Leaving Karis in southwestern Finland for Villmanstrand in the east
A walk on the hills in Villmansrand (Lappeenranta)
Pokrova Church at the fortress (oldest orthodox church in Finland, from 1782-1785)
Sandcastle tourist attraction in Villmanstrand
Sandcastle
Our ship to Vyborg
Saimaa canal, commercial traffic between lake Saimaa (Finland's largest and Europe's 4th largest lake) and the Gulf of Finland/Baltic Sea
First lock
Passing the lock
Considerable height
Different waterways
Mustola lock (the second of the three on the Finnish part)
Leaving Mustola lock
Arriving at Nuijamaanjärvi
Passing lake Nuijamaanjärvi, crossing the border to Russia
Tsvetochnoye lock, one of five in Russian part
Arriving at Vyborg, the castle is seen
Vyborg nice castle, from the Swedish time (construction started 1293)
Took some time to pass the border control
Round Tower, built between 1547-1550 by the order of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa. Former town hall, now a restaurant.
Inscription inside the Round Tower from Pehr Brahes visit 1638
Old Town Hall square
The Old Town Hall and statue of Torkel Knutson (Ruler of Sweden, conquered parts of Karelia and founded Vyborg in 1293)
Some older buildings
Renovation of the city is going on
Saints Peter and Paul Lutheran Church
Transfiguration Cathedral (Russian Orthodox)
Above the entrance
Inside
One of the nice houses (post and bank)
Culture House
Vyborg library, designed by the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto 1927-1935 (when Vyborg belonged to Finland)
Moose statue close to the library
Vyborg castle in late evening
Vyborg castle from the heights of the old city
Vyborg castle
Inside the castle
View from the hotel (to the right) towards the castle
Monrepos park, Temple of Neptune
Ideas for the Monrepos park restoration (English landscape park)
Walk in the Monrepos park outside Vyborg. Nice park, but restorations were going on as seen
Temple of Neptune
Ludwigsburg mausoleum of Baron Nicolay
Camilla with crown
Statue and hotel Druzhba
Hotel Druzhba and Viking ships
The train station
Inside the train station, a procedure to pass through to the train
The Allegro speed train St Petersburg - Helsinki
Arriving at Helsinki train station for changing to other trains and later taxi
