Our day in Helsinki was a bit brief, especially after the luxury of two full days in St Petersburg. Our choice for this day was to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus that left directly from the cruise pier. We thought it might be difficult to make our way into town from the cruise pier, but it turned out there was a tram station very close by (to service the ferry terminal next to us), and we could have fared for ourselves. But it was nice to have the commentary, and to see some of the city on our way to the town centre. We left the HOHO at the Park Esplanadi and spent the day walking around the old port area. It was early morning, and the outdoor market stalls were just getting set up. We did a bit of browsing and shopping then looked up free walking tours on the public computers in the Town Hall. The walking tour didn't work out though, so we just strolled around by ourselves. We had a quick bite to eat in the Old Market Hall, then headed back to the HOHO stop to take the bus back to the cruise ship.
"Havis Amanda is a nude female statue sculpted by Ville Vallgren in Paris, and erected at its present location at the Market Square in 1908. She is a mermaid who stands on seaweed as she rises from the water, with four fish spouting water at her feet and surrounded by four sea lions." ...which seem to be projectile vomiting at the statue.
At the western end of the port, SkyWheel Helsinki dominates the skyline. We didn't ride the SkyWheel, but we did enjoy FlyTour HD Helsinki, a 4D theatre experience.
The produce displayed in several of the market stalls was so attractively arranged. (And at that price...it should be.)
The streets of Helsinki.
We made our way to Senate Square in the hopes of meeting up with the walking tour, but nobody showed up. There was a military exhibition set up for the day though, and the military band was rehearsing for the afternoon's concert. (They sounded great - playing some swing music.)
Didn't really expect to get up close to a rocket launcher on our visit to Helsinki - but there you go.
The Helsinki Cathedral in the background, with a statue of Emperor Alexander II. "The statue, erected in 1894, was built to commemorate his re-establishment of the Diet of Finland in 1863 as well as his initiation of several reforms that increased Finland's autonomy from Russia." Turns out the "Diet of Finland" was a legislative assembly, not a regimen of pickled herring.
The interior of the Helsinki Cathedral with it's stark interior, so different than the opulent, highly decorated churches we saw in Russia.
One of the more ornate buildings that we walked past. There was a broad mix of old, new, ornate and stark architectural designs.
Another heavily "Love-Lock"ed bridge. It's an attractive feature of some European bridges, though at times it has caused problems with the added weight of the thousands of locks.
The Uspenski Cathedral up on a hillside overlooking the city. Unfortunately it was closed on the Monday we were there so we didn't see the interior.
Looking down from the hillside, overlooking the market stall area that we had wandered through earlier in the day.
The Old Market Hall, filled with very nice stalls mostly selling food. We had a quick bite to eat here. Unfortunately, I had the bad luck of breaking a tooth in half eating that quick bite. It was destined to happen one day, and this was the day.
One last shot of some of the colourful buildings that we passed on our bus ride back to the ship.
NEXT: (Day 11) Stockholm, Sweden
PREV: (Day 9) St. Petersburg, Russia - Day 2 (Part Two)
Baltic Cruise - May-June 2018