TacoCat’s Travels (Finland) #25: Loafing around St Olaf's Castle! 🏰
Hey Steemit!
So in the previous travel post, we had just begun our short weekend getaway to the picturesque city of Savonlinna! I mentioned that one of their famous tourist attractions is the Olavinlinna castle, which we would be visiting as well so here we go!
Sidenote: Apologies for the quality of the photos; it looks much better on the actual Steempress blog, but I guess the quality didn't translate back to Steemit for some reason.
2 June 2018. Saturday.
First, we had a nice yummy breakfast buffet in our hotel (Spa Hotel Casino) to start off the day!
It wasn't too big a spread, but it was still pretty good!
It was a really bright and sunny day, and you know what that means; great pictures!
I still couldn't get over how gorgeous the view was! Look at that almost perfect reflection in the lake! Absolutely breathtaking 😍
If you missed the last post, our hotel was across a lake and we had to cross a bridge to get to and from the city. Personally I didn't mind because I got to enjoy this spectacular view!
Anyway, since Savonlinna isn't that big of a city, we decided we could basically walk from our hotel to the castle, to avoid the hassle of finding buses and stuff. It was only about 1.3 kilometers away, and the walk would give us a chance to explore the city even more!
Capture courtesy of Google Maps
When we got to the city square, we saw that there was a weekend market going on!
Look at the cute doggy just sitting and observing
There was a strawberry stall that looked like a strawberry! 🍓
There were quite a few stalls selling all sorts of knick-knacks, like clothes and potted plants
And wooden crafts as well! They were probably handmade and looked really well done!
Savonlinna is truly located within the heart of Lake Saimaa; I loved how we were literally walking beside the lake itself.
There were various boats docked there that gave boat tours around the lake.
That view though, just wow! My favourite colour is blue btw, so I absolutely love views like this.
Unsurprisingly, Savonlinna offers services for quite a few water sports as well. I think many tourists like to go canoeing and kayaking on the lake. It definitely seems like a relaxing past-time (unless you have a phobia of water of course).
We saw some people on a jet-ski; it looked pretty cool!
We decided to take the scenic route beside the lake; to enjoy the view and in case we got lost on the city roads.
This reminds me of the canoe that Ron Swanson/Nick Offerman made!
We came across a children's playground which was modelled after a ship!
It even had a sandbox! Man I haven't seen those in a long time.
There was a small 'beach' that some kids were playing in too! The water looked pretty clean but we were wearing shoes so oh well.
On the way to the castle, we saw some wildlife!
GEEEEEEEEEEESE!!
Before long, we finally got to the bridge that connected to the island the castle was on.
It looked pretty grand up close, and definitely worthy to be called a fortress.
We're here!
So just a little background info here; Olavinlinna (literally Olaf's Castle in Swedish) is a 15th-century three-tower castle located in Savonlinna, Finland. It is the northernmost medieval stone fortress still standing. The castle is built on an island in the Kyrönsalmi strait that connects two lakes - Haukivesi and Pihlajavesi.
I'm not too familiar with the history behind Olavinlinna, but from what I've read, it was founded in 1475 under the name Sankt Olofsborg and fully completed in 1495. It was the first Swedish castle with thickset circular towers that could withstand cannon fire. It was also purposefully build around a network of waterways and lakes to impede Russian invasion during the First and Second Russian-Swedish wars.
The surrounding view of the castle was really pretty and peaceful. I'm so thankful for the sunny weather even though it was a little hot.
After crossing the moat to the castle, we finally reached the entrance! It was surprisingly empty; we were one of the few people there. Maybe it wasn't the right season for tours? I know there are tours though, so if you intend to visit, be sure to check when the timings are before heading down.
Entering the castle!
The main entryway had several paths to choose from; it reminded me of Hyrule Castle. 😄
In the first room, we found an exhibition of sorts, where the history of the castle was showcased, together with some artifacts and tapestries.
There was even a mini theatre room with a TV showing a short documentary/movie that was filmed here, reenacting some scenes from the Russian war, I imagine.
We didn't realise how tired we were until we sat down! The room was surprisingly cooling as well so we took a break while watching the short film (and coming up with ridiculous dubs for the characters 😆).
After a short break, we decided to walk on and explore more of the castle!
We got to what I assume is the second floor balcony, but it was kinda hot out and there wasn't much to see so we decided to head back.
We found the gift shop!
So there are some other areas you can access upstairs from the gift shop, like the Conference Hall, King's Hall, and Chapel, but you'd need a ticket to go to those places (which is 10 euros for adults). We figured they'd mostly look the same; with the cobblestone walls and stuff, and we were getting tired of walking so we didn't bother.
The gift shop had all sorts of knick-knacks and toys and stuff.
We found a really steep staircase that was leading up to some mysterious place.
Turns out it was the castle restaurant!
After that, we had pretty much fully explored the castle and decided to head out.
After taking a couple more photos we decided to walk around and see what else was nearby. But you'll have to see it in the next post because this is getting too long!
Sorry for the cliffhanger! Thanks for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://tacocat.steemblogs.club/2019/06/21/tacocats-travels-finland-25-loafing-around-st-olafs-castle-%f0%9f%8f%b0/
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Thanks so much @smeralda @travelfeed for the upvote and resteem! 😊
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Of course!!! We loved your post!
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