After an overnight ride, we reached the capital of Finland- Helsinki around 11 in the morning.
The bus left everyone near the city centre. One of the tour leaders has already been to Helsinki and was willing to show us around. So, our group with a few others followed her lead and started walking to the most famous building in Helsinki- Helsinki Cathedral. It is located in Senate Square with other famous buildings. The square was filled with shops as part of the Christmas market.
After spending a few minutes in the Cathedral, we discussed our options for the next destination. As most of them were to open in the evening, our tour leader suggested that we should visit Suomenlinna- a sea fortress and a UNESCO World Heritage site located on the coast of Helsinki. We took a ferry ride, approximately 15 minutes to reach the coast. On arrival, one could notice buildings with different architectural styles as the fortress was handed over from three different eras. The island is made up of six kilometers of walls, canyons, a church, a library and exciting tunnels and parks.
The walls extended from one side of the coast to the other and since we were on a cold December day, there had been heavy snow and climbing the walls were restricted as it was slippery and dangerous.
We went through a few tunnels and one of the tunnels led to a frozen lake.
We strolled around for another hour and it was time for us to take the ferry back to the mainland. The sun had already set by 3 and was getting dark. As we were still in the city centre, we went to the most striking building in the distance- Uspenski Cathedral, a cathedral made of red bricks with a striking resemblance to Russian cathedrals.
The church is the largest Greek Orthodox church in Western Europe and home to some rare artefacts.
Our next destination was a unique church that was built directly into solid rock. Thus, the church was known as Rock Church. The church is frequently used as a concert venue for its excellent acoustics. We were unfortunate to miss the entry for the concert by 4 minutes 😞. Do recommend everyone to check the timing for the Rock Church for a unique experience. All were a bit disappointed but decided to walk back to the city centre and grab dinner and end the day at the Old Market Hall. Walking down the streets, I came around a special warning sign asking people to stay away from the houses as there is a risk of snow falling from the roof.
The Old Market has been serving the locals for the last 30 years and merchants sell all types of cheese, confectionaries and has a lot of cafes if you are a coffee lover.
We collected our memories of Finland and were ready to board the bus to continue the journey to Finnish Lapland. Northern Light Awaits…
