Search

Häme Castle (guest appearance by Lord Farquad)

Cat
Aug 4, 2017
2 min read

Every time we'd take the train from Helsinki to Tampere (which was pretty often since we flew out of Helsinki nearly every trip we took), we'd pass an imposing castle on the banks of a lake. The first time we passed it, I don't know if we knew it was a castle (since most Finnish castles don't really look like the type you have in your head right now). But over time, and after visiting nearly every castle in Finland, we discovered Hämeenlinna and Häme Castle.

We rented "our car" from Sixt and headed about 45 minutes south of Tampere one afternoon to see what treasures this medieval feat of architecture held. (I say "our car" because we got the same two cars every time we rented from them it seemed - either little white or red Ford Fiesta.)

On the way, Adam had a surprise for us (really more for G than anyone). We stopped at the Panssarimuseo (the armored vehicle museum). I didn't have very high expectations for this, but was pleasantly surprised. There were more tanks and anti-tanks here than I'd ever seen in my life. Combined. It was really incredible the amount of artillery and vehicles they the museum housed.

Some of the tanks were open and could be climbed into, and G had a blast with this. He rode shotgun in one, somehow intuitively came out with "Fire in the hole!" while in another, and made plenty of shooting sound effects in all of them. This museum was "the most awesomest place." His words, not mine. But I do have to agree, it was a pretty neat museum.

When we first saw a swastika on the tanks and train, we were surprised. And shocked. We didn't think Finland supported the Nazis. They didn't. We learned that the Finnish Army utilized a swastika as their symbol prior to the Nazis adopting it in the early 1900s.

Click through the gallery of images from the museum below.

After the tank museum, we headed to the castle. It was a rare sunny and warm (Finland standards) day, yet the castle was not crowded at all. I'm not sure if Finland ever gets crowded (outside Helsinki attractions) as in our experiences we have yet to run into issues or lines anywhere. We've really enjoyed having places almost to ourselves, but it does make me wonder how some of these places stay open. Finland only has 5.5 million residents, and what little tourism there seems to be appears to stick close to Helsinki or heads far north to Lapland. Where does that leave all the other amazing places in the country? Hopefully, it's just been a fluke during our visits.

I've said it before, I love castles. Although Häme Castle wasn't furnished like Turun Linna, it did have an art exhibition that was...interesting. There was also a dress up area where G put on the armor and looked just like Lord Farquad from Shrek. It was a hoot. Click through the gallery below to see the castle and grounds.