North star: Captivated by Hamina

A lively brass band, playing in the Summer Park in Hamina, on the coast of eastern Finland, last Saturday morning was distracting shoppers from their purchases. Abandoning the open-air market nearby, they stood in the bright sunshine and listened, tapping their feet and clapping in time to the military music. The concert was part of the Hamina Tattoo, set up 16 years ago to foster a spirit of cross-border co-operation. In a garrison town on the frontier between Finland and Russia, this is a worthy aim. And this year it has surely been achieved: one of the bands taking part had come from the Military Academy in St Petersburg.

Russians in uniform have not always been so welcome in Hamina, which was founded three and half centuries ago to keep them out of Finland, then part of the kingdom of Sweden. The town was fortified in 1720, and its defences strengthened by the conquering Russians 25 years later according to an unusual design that makes Hamina an attractive place to explore. Its boundary was a star-shaped structure with imposing bastions at each of its six points, and a Town Hall in the centre of the fortifications. Three streets wrap around the Town Hall in concentric circles, and from the first of these, 12 more streets fan out to the ramparts - and now beyond, as the town has expanded.

Many of the town's original buildings have been preserved, among them Aladin's House, which was the home of the artillery commander, and two guardhouses. The central bastion of the fortress, with its brick vaults that were once used to provide bomb-proof storage, has been turned into an open-air concert space used for the Tattoo and other events; and the oldest private house in Hamina is now the Town Museum.

It was here that the Russian Empress, Catherine the Great, came to meet her cousin, the Swedish King Gustav III, to discuss relations between their two countries. The room where they met is an unremarkable space currently closed, but it is being restored to its original condition, and when it reopens next year, it will be furnished as it was at the time of their meeting in 1783.

While the ruins of Hamina's traditional defences hark back to the conflicts of a bygone age, there is a chilling reminder that the threat of war between Russia and Finland was all too recent. Starting from Virolahti, between Hamina and the present border post some 20 miles west at Vaalimaa, a defensive line was built to protect Finland's eastern border from Russian invasion. The construction of the Salpalinja, or Salpaline, began in 1940, and 750 miles of bastions and trenches were created, stretching from the Gulf of Finland north into Lapland.

Ninety per cent of these fortifications were in the 30 miles nearest to the coast, and although their existence remained secret for many years, it is now possible to explore part of the line at the Salpalinja Museum in Miehikkälä, five miles or so inland from Virolahti. Here, trenches zigzag across the landscape, and bunkers, built with cellars to provide accommodation and storage, hunker into the beautiful woodland. Three marked trails lead visitors through the fortifications - a vivid reminder of the divisions that war can inflict on neighbours.

But the Russians were not always unappreciative of the attractions of Finnish territory, nor the Finns so unwelcoming. In 1880, Tsar Alexander III was on a cruise through the Gulf of Finland, and he and his wife fell in love with the area. They decided to build a fishing lodge of their own, a simple log cabin of the type still beloved by Finns today.

The place they selected was Langinkoski, on the outskirts of another fortified town, Kotka, 15 miles to the east of Hamina. It is easy to see why Alexander loved the area, with its waterside footpaths, and rapids where he could fish for salmon. The log cabin that was built for him has remained intact, the rooms furnished as they were when the Tsar was in residence; its ownership passed from the Russian Empire to the newly-independent Finland in 1918.

Downstairs is a rustic living room filled with family portraits and basic wooden furniture; alongside are the Tsar's study, his wife's dressing room, and a kitchen, equipped with shining copper pans, where the catch of the day was brought in for the Empress to cook herself. Upstairs, the bedrooms reveal that this was a simple holiday home, with several beds in each room to accommodate whoever turned up. The lodge has been turned into a museum, although the grounds are open to the public, who can come here to walk through the forests, picnic by the water or get a permit to fish for salmon.

