Today I was taking an hour long bus ride out to the historic wharf town of Porvoo. I had about an hour to kill since I got there extra early to find the bus so was exploring the vast bus terminal and shopping centre.

Beneath was the metro which you were free to enter without a ticket. It was interesting cave architecture and also had deep escalators which I thought I had escaped in St Petersburg.

The bus was a double decker one and I was hoping to get the top seat for the view. Then a large Spanish school group showed up so I started waiting in line even though it was still 20 mins. When they let us in an older granny bolted as fast as she could to the front seat, I never saw anyone move so fast.

On the bus a guide was explaining the history to the Spanish groups teacher so I got to hear the whole story. This is the 2nd oldest city. Christianity was brought by Sweden who ruled for 600 years. Swedish wars with Russia were fought in Finland. The town was also burnt down 200 years ago.

Russian rule began in 1880. They moved the west coast capital from Turku to inland Helsinki for fear of Swedish attack. Swedish is an official language and all signs are bilingual in Finnish and Swedish. The Swedish is easier to make out being closer to English but the Finnish I couldn't decipher as its a completely separate language family.

In 1917 during the Russian revolution Finland declared itself independent but lost its eastern province of Karelia. The border with Russia used to be 20kms from St Petersburg.

Communists ran for elections in Finland but never won enough votes to form the government. During the cold war the media was always neutral so as not to provoke its mighty neighbour.

They have joined the EU but Sweden and Finland are not part of Nato. There is currently a debate if they should as they don't want to create a situation like Ukraine and anger Russia. They will join together if Sweden does.

The old wharf was very easy to find as the bus drove past it and the terminal is a few blocks back. I also had an internet map.

The painted wood homes were similar to the Gamla Towns in Norway's Bergen and Stavanger I had visited last Oct. There is also a large Cathedral at the peak of the old quarter.

The town hall and adjacent buildings are a museum which didn't open till noon. Ticket to both was 8 Eu ($11). No photos were allowed but as usual in low season I was the only one there and the attendants sat chatting by the entrance.

You had to wear shoe slippers to protect the wood floor and some rooms were crooked in architecture.

My return bus ticket was for 2pm so I tried to see if I could get 1pm bus but there wasn't one. I went to the burger restaurant Hessburger for some lunch which cost 7.95 Eu ($12). The bus did another drive by the old wharf as we left town.