Today was my trip to Ekenäs, a town of 15.000 in the south of Finland. It was less than eighty minutes from Helsinki by train. My habit is that if I don’t write about my travels on the same day when I experience them, I probably won’t write about them (even when I say in my blog that I will). So I embark on this post at 23.45 on Friday evening back in Helsinki. I am now so tired after all the walking I did. I was on my feet from just before 10.00 when I arrived till a little after 18.00 when I caught the train back. This is the train station:

The Finnish name for the town is Tammisaari, yet here Swedish, the second official language of Finland, is in the majority (over 80%) so all signs have Swedish first:

However, I did see that the mailboxes still had the Finnish first with Tyhjennetään/Töms (indicating the time they were emptied). The highlight of Ekenäs is its Gamla Stan, or old town. Wooden houses painted in light colours were the stars of the old town:

The old water tower:

Ekenäs kyrka:

Swans loved swimming in Stadsfjärden. I could only focus on one:

And various other photos from Ekenäs:

I could eat a horse…and just did. In Finland you find not only reindeer coldcuts but also horse. I have never felt it a culinary sin to eat horse. I used to buy reindeer meat all the time when I lived in Helsinki during the summer of 2000, and remembered seeing horse coldcuts in the stores as well. I decided to get some on this trip. The cuts were dark and very lean. No overtly gamy taste as one might expect with a dark meat. It’s too bad I cannot bring any of it back, as I dare not pack any meat product unless it’s in a can.