By the time Alexander III acquired his summer cabin, Finland had been a Russian Grand Duchy for more than 70 years, since Sweden had been forced to hand over Finland to Russia in 1809. The discussions that followed Sweden's defeat took place in Porvoo, a quaint little place only 35 miles west of Helsinki. Little seems to have changed here since the 19th century, although these days it is a popular destination for day-trippers from the capital. The reddish-brown wooden sheds that still line the riverbank were immortalised in some of the old prints on display in Porvoo's museum.

And children still swim in the river, as they did in the pictures by Finland's most famous artist, Albert Edelfelt, who often painted scenes of life in his hometown. During the summer, there is a flea market in the main square, outside the Town Museum, a solid, attractive building where the Diet of Porvoo, the meeting between the town's nobility and their new Russian masters, took place.

Today, all these east coast towns are linked by the main E18 highway, but they have been connected for centuries by an older, more romantic route that has now been declared an official visitor trail. The King's Road once joined all the old northern capitals from Bergen to St Petersburg, meandering along beside the Atlantic Ocean and, further east, the Gulf of Finland, through Oslo, Stockholm, Turku and Helsinki.

The route is marked out with its official symbol, a distinctive yellow crown on a brown background. For part of the 125-mile journey between Helsinki and the Russian border, it follows the route of the E18, but there are frequent deviations into the countryside, through stands of fir trees and past curtains of silver birch that offer tantalising glimpses of shimmering water beyond. One of the most picturesque parts of the road is the loop that runs beside the Baltic Sea between Tallimaki and Virojoki, leaving the highway to head due east on a more direct route. Documents show that a road along this 22-mile stretch connected the coastal settlements from the 15th century. A hundred years later, a postal delivery service was introduced here, and inns opened up in the villages of Klamila and Pyterlahti to accommodate travellers. The main attraction now is the magnificent scenery, with unspoilt bays, attractive woodland walks and near-deserted cycle trails.

All along the route of the King's Road, there is evidence of a traditional way of life contrasting with the echoes of past struggles, in this part of Finland that has always been the frontier between east and west. The most striking example is perhaps in Loviisa, a pleasant little place that comes alive in summer, when many people come to the town to enjoy its sleepy atmosphere and relaxing beaches. One of the Swedish kings loved it so much that he changed its name from the original Degerby to call it after his queen. Simple wooden houses painted in pastel colours line the shore, and along the beach, holidaymakers mess about in boats.

Offshore are the remains of Svartholma, the fortress island that was built by the Swedes to defend their empire from attack by Russia. It was abandoned 150 years ago, but it has now been restored, and during the summer months, tourists pack the boats that depart regularly from Loviisa's marina and deposit them on the island. Once again, the region's military might is a local attraction, but as with the tattoo in Hamina, these days visitors from both sides of the border are equally welcome.

Traveller's Guide

GETTING THERE

The writer travelled with the Finnish Tourist Board (020-7365 2512; www.visitfinland.com/uk) and Finnair (0870 241 4411; www.finnair.co.uk), which flies to Helsinki from Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh.

To reduce the impact on the environment, you can buy an "offset" from Climate Care (01865 207 000; www.climatecare.org). The environmental cost of a return flight from London to Helsinki, in economy class, is £3.10.

VISITING THERE

The King's Road (00 358 9 476 7411; www.kunin kaantie.net).

Hamina Tattoo (00 358 5 749 2633; www.haminatattoo.com).

Hamina Town Museum, Hamina (00 358 5 749 4193). Entry €4 (£2.90).

Salpalinja Museum, Miehikkala (00 358 5 34 77383; www.salpakeskus.fi). Admission €5 (£3.60).

Langinkoski Imperial Fishing Lodge (00 358 5 228 1050; www.langinkoskimuseo.com). Admission €4 (£2.90).

Porvoo Town Museum, Porvoo (00 358 19 574 7500; www.porvoonmuseo.fi); €5 (£3.60).