midnightsun

That’s all. Just the best. Most excellent music, serious world-class acts (especially if you see the world beyond the US – the German electronic scene lives here, and just last month I saw Tetine, a great Brazilian grime? electroclash? crazy bad), great relaxed safe homey atmosphere – no nasty meatmarket. I go here alone all the time (because I am less lame than my friends who are employed) and it’s fun.

Get a bike, wake up early, get off the beaten tourist track and find silence in empty temples – it is there.

One of the purest Medieval/Renaissance (inner) cities I’ve ever seen – excellently restored, brightly painted, and full of drunk Finnish tourists. The ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn is an experience in itself.

This area is dotted with limestone crags, steep crazy mountains with sheer drops down to the rich red-soiled land below. Lush and georgeous.

Find the tea shop/cafe clinging to the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean, north-west of the Medina. They have a parcheesi set.

The modern art rooms, hidden on the top floor, are worth finding.

Take a bike and a sleeping bag and go ferry hopping in the summer… There’s a cottage on top of the largest hill where you can sleep overnight for free, with a georgeous 360 view of islands and ocean.

I spent a semester in Helsinki – came when it was dark and cold, had to leave once it finally became light and beautiful. Someday I’ll go back and learn suomi properly.