The King's Gate
The ceremonial sea entrance — 1754.
Michal Pise, Michal.Pise — CC BY 2.0 · John Samuel — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Игорь Гордеев — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kansallisarkisto — CC BY 2.0
The main route is paved but ramparts and tunnels are steps and gravel; a pram reaches the cafés and main museum easily.
Cafés and restaurants in the barracks near the main pier and a summer bakery; or bring a picnic — the meadows are open.
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A fortress on six islands: Suomenlinna was built by the Swedes from 1748 to protect Helsinki from Russia, taken by the Russians in 1808 and inherited by Finland in 1918 — the world's largest sea fortress and a UNESCO site, a home to eight hundred residents, and a fifteen-minute ferry ride from Market Square on an ordinary transit ticket. The islands are walked on a marked blue route past ramparts, tunnels, old cannon and the King's Gate, the Second World War submarine Vesikko, and six small museums led by the fortress museum with its historical film — between them meadows, rocky shores and cafés in old barracks where Helsinki spends whole summer days. Half a day at least, a full day with a picnic. Winter turns it white and silent with the ferry breaking ice, a sight in itself.
The ceremonial sea entrance — 1754.
From the Second World War, entered in summer.
Cannon over the open sea.
Suomenlinna, Helsinki