The Suomenlinna sea fortress, located on a cluster of islands off the coast of Helsinki, Finland, was founded in 1748. At this time Finland was still part of the Kingdom of Sweden. Later on, in the 19th century, these islands became part of Russian rule and the huge cannons facing west are a memory of that time.

Today, Suomenlinna is home to about 800 Finish residents who do a great job of restoring and maintaining the Fortress. It was named to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1991 as a means of preserving a unique piece of military architecture of its era!

• One thing that makes the Suomenlinna Fortress extra interesting is that it has played a role in defending three states: Sweden, Russia and Finland.

• They look like hobbit houses to me..

About a 20 minute ferry-ride from Helsinki, the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress is a must visit spot if you’re close by. It takes about two to three hours to fully explore and ferries returning back to Helsinki leave every 20-40 minutes. I’ve been to a lot of these old Fortresses during my trip and this has to be one of the more impressive ones! Having residents actually living on the island also adds to the culture of Suomenlinna!