This lazy Saturday's program for me and Janne was to visit some of the bunkers and moats around Helsinki's WWI defence structures. There are plenty of these structures, sadly all slowly rotting away. Historic sites, officially almost forgotten and certainly not cared for.
We decided to visit the structures in Pirkkola, right next to the parking lot of the Pirkkola sports complex. For a map, click on this blog article or for a background on the structures from the Department of Museums, click here.
Sadly, while there are big underground tunnels, they are mostly closed off. One possibly bigger bunker had a closed door that had at least so far resisted attempts to enter, despite a large metal pipe being used as lever to twist the door. This bunker had been open to the public earlier, but now it is indeed closed.
We did find one open but narrow entrance to a two-room shelter, full of trash and stalactites growing from the roof. Someone had written "Monttu Krouvi" (Pit Pub) on the wall.
Photos (c) 2016 by Jari Arkko
This article was originally published in the Planetskier Blogspot article series.
"Mongolia is kind of close, right? Story about an attempt to ski everywhere in the world where there's snow. And in some places where there isn't. On and off-piste skiing on all continents, skiing into craters of live volcanoes, climbing, photography, and travel." The Planetskier blog focuses on skiing, caving, climbing, biking, flying, sauna, and swimming adventures around the world. See the other Planetskier blog articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, swimming, and saunas.