Tuesday, July 07, 2015

Island hopping, Nagu and Korpoo

 Its great if you have a group and you can bike round most of the Turku archipelago. There are numerous islands here and some are bigger and better known. But it is possible to check out a few without your own car or bike. There is a bus that leaves every 2 hours from the long distance bus station in Turku and it stops at a few of them and if you are fast you can visit at least 2 of them in a day which was what I did today. First stop was Nagu. It is small and very pretty. There are lots of ferries leaving from here for other islands.
 I arrived and had to have 'fika', walked into this cafe and the smell of cinnamon was so inviting.

 This place sells freshly smoked salmon. The kids of the gentleman minds the store and sells the fish while he is out back smoking.
 The smoke house in the back.

 I told you its very pretty but very small.
 There is a church in Nagu which had some really beautiful frescoes albeit very faded. It didn't take away its beauty at all. I need to check out how old these are.

 Tackork was a banker in Helsinki before she quit and came to farm in Nagu. Today she has her farm stands in the middle of Nagu. She was featured in a recent copy of Lonely Planet magazine. That's how I decided to do this trip.
 These are some kind of arctic berries that resembles the blueberry but has more acid content and therefor not as sweet. It grows in Siberia. I guess in Nagu the climate almost resembles that of Siberia and you can forage them  here. I did get to taste one.
 There are not always roads or bridges. So when the road or bridge is non existent, these pontoon like ferries take over. They haul everything you can fit into them. They criss cross the waterways non stop. Its fascinating and amazing. I've never seen anything like it. I have new respect for the Finns.
The other island I went to was Korpoo. It was so small that all I did was take pictures of these foxgloves growing in the wild. I did have a buffet lunch at the only cafe in town. It rained last night and that was the first time I didn't see the sun. Its been raining on and off all day long. I'm back now and I see it is pouring out there.

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