For those who are already in Turku a day before departure (Tuesday, June 9), 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.

The adventure starts from the Viking Line Terminal in Turku on early Wednesday morning. When you arrive to harbor to pick up your tickets, you will get also a Name Badge. 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), where also a Goodie Bag is waiting for you. 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 postcards 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 three 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, where there is a charter bus waiting for us. First we will b taken to Park Alandia Hotel (picture tour), which is completely renowated and a very comfortable hotel just few steps from the city center. Park Alandia is known also for the Åland Breakfast, where you start your day with local delicacies. Their bar has live music every night.

We don’t want to waste time at the hotel. After a short break for taking our luggage to rooms and short refreshing, we start our first day in Åland Islands. A local, professional guide will join us and we will first take a tour around Mariehamn. We will visit also the Badhusberget, from where we have a beautiful over the sea and the city.

From Mariehamn we will drive to Lemland. We will have a short stop at Lemström Canal for photos. The first destination is Västerrö, which is a small paradise next to a bay in Herrön, near the southernmost point of Åland. In Västerrö lives Anders Westerberg and Maria Sten-Westerberg who are engaged in small-scale fishing, food crafts, wood carving, horticulture and who have their own way of processing the gifts of nature and the garden. In the farm’s own smokehouse, almost anything can be flavored with glow and wood shavings and in the gastronomic greenhouse you will experience fish that you have never tasted before. We will enjoy a dinner here, incredients are local and absolutely fresh. Oh, and when we visited this paradise for the first time, we learned, that Maria is a postcrosser, too! How cool is that!

In Åland there is now two breweries. The bigger one, Stallhagen, also we have visited two times (in 2017 and 2019). In Lemland, there is a microbrewery, Open Water Brewery, which was established in November 2016. The brewery itself shares an old cowshed with a pickled cucumber factory – Ahvenanmaan Kurkut/Åland Pickles. We will enjoy the Wednesday evening here in a rustic atmosphere tasting few of their beers. For those who don’t drink beer we have arranged a visit to Amalia’s Lemonade Factory, which is located also in Lemland.

We will return back to Mariehamn around 22 at the latest.

After energizing ourselves at a hotel breakfast the bus will take us to the Korrvik Fishing Port. There are eight small boats waiting for us to be taken to the islets of Kobba Klintar, the place for an old pilot station which is recognized by everyone who travels between Finland and Sweden by cruise ship. In Kobba Klintar we will have a Postcrossing Meetup, and we will prepare our postcards for special cancellation on Friday. We will enjoy a light dinner here. There is also a small kiosk open where they sell snacks, sandwiches, beer, wine, soft drinks etc. Coffee and tea is complimentary during our meetup. In early afternoon we can have a break and watch Viking Line and Tallink Silja ships passing by Kobba Klintar to Mariehamn and back.

In the afternoon taxi boats will pick us up and take back to Korrvik Fishing Port. Our bus is waiting us there and we will be taken back to the hotel. Now we have couple of hours to relax, or look around in Mariehamn before our dinner.

In the evening we will enjoy a dinner in Brasserie Ångbåtsbryggan, which is a seafront restaurant by the Eastern Harbor in Mariehamn, only 5 minutes walk from our hotel. The menu varies according to season and the availability of local produce. The heart of the restaurant is the charcoal grill in the open kitchen where you can watch the chefs work. We will enjoy here a full three course dinner.

Those who want to continue the last night in Mariehamn, we recommend either Bar Indigo, or the terrace of our hotel bar. Or why not both! You can find products of Open Water Brewery from Bar Indigo.

Today is the last day of our adventure. In the morning at 9 our charter bus will take us to Sviby, Jomala, where is located the head office and terminal of Åland Post. Fantastic people at Åland Post Stamps are welcoming us and they have arranged some program for us. We will have a tour in Åland Post premises and they will give us a presentation of Åland Post and stamps, as well.

Here you can buy also stamps, all stamps – and other porducts – in sale are available. Åland Post is issuing also a special cancellation to celebrate our 5th Postcrossing Adventure in Åland Islands. You can leave your postcards here to get the cancellation on them.

Our bus will take us back to the hotel at 11. You have a bit over two hours if you want still to visit the city for a coffee and Åland Pancake. Everyone will go to the harbor on their own, it’s a walk of 15-20 minutes.

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.

After dinner there is a VIP area at Night Club Vogue reserved for us. There we will have a sparking wine and time and place to say goodbye to eachother while enjoying the views of archipelago.

We arrive in Turku a little before eight o’clock in the evening.