SPRING 2004

- The winter is more or less over and I can again venture to my favorite place to explore, The Viapori fortification. There's just something in these concrete trenches, bunkers and caves, that cannot be felt in any other place. No matter how great abandoned building you find, the feeling wont be the same as walking in a trench, build nearly a hundred years ago, that now has trees growing in the middle of the path, where soldiers were suppose to run to their defensive position. Perhaps the feeling is related to the personal interests and perhaps some other person would find these places dull, but I don't and that's why I don't make a mad exploration marathon to see the Viapori completely. I want to save this place, to be explored only on some special occasions, when my mood is right, so that I enjoy the place fully.

- I know I've said it before and it's starting to sound a bit corny, but let's state it once again. This place was really amazing place to visit and I doubt I can find a more amazing place from Viapori, than this area. There, it's said and we can move on. 

- This part, like most of the Viapori, is tightly squeezed inside of residential areas and that unfortunately shows in the condition of the trenches. Actually while climbing on top of one hill, I came across a man who was pouring dead leafs and branches into the trenches. The news about the city and the museum office starting to take care of the fortification is just waste of time and money I think. Yes, they can clean one part of the fortification, but somebody would need to guard the place around a clock, so that the place wouldn't be immediately filled with all sort of junk, from dead leaves to the construction material of a nearby houses. Many of the deeper trenches and fire positions were inaccessible due to huge amount of junk. Still thankfully, the ammunition cave was left alone and was in a very decent condition, so that you could forget about being in a major city.

- It was a very sunny and nearly a hot day while I visited this area and even when it's just April, I had to take my jacket off. However, to my surprise, I put my jacket on quite quickly while descending down to that ammunition cave. Five to fifteen meters below the ground level, it was still winter down there, with snow on the ground and temperature probably a few degrees in the minus.

AUTUMN 2005

- Thought to stop by at the Position 10 from the Base XVIII, as I was in the nearby area photographing another position. What I had planned to be a brief visit to the trenches, stretched to a full exploration of the Position 10. Not much has changed in a bit over year. The only visible change was, that people from a nearby house, have filled one trench nearly completely, with a pieces of concrete. The pieces most likely have come from a recent construction in their yard. Sad sight, but the open machine gun position right next to the filled trench, has survived at least for now, from the destruction. Observation post nearby however, had been filled also completely.

- Other than that, the Position 10 sleeps in the forest like it has done many Autumns and Summers, abandoned there from it's constructers and people who might have used it...

- Entrance to the cave in the area. The entrance at this time was almost completely dry, but it has nearly overgrown with bushes and trees, from the side which I entered the place. The other side of the cave is a easier to enter, when it comes to the vegetation, but there part of the cave has collapsed and there's a lot of rocks near the entrance, as well as garbage.

- Machine gun position, that's actually in a very good condition. Now this old machine gun position just faces a brand new houses and nothing more. No enemy is coming from that direction, other than vandals... One really has to use his imagination while exploring Viapori. Sometimes it's really hard to see the purpose why something has been build to some specific place. The trees have grown, roads and houses build, so that the area don't look the same as it did during the First World War. This machine gun position was facing towards north-east, where the Germans would have tried to come, while trying to find a weak spot in Viapori. It's actually quite interesting that perhaps the more better and stronger defensive positions were build to the western side of Viapori, in Espoo, where the Germans would have appeared first, when landing in Hanko and marching to Helsinki.

- That is, if they would have landed...

- Remnants from a shelter.