{finland, day 14, old rauma, part I}

another cloudy, sprinkly day so we headed to rauma to see "old rauma", which is an unesco world heritage site. the buildings date from the 18th century and it's rare to have so many old wooden buildings survive to this date as they often would burn in a fire. even in rauma there were two huge fires that burned the buildings in 1640 and again in 1682. that's why these buildings are "only" from the 18th century. there are appr. 600 buildings if you count the sheds as well. 800 people still live in this area. we toured the private home area first and then found our way to the main square were there are little boutiques and restaurants.

loved this place!

i heartily recommend old rauma even to all my finnish friends.

rauma is known for it's lace. they even hold a lace festival every summer.

"siins saa hikkoill

ennengo siin leipäs ansatte

eik stää kaikk taulupääp

pyst tekemänkkä"

a lace making device in one of the shops we visited.