If it’s Saturday this must be Finland. We’re on a string of seventeen straight port days without a sea day to catch our breath, quite a contrast to our lazy trip across the Pacific several months ago, when we had as many as five sea days in a row between ports.
Helsinki is the capital of Finland, and is home to 675,000 people, not much more than the population of Tallinn, where we were yesterday. However, the country’s total population of 5.6 million is four times that of Tallinn’s Estonia. Counting its suburbs, which push the population to over a million, Helsinki is considered the world’s northernmost metropolitan area. It has also been rated among the world’s most livable cities and the world’s happiest city.
We were actually in Helsinki once before, back in 1993, and I was interested to see how much the city has changed, and how much I remembered of the things that haven’t. We booked an excursion that would take us to many of the places we saw in 1993, along with a trip out of the city to Porvoo, where we haven’t been before.
And despite Mother Nature’s best efforts to rain on our parade after my bragging yesterday about the great weather we’ve had on the cruise, we lucked out again. It threatened to rain off and on all day, and rained hard twice, but both times it was while we were on the bus moving from one place to another. We’re definitely tempting fate here.
Back to the excursion. Our bus took us first to Senate Square in downtown Helsinki, where we got a great view of the Helsinki Cathedral, which is of the Evangelical Lutheran denomination. We earlier drove past the Uspenski Cathedral, which is Greek Orthodox. The two are very different, but are both beautiful.
There’s also a large statue of Czar Alexander II of Russia in the square, who the Finns actually liked, and from what I can tell he’s about the only Russian the Finns can stand. Our guide told us that there’s an old Finnish saying that a Russian is a Russian, even if you fry them in butter. Enough said on that subject.
From Senate Square we walked down to the harbor, where we had docked when we visited 31 years ago. Small cruise ships still dock there, but the Serenade is too large for the narrow opening, so this time we unfortunately had to dock quite a ways away, eliminating the ability to walk straight off the ship and into town. Anyway, we were there now, and because it was Saturday there was a large pop up food and craft market right off the pier, and we had some time to shop and sample some wonderful freshly picked berries. Yum.
I should mention that one of my strongest memories from our visit many years ago was of the omnipresent green and yellow trams, and I was delighted to see that they’re still everywhere, providing first class public transportation.
Back on the bus, we passed the National Theater and National Art Gallery on our way to our next stop, the fascinating Rock Church. It seems that there was a competition in the 1960s to design a church to sit on a huge granite rock in the middle of the city, and the competition was won by two young architects who proposed to build the church inside the rock. As you can imagine, it’s quite unique, and has become something of a tourist attraction. Enough so, I suspect, that the ticket fees are easily covering the cost of church maintenance. I really liked it.
Then it was a ride out into the pretty countryside to a large farm not too far from Nikklä, the closest town of any size. Getting there we passed beautiful forests of pines, ferns and white birch trees, along with numerous farm fields. Finland is 75 percent forest, and has an astounding 188,000 lakes. That number is not a typo.
The farm we visited is quite large, and 60 members of the extended family that owns it live on its 900 acres. They grow hay, wheat and peas, and also raise horses and have a riding school. We were treated to a delicious lunch of nettle soup, fish stew, and a cake with berries and caramel sauce, then taken on a tour of the horse stables and training fields. They currently have 100 horses, so it’s a big operation.
After saying thank you and goodbye we boarded the bus and continued on to Porvoo, a small city on the Porvoonjoki River near its mouth on the Baltic Sea. The city has a quaint old section that’s barely two blocks long and a single block wide, plus a charming cobblestone square hosting two museums, all of them watched over by small cathedral on the hill above. There was quite an eclectic collection of shops in the old section, from a consignment store to a chocolate shop, from jewelry stores to cafes, and from women’s fashions to souvenir shops. We poked our heads into almost all of them, but not before climbing up the hill to see the Lutheran Cathedral. As cathedrals go, this one would undoubtedly be described as modest, but it still exuded old world charm, as did its freestanding belfry. We couldn’t go inside because—wouldn’t you know—we stumbled onto a wedding that was just wrapping up.
Having exhausted what Porvoo’s old town had to offer, and with light rain starting to fall, we hotfooted it back across the nearby bridge to the bus parking lot and our ride back to Helsinki. It was great to return to Finland after all those years, and our tour was different enough that most of what we saw and did seemed new and fresh. 31 years ago Helsinki felt almost Central European as we walked around the city, but this time Michele and I both felt that the city was more westernized than it was back then. Perhaps joining the European Union several years ago has had that effect. In any case it’s a very nice city, and the countryside is beautiful. Come and visit if you get a chance.
Tomorrow we dock in Stockholm, another of the Baltic ports we visited in 1993. I know of at least one really cool thing that we saw then that we’re planning to see again, and this time we can take us with you, so stay tuned for my usual full report.
Senate Square in downtown Helsinki, where the Lutheran Cathedral overlooks the statue of Czar Alexander II, who treated the Finns well Definitely the exception to the rule.
I was happy to see that Helsinki still runs green and yellow trams, which I remember fondly from our earlier visit.
Beautiful berries at the market down by the pier. The market is only there on Saturdays. Lucky us, today was Saturday.
Michele found a postcard and a stamp at the market, and this mailbox was right off Senate Square.
One of the unfortunate features of living so far north. Look at all those leav already on the ground.
City Hall is right off the harbor.
We passed the Greek Orthodox Cathedral on our way to the Rock Church.
The entrance to the Rock Church.
Inside the Rock Church. The church is covered by a dome, not rocks.
Closeup of the organ in the Rock Church.
Across the street from the Rock Church. Santa is apparently diversifying.
On the way to the farm. The forests here are very inviting.
The farm fields look pretty good too.
The farmhouse dates from the 1800s and is quite large.
We were greeted at the farm with a delicious glass of elderflower juice.
It’s also very nice inside.
The main course of our lunch meal was a delicious fish stew. May I have some more, please?
Reminded me of home, back in Bradford County.
Two of the 100 horses on the farm.
Part of the horse training area.
In the bus parking lot in Porvoo. I think all artillery should be decorated with flowers.
We had to cross a small bridge over the picturesque Porvoonjoki River to reach the old town.
It really is a pretty river.
That’s the Porvoo Cathedral in the foreground, with another church behind it.
Closeup of the Cathedral. That’s the bride and groom’s getaway car.
The Cathedral belfry.
The square in the old part of town is home to two museums, one red and one yellow. You’re looking at them.
One of the two shopping streets in old Porvoo.
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