Skip to content

Scott Of The World

Writings and Travel Blog

  • About
    • About this site
    • Countries I have visited
  • Articles
  • Travel Blog
  • Charlie
  • Gallery
  • Contact Scott
  • Home
  • 2009
  • Helsinki Day 2 – Sightseeing
Read Time:3 m
  • 2009 Helsinki

Helsinki Day 2 – Sightseeing

On September 18, 2009January 31, 2021
Scott D
Share

A fairly leisurely start to the day today.

Me in Helsinki
Me in Helsinki
George relaxing
George relaxing
The end of the peninsula
The end of the peninsula

After waking and having breakfast we went for a nice walk to the tip of the peninsula that Helsinki is on, past the ferry terminals and stopping to take photos on the way. After relaxing for a bit to take in the wonderful scenery we walked back into the city towards the cathedral where we took some more photos. During this random walk we also started our souvenir purchasing at a nice souvenir shop right next to the market square which was a little expensive due to the location but sold some very nice items – we shopped at the market for anything we wanted cheaper.

Helsinki's old streets
Helsinki’s old streets
Me at Helsinki Cathedral
Me at Helsinki Cathedral

The next stop of the day was the Temppeliaukio Church which is like a concert hall built into some exposed bedrock. There were some people practicing for some sort of televised event there – a few musicians were soundchecking and there were TV broadcast vehicles outside so maybe it was an annual concert or something.

The old church in the bedrock
The old church in the bedrock

Right opposite the church was a great souvenir shop that sold everything else we needed. I say everything else as the souvenir shop next to the marina combined with the market allow you to find most things but this shop has things like Christmas decorations and just silly little things that you can buy as presents for people.

We decided to wander back to town and wandered down towards the Tavastia club, which felt like some sort of pilgrimage. To compare, the Tavastia is like the London Astoria, the Key Club, or Radio City Music Hall – the legendary venue where everybody seems to play and that would be missed if it was demolished. Nightwish have played here a few times so it was nice to be able to see it.

Helsinki Tavastia Club
Helsinki Tavastia Club
Esplanadi, Helsinki
Esplanadi, Helsinki
Relaxing in Helsinki
Relaxing in Helsinki

Nobody should go to Helsinki without taking in a cruise around the harbour whatever the weather. We decided to do one with IHA Lines but went back to the hostel first to refresh, put on warmer clothes, put souvenirs in the room etc. We decided we were going to sit on the open deck to take in the sights so needed to prepare!!

George and Icky
George and Icky
Me on the boat called Doris
Me on the boat called Doris

Our cruise took us out into the harbour, past the big ferries and out to the western harbour where the cruise ships dock, freight is shipped out etc. This took us past some nice stereotypical Scandinavian buildings and allowed us to get some good photos of the city. Next stop was Suomelinna, the fortress built on the islands off of Helsinki to protect the city against attack. We didn’t actually stop on the island but went pretty close to it and got some good photos before heading further out into the harbour.

Helsinki by boat
Helsinki by boat
Me on Doris again
Me on Doris again
Suomelinna by sea
Suomelinna by sea

After a while cruising the harbour and seeing many of the beautiful islands we started heading back towards the city. By this time we were the only people still remaining on the upper deck as many people had decided it was too cold – indeed it was but we wanted to take some good photos.

The final stop was the part of the harbour where the ice-breaker fleet is docked and where there are many government buildings before returning to the dock past the big ferries. The cruise took about 90 minutes and was definitely worth it.

Helsinki Icebreaker Fleet
Helsinki Icebreaker Fleet
The National Geographic Explorer
The National Geographic Explorer

One thing I thought was quite nice after the tour we waited to let the large Indian tour group and other tourists get off first, during which time the tour guide was saying thank you to them all in English. However when we went to get off she said Kitos, which is thank you in Finnish, to us which was a nice change and was the first time we haven’t been marked as typical English tourists that only speak English. Even the girl on the checkouts in the supermarket talks to us in English before we even say anything!

Me and Doris
Me and Doris

If anybody is considering doing a cruise on the harbour there are two or three companies to pick from and they all depart from the docks near the market square / presidential palace. They usually take similar routes but some do slightly different things at different times of the day so pick up a leaflet from all of them to pick the one that is right for you. They mostly do tours with live commentary in Finnish and English but others may offer other languages, dinner cruises etc.

We had started to get cold by this point and it was starting to get late so we headed back to the hostel via the supermarket, had dinner and now it’s time for a fairly early night due to the long day tomorrow.

Share

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
In 2009 HelsinkiIn Boat , Eurohostel , Finland , Helsinki , Hostel

Post navigation

Helsinki Day 1 – Travelling
Helsinki Day 3 – Nightwish

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

View blog from a specific trip

Contact Scott

Feel free to send me a message about anything. I'm always happy to hear from visitors to my blog that have any comments, questions, are looking for advice or just want to say hi.

CLICK HERE to view the contact page.

Random Photo

West Africa
West Africa

Read Time:2 m
  • 2009 Helsinki
Scott D
On September 20, 2009January 31, 2021

Helsinki Day 4 – Returning Home

Read Time:1 m
  • 2009 Helsinki
Scott D
On September 17, 2009January 31, 2021

Helsinki Day 1 – Travelling

Read Time:5 m
  • 2009 Helsinki
Scott D
On September 19, 2009January 31, 2021

Helsinki Day 3 – Nightwish

Random Blog Post

  • Into KyrgyzstanInto KyrgyzstanMay 26, 2015

Tags

Africa Airport Asia Boat Burma Bus Camping Central America Central Asia Charlie chernobyl Chile Costa Rica DPRK Dragoman Flight Heathrow Honduras Hong Kong Hostel Intrepid Jinja Kenya kiev Kyrgyzstan Lake Latin America Mergui Myanmar Myeik Namibia Nicaragua North Korea Overland Phuket Pyongyang Rwanda Sailing South America Thailand Truck Uganda ukraine USA World Challenge

Favourite Quotes

“Travelling. It leaves you speechless and turns you into a storyteller”

Copyright 2002 - 2022 Scott Daniells. All right reserved | Theme: Telegram by Themeinwp