Patches, plants and a pharmacy are present in Turku

Any café along the Aura River is a great place to grab a cup of coffee, snack and people watch. At first, it seemed like the discovery of a new trend, rolled down overalls with tons of patches sewn on. A quick internet search gave me a different result; a Finnish college ritual that began at Turku University. The students, depending on their course of study, have specific colored overalls. They sew or glue patches all over the legs representing their achievements and passions during Orientation Week as a freshman and it makes it easy to identify other students and certainly it is a way to break the ice with any one wearing patched overalls. Seeing the groups of students displaying their patches brings me so much joy.

The Turku University also has a Botanical Garden on Ruissalo Island which is just off the mainland. It is both a research facility and public garden. There are thousands of species and varieties of plants spread across many acres. The kitchen garden even provides basic herbs and vegetables for their café. Along with the gardeners, there are robotic lawn mowers helping to maintain the grounds.

The oldest surviving wooden building in central Turku is the Qwensel House. It is an old manor house named after its first known owner. After surviving the fire of 1827 the house was purchased by a merchant who converted half the home into a commercial property.

Now a museum, it is a well preserved home with stenciled walls and beautiful furnishings. The commercial portion of the building is a replica of a pharmacy. The amount of supplies, the herb room, the lab and the dispensary are an impressive collection.

Across the Aura River and through a lovely park there is another grouping of wooden buildings that survived the fire of 1827. At the time, this was the edge of town and an affordable living option for craftsman. Today it is an open air handicraft museum, Luostarinmäki. There are docents in the print shop, post office, pottery shed and other buildings. We enjoyed learning about the history of the buildings and the people.

Back through the park and to another café along the Aura to relax and partake in pastries and people watching.