Savonlinna – 5 July 2018

Today is very overcast with rain forecast and much cooler than the past few days.  We drive into the town of Savonlinna as where we are staying is on the outskirts.  We visit Olavinlinna Castle where they are setting up for an Opera festival that opens tomorrow.  The castle is in very good condition and it’s set right on Saimaa Lake which is a fishing port.

We do a guided tour of the castle and there is a large group of Australians on the same tour and you wouldn’t believe it one of them is Kay’s Dermatologist, who is Finnish (from Oulu) and told us to visit Savonlinna!

As we wander around we notice that most of the restaurant’s menus are in 3 languages, Finish, English & Russian as we are closer to St. Petersburg here than to Helsinki and this town is popular with Russian tourists.

In the afternoon we take a drive to Punkaharju which takes us through wonderful forests and we end up on an isthmus surrounded by water.  It’s a shame that it’s raining as visibility is somewhat reduced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have dinner in a fabulous restaurant that serves yummy local cuisine.  One of the dishes comes in a sealed tin (like a sardine can) that has smoked moose in it.  There’s quite a bit of theatre around the opening of the can!

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