Porvoo

If one is not accustomed to wooden buildings then it may ‘enchant the visitor time and time again’ as the tourist board likes to sing the praises. However to Valeria the place was simply nice but not particularly special as there are plenty of Russian villages with woodern buildings too.
The Town is the 2nd oldest in Finland however but most of the buildings are from the 19th century. Like London (which once had many wooden buildings before the fire) it suffered a great fire. The fire here started when a housewife was cooking fish soup and left the stove unattended. End result? 200 of the 293 houses in Porvoo burnt down! Since the fire unlike London many wooden buildings have been rebuilt or erected.
A City of Art
Porvoo is a city for artists and it would not be complete without some connection to Finnish artists and culture and it has an important connection for Finland. Here the celebrated national poet, Swedish speaking Johan Lidvig Runeberg was born here and there are also several other places associated with him, such as the grammar school where he taught Latin and Greek. A composer Gabriel Linsen has a park named after him and he apparently used to greet Runeberg on his birthday by singing under his window (5th February) and apparently although Runeberg has long departed students continue that custom to this very day.
Also not to be forgotten is Albert Edelfelt. The Finish painter who achieved some international fame too was born 4km outside but according to the tourist board he painted ‘immortalised views of Porvoo’.
Valeria and I mostly followed the suggesting walking route of the tourist information but also went to additional places. We visited the Porvoo Doll and Toy museum which was smaller than the one in Helsinki but for me more enjoyable too
We ate at both “Bar & Café Porvoo Roastery) in a nice building and Amarillo. A kind of Finnish style of Mexican restaurant.

Porvoo makes a nice solo, or family destination if looking for a day out of Helsinki and reliant on public transport.