ÅLAND ISLANDS
ÅLAND ISLANDS
FINLAND TOURS
Day 1
STOCKHOLM
- flight to Stockholm
- transfer from the airport to the centre
- stroll through the Norrmalm district
- lunch
- sightseeing of Gamla Stan (Old Town)
- Vasa Museum on the Djurgården island
- cruise to the Åland Islands
- dinner
Lunch in the Old Town
VASA
On Sunday 10 August 1628 Vasa lay rigged and ready for sea just below the Tre Kronor royal palace. Ballast, guns and ammunition were all on board. For the first few hundred meters Vasa was warped along the waterfront with cables from the shore. The ship did not begin to sail until she reached what is now Slussen. Sailors climbed the rigging to set four of Vasa’s ten sails. A salute was fired and Vasa slowly began her maiden voyage. Once Vasa came out from under the lee of the Södermalm cliffs, the sails could catch the wind, but the ship was tender and heeled over to port, then heeled again, even farther. Water rushed in through the open gunports and the ship’s fate was decided. Vasa sank after having sailed barely 1300 meters. The crew threw themselves into the water or clung to the rigging until rescued, but not all managed to save themselves. The exact loss numbers recalled by the eyewitnesses differ, but perhaps 30 of approximately 150 people on board died. Vasa was lifted from the sea after 333 years.
It is the only one original seventeenth-century ship in the world that has survived until today.
www.vasamuseet.se
MÅRTEN TROTZIGS GRÄND – THE NARROWEST STREET IN STOCKHOLM
The small and steep alley connects some busy streets in the Old Town. Children from school on Prästgatan street are eager to walk there – after 36 steps downstairs they can turn up in one of popular pastry shops on Västerlånggatan Street. But beware! The alley is only 90 cm wide! The name of the street comes from a German merchant who was the owner of many houses in the area in the sixteenth century.
YOU SHOULD TRY!
DALARÖMACKAN
a treat prepared only in some restaurants in Norrmalm – Stockholm northern centre. A sandwich made of rye bread, bloater, whitefish caviar paste, egg yolk, chives and red onion called ‘Red Baron’. Dalarö is a small island in the Stockholm Archipelago where smoked herring to sandwiches comes from.
photo: www.mynewsdesk.com
Cruise from Stockholm to Mariehamn
accommodation in 2-berth cabins
dinner
disco
live music
shopping
breakfast
Day 2
ÅLAND ISLANDS
- breakfast on-board
- arrival in Mariehamn
- stroll through the city
- sightseeing of the Pommern ship
- sightseeing of the Sjökvarteret district
- lunch
- cycling trip
or
- leisure time
- back to the ferry terminal
- cruise to Helsinki
- dinner
Lunch at the Old Shipyard
ÅLAND ISLANDS
Åland Islands belong to Finland since the fall of the Russian Empire, although all the dwellers are totally Swedish-speaking. 28 thousand people live on more than 6 thousand rocky islands between the main basin of the Baltic Sea and its northern firth – Gulf of Bothnia. Almost half of them live in the capital – Mariehamn.
MARIEHAMN
The capital of the Åland Islands owes its name (literally Maria’s Port) to wife of Tsar Alexander II – Empress Maria Aleksandrovna, patron of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Population of Mariehamn is a little bit over 11 thousand people.
SJÖKVARTET
Sjökvarteret – a district in the old shipyard area where wooden boats were built.
DID YOU KNOW?
The oldest beer in the world is produced in Åland.
In the summer of 2010, among many other things, five bottles of beer were excavated from the wreckage of a ship that sank in 1840 in the Åland archipelago near the Föglö Island. As a result of this discovery exciting for beer lovers, Åland brewery Stallhagen decided to reconstruct the recipe of the found beer. In this way Stallhagen Historic Beer 1842 come into being and at once became one of the most desired brand among gourmet lovers from around the world.
Cruise from Mariehamn to Helsinki
accommodation in 2-berth cabins
dinner
disco
live music
shopping
breakfast
YOU SHOULD TRY!
ÅLAND PANCAKES
served with prune jam and whipped cream
photo: Vastavalo / Minna Suhonen / VisitFinland
Day 3
HELSINKI
- breakfast on-board
- arrival in Helsinki
- guided tour of Helsinki:
– Senate Square
– Helsinki Cathedral
– Art Nouveau train station
– Market Square
- lunch
- exploring the city continued:
– Chapel of Silence in the Kampi district
– Temppeliaukion Church
– monument of Sibelius
– Olympic Stadium
- dinner
- transfer to the airport and return to Poland
Lunch
Lapland cuisine – reindeer dishes
Dinner
Karelia cuisine in the old pharmacy
TEMPPELIAUKIO CHURCH
The church that is hollowed in the rock. Only the copper dome is visible outside. It is elevated above a circle of stone blocks. The church is one of the most visited buildings in Finland. It is also the subject of many foreign architecture publications.
SIBELIUS
The most famous Finnish composer. The creator of the Finnish national style in music. His most famous masterpiece – Finland, awoke patriotic feelings of Finns when the country was under the rule of the Russian Empire. Even though the composer was born in a Swedish speaking family, his services for Finnish culture can not be overestimated. Music of Sibelius is known and recognized all around the world. Sibelius is especially loved by the Japanese, you cannot help noticing it watching his statue in Helsinki…
DID YOU KNOW?
Finnish as well as Estonian, Hungarian and Basque are the only European languages that are not members of the Indo-European language family. Although Finland is commonly associated with Scandinavia – it is not formally classified as a part of Scandinavia. Nevertheless the ties between Finland and Scandinavian countries are very strong – both economic and cultural. Few people also know that this nowadays rich country with an excellent social welfare was very undeveloped and poor as far back as the early nineteenth century.
from 685 € per person*
*for groups of 40 persons. The price includes flights from Gdansk to Stockholm and from Helsinki to Gdansk, cruises to Mariehamn and Helsinki with accommodation in a double cabin, meals on-board and ashore, transfers, admissions to attractions, guide assistance, bike trip.
The programme is addressed to groups from 10 to 40 people
The above offer is intended as information and does not constitute a commercial offer within the meaning of article 66 § 1 of the Polish Civil Code and other relevant legal provisions.
Legend
- hotel
- ferry or ship cruise
- horse riding
- knowledge
- shopping
- bus transfer
- canoeing rally
- monuments
- art
- attractions for kids
- meals
- amusement park
- workshop or team building
- car
- plane
- bike trips
- swimming pool
- active
- relax
- fishing
- walking tour
- diving
- nature
- spa
- nature study
- RIB
- narrow-gauge railway
- surf
- adventure park
- bungee jumping
- go-karts
- golf
- off-roading
- zip-line
- shotting range or paintball
- quads