Lovely Porvoo

East of Helsinki is the small city of Porvoo located on a river bearing the same name.

The city is a history of Finland in miniature. On the hill top over looking the river is a well preserved  Iron Age fort. The resemblance to Maori pa is striking with a deep defensive ditch surrounding the flattened hill top. Like pa the forts were all constructed from wood and enclosed by stout palisading, all long rotten away.



Porvoo old town is centred on the both the church and down hill the town hall. Lovely old wooden houses dating back to the 18th century line the narrowed winding cobbled streets.Around the town hall are more substantial merchants houses and the river banks lined with old warehouses.

Adjoining the old town is the Empire District with more substantial public buildings from the Russian period. It was in Porvoo where Tsar Alexander I met for two months with Finnish leaders in 1807 to hammer out the terms of autonomy for Finland following the defeat of Sweden. Finland retained all its freedoms with the exception of foreign affairs.

Wealthy folk from St Petersburg had summer houses here including the Romanovs who frequently came to Porvoo.

Both the films Doctor Zhivago and Gorky Park were filmed in Finland.