Just a 15 minute ferry crossing away from Helsinki lies the charming Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. This UNESCO World Heritage site has played a strong role in the Finnish history. Today the fortress has 800 inhabitants living on its 8 islands and around 700.000 tourist visiting the hilly landscape yearly. Here you can find adorable cafés, artists’ work spaces, beautiful picnic sites, a beach, residential homes, churches,  prisoners at restoration work or migrating birds resting their wings. On this sunny summer day it seemed that half of the city had packed their picnic baskets and crossed the water to sunbathe on the warm cliffs.