This location in Finland offers travelers an interesting blend of culture, cuisine, and international appeal all in one convenient package.

According to the results of my unscientific survey, not many individuals are familiar with Turku or have even heard of the city. Players of the crossword puzzle "residents of Turku" might have came across a five-letter gap when attempting to solve it (answer: Finns). Even many people who were born and raised in Finland are only vaguely familiar with the city that is located on the southwestern coast of the country. Because of its location, it is sometimes referred to as the rear of Finland, and I will try to phrase this in the most diplomatic way possible.

There's more to the joke than just the location, so relax. The city of Turku is Finland's oldest and was formerly the country's capital. However, in 1812, not long after Russia took control of Finland from Sweden as a result of the Finnish War, Turku was demoted to the status of a provincial capital and lost the reputation that came along with it. As stated by Jonathan Clements in "An Armchair Traveller's History of Finland," Turku has "seethed in snobbish animosity ever since the Russians relocated all the activity to that glorified army camp, Helsinki," since since the relocation of all the action to Helsinki by the Russians. An out-of-control house fire added insult to injury in 1827, when the majority of the city, which had been Finland's largest at the time, was destroyed in a fire that had started in one of the homes.

But, in modern times the residents of Turku are proudly tooting their own horn – at least to the extent that the normally modest Finns are able to do so. The local tourism office has launched a campaign called "Kiss My Turku," which is a clever response to the anatomical nickname given to the city. A decade ago, it was given the title of European City of Culture, which sparked a rush of civic enthusiasm and development, particularly along the once-quiet Aura River, which cuts through the middle of the town and is now bordered by throbbing walkways and wonderful restaurants. One of the reasons that Turku has been called "the Paris of Finland" is because the city has an atmosphere similar to that of the Seine. Because of the pandemic, the producers of a recent film about Tove Jansson, the author of the well-known Moomin books, were unable to shoot scenes in the capital of France, so they turned to Turku as a stand-in.

Late in the month of June, when it was getting close to the middle of summer, or what the Finns call Juhannuspaiva, my wife and daughter and I travelled to the city. The plan was to spend a few days exploring Turku before making the short journey southwest to the archipelago that shares the same name. The Turku Archipelago is a massive chain of over 20,000 islands that stretches nearly all the way to Sweden.

The arrival of summer in Finland is like an instigation to delirium. Following many, many months of darkness caused by winter, Finns are unexpectedly hit with bright, relatively warm days and "nightless nights." As people strive to take advantage of this summer solstice's full fullness, there is a palpable sense of frenzied energy in the air. (The people of Finland are known for their dark sense of humour, and they like to quip that summer in Finland is beautiful because it "barely snows.") While we took a stroll along the Aura River in Turku, we noticed that the summer binge was in full swing there. It was getting close to 10 o'clock on a weekday, but on the opposite side, arrayed on grassy slopes, were hundreds of people who were either eating, drinking, speaking, or otherwise bathing in the late evening light. They looked like transparent cave lizards emerging for a much-needed bask.

#colorful Copenhagen🇩🇰.. always a beautiful place to escape... remember to visit a scandinavian city in yourtime pic.twitter.com/RtPppOMK6p

— moment by Jorun (@JAG29789195) May 28, 2022

After only a few days, I had the impression that Turku was the embodiment of my Platonic ideal of a modest and underestimated European city that was devoid of crowds of tourists. It features a large number of excellent dining establishments, such as the New Nordic pioneer Smor and the Michelin-starred Kaskis. We stayed at the Hotel Kakola, which is located on the grounds of a jail that was built in the 19th century. The hotel is known for its unique rooms. And it has some fascinating museums, such as the Aboa Vetus Ars Nova, which is situated on the site of an archaeological dig and gives a history of the city's underground past when it was a thriving commercial hub of the Swedish empire. At the Turku Art Museum, which is a handsome granite mansion at the top of Puolalanmaki hill, we viewed an exhibition of work by such underappreciated Finnish women artists as Helene Schjerfbeck, who has been called "Finland's Munch." Among the other artists featured in the exhibition was Mikael Aaltonen, who is known as "Finland's Picasso."

