Since we moved here in Finland, we’ve been wanting to be able to always allot some time to go around and visit the places our colleagues have been telling us. Of course we don’t just want to visit those that are popular to tourists. We also want to really explore as we know there are a lot of good places to see here depending on the season. One of our collegues recommended this place which happened to be near our apartment – Seurasaari Island. It’s an island with an open-air museum. It is surrounded by waters and has a lot of trees and ponds in it. A perfect place for walking and some fresh air.
From our apartment, we need to take a bus for 3 mins and then walk for 15mins from the bus stop to the island. I believe there’s also a bus that can take people closer to the island so they don’t need to walk for a long time but it’s out of our way so we took the one that’s most comfortable for us.
On the way to the island
Even before getting to the island, we’ve already seen really nice spots where people can also go for a coffee, an ice cream or for merely sight seeing.
Before getting to the island, we have to cross a really long white bridge. People can’t take bicycles starting from the bridge to the island so they have to leave their bikes before crossing. A lot of people here and even foreigners really like walking and sight-seeing. We walk with them under the bright, hot sun.
The open-air museum
If you want to really maximize your stay here, you need to pay from 3€ to 10€ for the tickets depending on your age and current season. You’ll use the ticket to enter the buildings (merely old houses) situated around the area. Prices and opening hours are found here.
The manors and cottages found inside the island are believed to be the Finnish traditional way of living. We didn’t go inside the cottages as we wanted to go around and see not only the museum itself but also to experience the whole surrounding. I think you can also enjoy the place without really going inside each old house. But if you are really after them, it’s a good idea to pay for the entrance fee. There are people who will assist you inside each building and they even wear costumes. How cool is that.
While looking around, we noticed that their traditional living isn’t very far away from what we have in our country. Or maybe it’s quite the same for other parts of the world. It is really nice to see how people then managed to build their houses using simply what they can see around.
Finding a place to eat
Since we decided to go there in the morning, we already packed our lunch beforehand. Yes, you can eat there and have a picnic. Even though there’s a cafe inside the island, a lot of people prefer to bring their own food to enjoy with family and friends. There’s also a place dedicated for grilling and barbecuing but since we didn’t need to cook our food, we just looked for a quiet place to sit down and eat. Pictures below are our view while eating. 🙂
It’s amazing how they allow people to eat anywhere yet we couldn’t see a single trash around. I also didn’t see any cleaner but there are indeed trash cans everywhere. We stayed here for around an hour to eat and enjoy the view. We even saw a really big goose swimming around. It’s still hot when we’re eating but the wind was refreshing. It was a great time.
Going around
After eating, we just spent the time going around, enjoying the view and taking pictures. We saw some other historic things around. Some of them are really old but still standing. I am not really fond of world history but it’s amazing how people are able to preserve things from the past and for us to see them now. These things have witnessed a lot of events that happened way before and still here with us.
Even though this place is a museum and full of old but historic things, our little boy still enjoyed going around. He liked that he’s able to run freely, see some ducks, birds, trees and ponds. We also saw some other kids playing around with their families. Some of them were even swimming in the sea.
The trees and the waters here are really amazing that we couldn’t get enough of it. This place might not attract a lot of foreigners compared to other tourist attractions here but this is definitely a nice place to always go to if you’re looking for a quiet and peaceful time for yourself, family and friends. We’ve seen some solo travellers around the corner of the island reading or sleeping, old men and women walking around to exercise, couples taking a dip in the water and group of friends grilling and having some fun. It’s a place for everybody. I hope there are a lot of this place in different countries.
We had a great time as a family. We talked, laughed and enjoyed the things we saw around. We were able to exercise, too (LOL). It took us around 6 long hours to walk around with stops and rests. It’s tiring but in this kind of place, with your family, it’s always worth it.
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