When I left for shopping in the city this morning, I packed my camera – just in case. The weather was just too good not to, with the sun shining at a temperature of crisp -18°C (felt -24°C). Following a gut feeling, I ambled towards theh sea, as I thought I might be able to catch some good shots there. But the sight that awaited there, I couldn’t have dreamt up: Thick wafts of mist were rising from the water, on which thin sheets of ice floated, and further out the islands off the coast were peeking through the fog. As the ferry to Suomenlinna was just arriving, I decided spontaneously to take a little outing to there.

Suomenlinna (literally “Finnish Castle”) is a fortress on several islands just outside of Helsinki’s harbour, and is a listed UNESCO World Heritage site. In winter, you can reach there hourly on a 20 minute ferry ride. The islands themselves and their sights have to be explored on foot. With today’s temperatures, I was particularly happy to see that there were two information centres, in which I could partially defrost. As this was just a short photography walk, I will only post some pictures of Suomenlinna today, historical bits will follow at a later point.