Martinlaakso, Vantaa

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AIHEITA PHOTOS

Aiheita Photos is a photoblog mostly about different places.

The blog is not updated anymore. New photosets are published at the Albums section of my travel photos site. Single images are added to Picture by picture photo pages.

Martinlaakso, Vantaa

Martinlaakso is a suburb with concrete-made blocks of flats in the western part of the city of Vantaa, near Helsinki. I had occasion to make a short walking tour there although I only had time to visit the western part of the area.

Martinlaakso is probably best known for Formula One driver Mika Häkkinen who is originally from there. There is even a small square named after him (Mika Häkkisen aukio) although I didn't spot it on my tour (I later looked from the map that I walked pretty close to it). Also another Formula driver, Mika Salo, has lived some time in Martinlaakso.

The beginning of May may not be the most beautiful time of the year in southern Finland. However, I don't believe it would look too nice even in the middle of summer. I would say Martinlaakso is one of the worst examples of Finnish suburbs from the 1970s: scattered with huge parking lots, mostly ugly concrete buildings and far from anywhere.

Below 28 photographs from Martinlaakso, Vantaa.