Åland Islands Postcrossing Adventure 2019

Welcome to the 4th Postcrossing Adventure to the Åland Islands in June 6-8, 2019! You will enjoy three full days of not only about postcards, but also unique and amazing Åland views and sceneries and you will taste a huge variety of local delicacies. 2019 is a special year, because Åland Post will issue an official Postcrossing stamp. We will be the core part of the publishing event! Read the trip programme below and join this once-in-a-lifetime Postcrossing experience!

For those who are already in Turku a day before departure (Wednesday, June 5), we will arrange an unofficial Postcrossing Warmup Meetup at restaurant of the Hotel Seaport, Turku. The hotel is located right across the street of the Viking Line Terminal.

Onboard Postcrossing Meetup at the Baltic Sea

The adventure starts from the Viking Line Terminal in Turku on early Thursday morning. When you arrive to harbor to pick up your tickets, you will get also a Goodie Bag. Right after boarding to the ship, we take our goods to cabins (one shared cabin for each four person) and go to the Auditorium at M/S Amorella’s restaurant deck (deck 8). We get to know each other a little bit better, and of course we write postcards. Tour leader plays the Postcrossing bingo, where everyone wins something. If you want something exotic for your postcards, you can drop some of them to Amorella’s mailbox. Cards will be stamped not only with Amorella’s own ship postmark, but also by Navire postmark in the port city (you can use stamps from Finland, Sweden or Åland). Complimentarty coffee and fruits during meetup (included).

After the meetup there will be a delicious two course lunch at Á la carte restaurant (included). While enjoying the food you can enjoy the spectacular archipelago scenery. We arrive in Mariehamn in the early afternoon. We will walk to (650 meters, 10 minutes) and take rooms from Hotel Cikada (picture tour).

1st Mariehamn Postcrossing Meetup

Right after check-in to the hotel, we will take our postcards and walk across the street to the Badhuspaviljongen, a beautiful and big venue in the middle of the park surroundings owned and run by Åland Islands Yacht Club. We will continue our meetup there to prepare our postcards for Friday’s big event – the publishing of Åland’s own Postcrossing stamp. Complimentary coffee/tea (included).

First touch to Åland delicacies

In the early evening the group will be divided in two (according to everyone’s choices on registration). Two buses leaves from the hotel to two destinations.

The first group will travel to Stallhagen Brewery. The group will have there a short presentation to Åland’s own beers, a guided beer-tasting with food tastes from Åland. The evening ends to an absolutely tasty dinner.

The other group will travel to Smakbyn food paradise which is run by Michael ”Micke” Björklund, one of the best known chefs in Scandinavia. Smakbyn has also its own distillery. First the group will have a presentation of Smakbyn liqueurs together with tasting them with local savories. The evening ends to a mind-blowing dinner.

The first travel day ends around 22 o’clock.

Excursion to the Province

After energizing ourselves in a hotel breakfast the group will divide in two again. Today is The Day because of the issuing of Postcrossing stamp, but first we will see some other places in Åland Islands.

The first bus takes us early morning towards Eckerö. A professional guide is with us and tells us about Åland Islands, Mariehamn and Eckerö. The group will visit a historical Eckerö Mail and Customs House. It houses a postal museum and a gallery. And of course, there is also a mailbox for the mail to be cancelled by a special pictorial cancellation. After the museum visit we will drive to Bettys Restaurant and we will enjoy tasty fish soup and famous Åland’s pancake as a dessert (included).

The second bus will take the group to totally opposite direction towards Lemland. First we will visit Amalia’s Lemonade Factory, which is well known of its handmade lemonades, which are made of natural ingredients only (no artificial ingredients or colors). We will have also a lemonade-tasting. From Amalia’s we will continue to the farmer-shipping homestead of Pellas for a guided tour and lunch. We will have fish soup and famous Åland’s pancake as a dessert (included).

Both groups return back to Mariehamn early afternoon for the Big Event.

Issuing of the Postcrossing Stamp

It’s time to see how the new official Postcrossing stamp really looks like! And of course use it on our hundreds and hundreds of postcards. We will join the official publishing festival arranged by Åland Post. The venue is the very same we already spent few hours a day before, the Badhuspaviljongen right next to our hotel. Official maximum card and First Day Cover available as well as postcards. Two different Postcrossing-theme special cancellations available. Possibility to buy also other ålandic stamps. Complimentary coffee/tea (included).

Celebrating the Postcrossing Stamp

The important day will end to an amazing Postcrossing dinner. Now we will take our two buses to very same directions, to Geta. We will go to the Åland’s highest located restaurant, Soltuna. In the middle of the nature, with amazing views opening to the sea, we will enjoy a super delicious buffet dinner of local delicacies (included) to celebrate the newest addition to the Postcrossing themed stamps. You can also walk and climb to the nearby observation tower to see even better the surrounding environment.

Buses will be back to Mariehamn later in the evening and stop by at Indigo Bar, where those who want may continue celebrating the day.

Åland is About Sea And Ships

Saturday is our final adventure day, but not at all less what comes to activities.

Today we have a chance to experience and discover the Åland Maritime Museum and Tall Ship Pommern. Very conveniently, the museum and Pommern is located across the street from our hotel.

Pommern was closed to visitors on October 2016 and it will open again in May 2019, just two weeks before our visit! So we will have a chance to be among the very first visitors to see and visit this amazing ship, a landmark to Mariehamn and Åland Islands.

Alternatively, those who want can spend our last hours in Åland Islands exploring the city of Mariehamn by their own.

Cruise Back to Mainland Finland

Our return journey begins in the afternoon from the western harbor of Mariehamn on M/S Viking Grace. Onboard there is an own cabin for every four persons. After departure will enjoy a super delicious Viking Buffet dinner (included). Viking Grace also has a mailbox. Again, if you drop your cards into it, you will get not only the Navire postmark, but also Grace’s own ship postmark. We arrive in Turku a little before eight o’clock in the evening.