The Finnish Grand Tour summer 2021
It’s finally summer! And your humble Poster Hunter has once again managed to combine his two favorite activities: traveling in Finland and collecting classic travel posters. So join the expedition now!
Let’s start on the west coast of Finland, in the medieval city of Raumo. The poster hunter is like everyone else: he has been blind to all the beauty that is nearby. So he blushes with delight and pride as he reads UNESCO’s motivations about why the city is on the World Heritage List. And the hunter finally understands: With its mysterious alleys and picturesque wooden houses, Raumo is completely out of this world
And when the Poster Hunter then gently flips through his poster collection, he is filled with great respect for the city where crafts and traditions always have been guiding stars. You see, about a year ago, he was contacted by a hunting colleague from the town of Kemi up north. This local hunter had spotted a rustic Rauma poster on a secluded wall. A poster that the Poster Hunter never had seen before! The artist was Olavi Jalkanen and in the artwork Rauma’s pride, the distinctive Finnish dialect, really comes into play.
The hunt ended happily: now the poster is finally available to everyone – also to you!
Naantali … 1926! © SLS / Bernhard Åström CC BY 4.0
After this dose of culture, the Poster Hunter suitably steers his way to the playful town of Naantali in the southwest. The town where you on the same day can soak up the sun by the sea, meet the Moomins or the President of Finland and admire the medieval Monastery Church.
The poster hunter has – of course – a Naantali triumph card in his back pocket: a poster from the happy 1930s that he got his hands on a few years ago. Ninety years ago the town was called The sun town, and the Poster Hunter daydreams that he could stand up there on the top of Kuparivuori together with the tourist couple on the poster.
The poster hunter has – of course – a Naantali triumph card in his back pocket
Then the hunter realizes that he actually (almost) can: He has the poster and he has adventure on his mind. Naantali is his paradise! And this paradise can be yours too.
But what now? The poster hunter hears a competing shout: “Welcome to our sun city“. So he moves on east along the coast and suddenly he lies on the smoothest of cliffs and reflects on the fact that it is here in Hanko that Finland’s travel history begins. Over a hundred years ago, the steamships arrived here, in winter, from Germany and England. And it was from here that hundreds of thousands of Finns and Russians emigrated to America.
Yes, when the Poster Hunter sunbathes in Hanko, he lyrically thinks about all the classic travel posters from the sunny city he has collected over the years. So while scraping grains of sand between his toes on the Casino Beach, he also pays tribute to all the contemporary international artists who have given new life to poster art. Who captured the modern Hanko in their posters.
And there and then the hunter slumbers on the beach. He is calm and harmonious. He knows that his Finnish grand tour in the summer of 2021 – Raumo, Naantali and Hanko – will survive even in the darkest autumn night.
He just needs to take a look at his darlings, his posters, and he can continue daydreaming and resting.
Magnus Londen, Poster Hunter@Come to Finland