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Helsinki, Finland
Sea: Calm
Weather: Sunny
We woke up and we’d arrived in Helsinki. A longer stop here today as it was a short hop across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn overnight. Everyone had to be back onboard by 9.30pm this evening.
We spent a leisurely morning onboard, heading for a coffee in the atrium and a game of Carcassone and headed ashore at lunchtime. The shuttle dropped us off at the Market Hall. It’s always fun to see what delights the locals buy and Helsinki it was plenty of fruit, fish and meat – bear, mousse and reindeer meat!
Once again we were loosely following the Nomad Epicureans Self Guided Walking Tour of the city. From the market, we headed to Senate Square. Jon and I remembered this from our last visit to the city – it was the start of the tour we did which included a look inside Helsinki Cathedral. It’s a very striking building – white with a blue dome with a wide set of steps leading from the square up to the Cathedral.
It’s a large square with the Cathedral overlooking the square, flanked on either side by the University of Helsinki and the Government Palace. A statue of Tsar Alexander II stands in the middle of the square.
From Senate Square we walked along Aleksanterinkatu – the main street. The street is lined with old, historic buildings that house shops, boutiques and offices. One of the more ornate buildings is the Pohjola Insurance Building with it’s intricately carved devils, trolls and monsters.
Another thing we spotted is that the corners of the streets featured animal symbols as well as street signs. After a little digging online, Helsinki adopted this from the Swedes – it was to designate the block on the street. Whilst this stopped in the late 19th Century, it was reintroduced in the 2000s as a reminder of times gone by.
The one place we wanted to revisit was The Rock Church so we followed the walking route seeing the main highlights of the city.
However, when we reached the Rock Church (Temppeliaukio Kirkko), it was closed – it wasn’t going to reopen for another 45 mins. Do we wait … do we skip … we decided to wait. There was a shop opposite the entrance to the church so we grabbed a drink (they also stocked flags and Christmas Baubles so managed to get these ticked off too) and sat in the shade until people started queuing.
It cost Euro 10 for Jon and I to get in (Callum free as was under 18) and was impressive as I remembered. The church is built into the rock and you wouldn’t really know it’s there as it’s doesn’t stand proud as most other churches do. A small rusted cross on the outside is all that denotes the church (apart from the entrance!)
The church is full of light and and the copper roof compliments the colours in the rock walls. The organ pipework is also made from copper.
From here, we decided to head back to town and hopefully find somewhere for a local beer en route. Plenty of shops and restaurants but no bars! We eventually spotted one in the corner of the shopping centre. Maku Brewery had fashioned a lighting display using empty bottles. The Lawnmower Daddy brew from the Socks and Sandals Brewery reminded me of Dad so I opted for a glass whilst Jon went for the Stallhagen.
From here we made our way back to the shuttlebus stop – stopping at the market to pick up some cherries and strawberries.
It was nearly 6pm before we got back to the ship – we’d missed the Syndicate Quiz. We went back to the Main Dining Room for dinner this evening and opted to eat fairly promptly so we would be finished in time to watch sailaway from the Sunset Bar.
The colours at sunset were very pretty tonight – probably the most dramatic it got all cruise. We stayed out a little bit longer once darkness fell and read for a bit. However, we had another port to explore tomorrow – Tallinn.