The skyline of Turku is dominated by traditional European architecture. The fire that occurred 500 years after the cathedral was erected in the 13th century caused significant damage to the cathedral, which has subsequently been repaired with sensitivity. Exhibits at Turku Castle, which is the greatest mediaeval edifice in Finland that has survived to the present day, document the complicated history of the country. When I brought my kid to a tree-canopy ropes course called Flowpark in the distant reaches of town, we navigated there safely on e-scooters thanks to the region's outstanding network of bike routes. The city is also highly walkable.

The term "the food capital of Finland" is frequently applied to Turku, which suggests a natural competition with Helsinki. Turo Jokinen informed me one afternoon when I was sipping smoked-salmon soup at an excellent riverfront dining room that "it is not the food capital." Jokinen, who was born and raised in Turku but most recently worked in finance in Helsinki, is the proprietor of the restaurant Oobu. I continued to challenge him, saying, "Maybe on a per capita basis?" He loudly exclaimed, "Yes!" "Per capita, yeah!"

That morning, we were given our first taste of Finnish cuisine in the Turku Market Hall, a vaulted brick edifice dating back to the 19th century that is located in the heart of the city. At Herkkunuotta, a fish shop inside the hall with a tiny lunch counter, chef-owner Johan Hellsten filled us with the typical Finnish delicacies such as pickled Baltic herring. He also served us cold-smoked pike roe, which is a specialty of Hellsten's, as well as dense, malty "archipelago bread." It is developed to offer sustenance throughout the harsh winters in Finland, just like many other foods in that country.

It is estimated that 90 percent of Finland is covered by forest and sea, and the cuisine is said to reflect that fact. Dishes include tangy spruce shoots, gobs of dill and licorice, sturdy rhubarb and parsnips, and fish such as perch and pike, which are all salty and smoky (Finns have been known to cook in the sauna). And let us not forget the lowly new potato, or "virgin potato" as they are referred as in Finland. As a genuine herald of summer, it was revelling in its ephemeral seasonality while we were there, as we found out one afternoon when we attended the 10th edition of Turku's Virgin Potato Festival, which was held at a local brewery. The festival was celebrating its 10th year. A joke was made by Mari Sandell, an organiser, who asked if everyone had heard that people in Finland eat a lot of potatoes. We tasted a variety of new potatoes, some of which were served with beef brisket, under the direction of Sandell, a sensory scientist who works at the University of Turku. Among the new potatoes we tried were those that were offered at a barbecue place. The chef characterised it as “a type of voyage from Texas to Turku.”

Another Turku virtue is that it’s the entryway to the Turku Archipelago, an array of islands with rough rock outcrops, thickly covered in pine and spruce and studded with little rustic homes. Following a short drive and two ferry crossings — many of Finland’s boats are designed for icebreaking and run year-round — we arrived at our destination, the Hotel Nestor, on the island of Korpo. Run by chef and owner William Helmgren, who previously cooked at the Michelin-starred Frantzén in Stockholm, Nestor is the perfect little country inn, with a delightful New Nordic–ish tasting menu replete not only with sugar-salted salmon and new potatoes but sea buckthorn and broth made with locally foraged mushrooms.

We travelled from island to island, engaged in activities such as cycling and hiking, took refreshing dips in the Baltic post-sauna, and paddled around in ocean kayaks while observing giant sea eagles. On Nagu, we spent an afternoon going for a sail aboard a refurbished workboat called the Tacksamheten with the boat's owner, Sami Uotinen. We made our way around a seemingly endless amount of islands while admiring the quaint red homes. (Finns are famously infatuated with their cottages - there are about half a million of them across the country.) We sailed by Sjalo, an island that had been home to a leper colony in the past. This site was so depressing that the inmates were made to bring the supplies necessary to construct their own caskets.

Yet, the majority of the time, we simply relished the sense of seclusion and serenity that the Nordic region provided. In Turku, Jokinen had told me about the day he entertained some American friends on the islands. He laughed as he recounted, "It was kind of difficult for them; they said, 'We should do something.'" "I do not believe that we should take any action. The inhabitants of Finnish summer homes are content to do nothing more than gaze out at the water. The 'object' in question is actually the void.