Since our last weekend was coming up, me and Miha decided we wanted to see the capital of Finland. So we bought the train tickets, booked a hotel room and on Saturday morning started our adventure.Of course we planned what we wanted to see, so we were almost completely prepared.
We arrived at Helsinki at 10 o’clock, bought a daily ticket for public transport and made our way to the market square. There was lots of stalls with all kinds of things. From woolen gloves, socks, hats, scarfs, to jewelry, postcards and many more. It was beautiful to see so many people at once, but we were trying to get to the port.
Our first destination was an inhabited sea fortress built on islands called Suomenlinna. We hopped on a ferry that took us on a 10 minute ride to one of the islands. On the ferry we got a brochure with a map of all the important history points, museums, shops and restaurants. We made a trip looking around all the historically important points. I was amazed with the looks of it, but it was freezing and the wind was strong, so we needed to get inside. We had planned to check the Military Museum of Manes, located on the island. It was interesting, but not all text next to the exhibit was translated so it was hard to understand what some things were about.
After our history lessons we caught a ferry back to the land. We were hungry and cold, so we found the nearest restaurant and had some dinner. Because it was already dark and we were still shivering with cold, we decided to call it a day and get to our hotel. I took a shower and the second I lay in my bed, I was gone.
In the morning we got up, packed our things, and went to the dining room for breakfast. While eating, we were completing our plan for the day and as soon as we ate, we went out.
Our first stop was Helsinki Central library, Oodi. It was huge and there were 2 floors that haven’t had any book in them. On the ground floor there was a bar and information point, on the second there were study rooms, guitar “exhibition,” music studios, rooms with 3-D reality games, computers, … On the top floor, there was a library as I know it. Lots and lots of bookshelves. But there were also sofas, chairs, pillows, where visitors could take a moment for themselves.
Next was a walk through a park in celebration of a great composer Jean Sibelius. There is also a monument made by Eila Vilhelmina Hiltunen dedicated to him. It was a long walk back to the center, so we decided to warm up in a coffee shop before continuing our trip. We drank our coffees chatting about our exchange coming to an end and we both had mixed feelings about it.
In Finland predominant religion is Evangelical Lutheran Church, followed by atheists and Orthodox Church. Of course we had to visit both Lutheran and Orthodox cathedral. First, we walked to the Uspenki cathedral, which is an Orthodox cathedral. Sadly it was closed due to renovations, so we had no other option but to go on. So we went to The Evangelical Lutheran Helsinki Cathedral. This one was luckily open. It was huge, with great acoustics, big choir and the most beautiful organs I have ever seen. Since we had 3 more hours before our train left, we sat in there for a bit, before going to the railway station.
Helsinki really surprised me and I hope, I can visit it again in the future.
