We loved Helsinki!
We probably weren’t expecting much after an amazing few days in St Petersburg. It’s not a big place, but it has plenty to offer and a really good feel to it.
The city has 3 very different churches that are all worth a visit. The most obvious is the eye catching Lutheran cathedral, which dominates the harbour from its position on a spur overlooking the main square.
The interior is surprisingly plain which contrasts nicely with its close neighbour, the rather grand Russian Orthodox Uspenski cathedral – the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe...
The Temppeliaukio kirkko is a bit of a hidden gem. Set in the middle of an ordinary residential square away from the city centre, the architects carved this church out of the granite bedrock and placed a copper dome on top back in 1969, making it quite different from any church we’ve seen on our travels so far.
Wandering around the market down by the harbour we finally spent some time at one of the many great food stalls we’ve seen in Finland. We took the opportunity to sample some tasty sausages and meatballs made from Rudolph’s distant relatives!
Finland is quite a youngster, having only gaining its independence from the regional superpowers – Russia and Sweden - in 1917. The classical composer Sibelius was writing pieces such as Finlandia at the time, which helped push a sense of national pride and identity when the country was still ruled from Moscow. He’s seen as having a major role in the country achieving its freedom and is now a national hero.
The memorial to the composer in Sibelius Park is quite unusual; a cluster of huge steel tubes of various lengths, suspended above the ground next to a sculpture of the composer’s face.
One thing which caught our eye in Helsinki was the advertising for the new Harry Potter film (it means ‘everything ends’ apparently)...
Alex could have sat on the pavement for hours admiring the city’s central railway station! It’s a stunning building; an Art Nouveau masterpiece which has 4 masculine figures on the facade, each holding a glass globe.
From our wild camping spot by the water just beyond the harbour we had some great views of the boats coming and going, and of a stunning sunset over the city.
We would highly recommend Helsinki as a holiday destination and would love to go back one day. In addition to the city’s sights, you can take trips out to Saint Petersburg in Russia and to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.
Heading west from Helsinki, we spent a day at the Nuuksio National Park. Charlie had spent a few days in kennels while we were in Russia and we’d done a lot of heavy sightseeing, so the walks through Finland’s familiar trees, lakes and mozzies, which we’ve now grown quite fond of, made for a relaxing break.
Our final stop in Finland before catching the ferry over to Sweden was Turku. In all honesty we didn’t spend a lot of time seeing the town’s sites, but we did manage to do the laundry and have a session at a proper Finnish sauna, something we were keen to try before we left.
Unfortunately we will always remember Turku for its traffic wardens! Firstly, we got a 40 euro parking ticket because, although we hadn’t overstayed our welcome, we didn’t have one of those cardboard wheels in the windscreen to show our time of arrival.
And 20 minutes later Alex was completely baffled when another traffic warden tapped on the window and told him he was parked upside down!! It turns out that parking on the opposite side of the road is illegal in Finland! Who knew!
So that was Finland, in just under 2 weeks. We’ve been surprised at just how much we’ve enjoyed it and are looking forward to going back at some point in the winter to see the northern lights and do a dog sled safari.
Talking of dogs – we need to get ours a haircut. She’s starting to look a bit like a wookie!!
Next time; we visit another capital – Stockholm – and see southern Sweden.
TTFN!
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