Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden, Helsinki, Finland

Last week I wrote about the heatwave that hit much of Europe in June; click here to read that post. Thankfully for us, we flew back to Helsinki for our flight home several days before it released its relentless grip on much of France. We arrived in Helsinki to a comfortable 75F, (23.8C) and the locals complaining about the heatwave.

We had two more days before heading home, and since we can’t resist a garden, we visited Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden. This gorgeous garden is part of the University of Helsinki Botanical Garden covering 12 acres (4.9 hectares).

The garden was established in 1678 in Turku, which is 105 miles (167 km) from Helsinki. It was used mostly as a place to grow medicinal items for the local medial school, The Academy of Turku. However, in 1827 a fire destroyed much of the city, along with the garden, thus the decision was made to move the academy to Helsinki, which had recently become the capital. The surviving plants were transported to the capital, and re-planted in an area that was used as public grazing land.

Today it is a lush, verdant paradise and a delightful place to explore. It has 10 greenhouses with a wide variety of plants from around the globe. Unfortunately, they were closed on the day we visited.

The first greenhouses were made of wood and added in 1832. The wood structures didn’t survive well in the harsh, Finnish weather, so eventually they were replaced with the iron and glass structures seen in these photos.

We spent all morning here just wandering along the pathways, enjoying the glorious aromas of the plants and the tranquil setting. The garden was mostly empty since the weather was too hot for many of the locals.

The garden is free to visit, but the greenhouses have an admission fee; click here for additional information.

We were quite hungry and ready for lunch after our visit, so we strolled towards our hotel and enjoyed a pintxos lunch at Deliberi.

Be sure to take this warning seriously; the gulls are aggressive!!

Check out theTravelsketcher’s recent post to read about our current activities.

What do you think of the garden? Have you visited? As always, I would love to hear from you, so leave a comment if you’d like.

Wishing you grand adventures,

Tricia