the extent that Copenhagen has a district called Green Light District or Christiana where you can buy and consume recreational drugs. Despite the fact that smoking indoors is illegal, you still can see a lot of smokers inside the bars. That actually has shocked me! It did strike me that this city is a unique mix between European and Scandinavian cities. Where Alcohol monopoly exist in Finland, Sweden and Norway (Where you can buy hard alcohol similar to wine and liquors only from government shops at certain times) this was not the case in Denmark. Also in Finland you don’t see any adverts of hard liquors or cigarettes you don’t even see the cigarettes in the shops. In ordered to buy tobacco in Finland you need to ask for a number that represent the brand name and you don’t get to see any brands of labels of tobacco on display. In, Denmark this was not the case, tobacco products were displayed in the stores with no restriction. Demark seems to be a unique Scandinavia country to compare the rest of Nordic countries.

Copenhagen

Click here to see a Video on my visits to Scandinavian Capitals

After I finish my Nordic tour, it was the time to go back to my lovely apartment in Pori and my quiet life. It seemed that everything has changed, the weather overnight turned to be below zero degree, everything turned white, the sun starts to come again and stay longer. New exchange students have arrived, I’m no longer in classes anymore. I go to the hospital every day from Monday to Friday for my practice, which I enjoy very much, I have also started to attend Finnish classes to be able to communicate with patients.

Pori in late November before leaving to London for Christmas

Porin before I left

Beautiful morning along the river in Pori- End of November

Sunrise in Pori - End of November

Pori in snow after I came back

Pori in snow

Pori in snow when the river froze

Pori with the frozen river

My shadow on my bike on the frozen river- Opposite is kirjoluoto park where I used to suntan in the summer

Click here to see Pori in Snow Video

Talking about friends that are worth gold who I met in my exchange period! One of them is Jinny, smart clever determined girl. She is originally from Thailand and lived and studied in Germany for many years. She successfully managed to get an internship in Helsinki after she finished her exchange period in Pori. I met Jinny the same way I met lovely Judith through the Finnish language course in august. Jinny is the only friend from the Finnish language course who stayed with me. We live apart, I live in Pori and she lives in Helsinki where she is doing her internship, however we always keep in touch and I have already visited her twice in Helsinki where we had an amazing time.

So far I have managed to see so many places, meet amazing people from many countries and stay in touch with them. I have learned so much about countries and their governmental policies and legislations in order to protect their citizens. I have now a very rich experience that I thought I would never have.

Helsinki

Click here to see My Visits to Helsinki Video

Sine you know that I love food so much I thought I would share some of the beautiful food I experienced in Hakaniemi Kaupahalli ( Market Hall ) in Helsinki.