Blogs from Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland, Europe

Once we had again explained that to Barbara that this was a Baltic cruise and Helsinki was the capital of Finland and not somewhere in Japan, we headed off. We had planned to take the bus into the city but again at the last minute, madness prevailed and we decided to walk it. The walk was not too bad, only around 3km....it would have been 2 but we got lost. ooooh before we left we saw the Regal Princess pull into a berth alongside us. She is one of the huge Royal class ships in the princess fleet and she has the coolest air horn ever.... if any of you remember LOVEBOAT and the theme tune...she plays that whenever she is near or passing another Princess ship. I managed to catch it on video and it ... read more

I was up super early to head to the ferry terminal. I was departing from a different one to that I had arrived in and it took a bit of finding. It didn't help that it was dark and that there weren't a lot of people about. I took a few wrong turns but got there in the end. The check-in process was super easy, just scan the QR code to get through to the departure area. They didn't even scan it again before boarding the ferry like the other company had. I was taking the Tallink ferry this time and it was almost three times the price of the one I had taken over to Tallinn, but the timings were a lot better, giving me more time to explore Helsinki. The ferry was a lot ... read more

Tish still needed rest to vercome her illness so Andrew headed out to Suomenlinna Island which is a UNESCO sea fort originally constructed by the Swedes when they invaded ad conquered this part of the world but as a sea fort, it was used by Russia in the 1800’s and Germany & the Soviet Union in the 1900’s. The fort is pretty much intact and there are 800 people living in the accommodations on the island which ensures buildings and structures are maintained. The stone structures including bunkers and tunnels are impressive and there is plenty of Military hardware around the islands to give the visitor an idea of life in the fort. Th most impressive structure is the dry dock which used a windmill and horse driven pump to empty the drydock after a boat ... read more

With Tish still recovering from her illness, Andrew stepped out into Helsinki by himself for the day checking out the harbours both north and south of our apartment which is located on Katajanokka, a peninsular on the east side of downtown Helsinki. There are lots of walking tours through our neighbourhood so it obviously has played a part in Helsinki’s past but the quality of apartment buildings here is second to none. Down the bottom of our street stands the Uspenskin Cathedral which has a grand viewing platform overlooking th north and south harbours. The Cathedral has an amazing dome and while compact inside, it was very busy with antiquities. The viewover the north harbour included the Helsinki Eye and a number of cruise ships and ferry’s docked for the day. There was a large market ... read more

We arrived in Helsinki 20 minutes before midnight. It had just become night - the light fading from the west as we flew into the airport. It would be light again here in less than 4 hours. If you like daylight, this was the place to be on your summer city break. Helsinki is actually the second most northerly capital city in the world behind Reykjavik in Iceland and just pipping the capital of Norway, Oslo, into third. Close neighbours, Tallinn (Estonia) and Stockholm (Sweden) complete the top five. Helsinki Airport was humming even at this late hour. Flights arriving and bodies lying around waiting for the early morning departures. The queues were long at immigration and I was just about to curse Scandinavian efficiency or the lack of it, when the automatic facial recognition passport ... read more