Global Wanderer

15/11/24 – 17/11/24

After two flights – broken up by a short stop in Riga Airport – we finally landed in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, around 8:30pm. The air was cold, and with the wind chill the temperature hovered around -4º, but that’s nothing that a big coat can’t fix!

We took the train from the airport (incredibly efficient) out to Pasila Station, where we then hopped a tram to our accommodation for the next two nights – Citybox Helsinki. Accommodation out here can be pretty expensive, but the Citybox in Kallio – Helsinki’s ‘hipster’ neighbourhood – worked out really well! The hotel rooms are modern and pretty barebones, with no TVs or mini-fridges or anything like that, with amenities instead being provided on the ground level with a communal kitchen and dining area, and a laundry room – something I quite liked, as it meant we could eat/drink in the area as though we were sat in a cafe!

We headed out into the local neighbourhood to get a bite to eat (we ended up at a kebab shop given that it was now around 11pm, and everybody in Helsinki had shut up shop for the night), dove into the supermarket for some breakfast supplies, and made our way back to the hotel for a much-needed sleep!

The next morning, after eating our doughnuts and drinking our coffee (both acquired the night before at the local S-Market), we began walking into the centre of Helsinki. The city centre itself is incredibly compact, and it was only a 15/20 minute walk or so before we reached Helsinki Central Station, complete with its famous lantern-bearing stone guards.

Impressive building design, that’s for sure!

Helsinki Central Station is the terminus for a variety of regional trains, as well as a stop on the Metro line. The most important mode of transport in the city, though, are the trams, which run along a number of streets in a way that is very reminiscent of Melbourne. The trams in Helsinki are interesting – they are uni-directional, they almost all run along the street within normal traffic, and the curves that they attack were sharper than any other light rail system I’ve ever seen! Street-running is no problem for them, especially given the lack of cars and traffic – you’d be forgiven for forgetting that you’re in a capital city! On top of that, the cars that ARE found on the road defer every time to pedestrians who may be crossing – right of way is taken seriously here!

One of Helsinki’s many trams

We spent the rest of the morning walking through the centre of Helsinki, checking out the variety of important buildings, including the Helsinki Cathedral and Senate Square, Esplanadi, Uspenski Cathedral, Old Market Hall, and most importantly, the Moomin Store (celebrating the shop’s first birthday with free Moominsnacks!). Helsinki’s main sights are all located within walking distance of each other, which made it quite easy to see everything within a relatively short space of time! We also stopped by the Helsinki Markets, located on Esplanadi, right in front of the dock for the ferry to Suomelinna, where I ate a reindeer sausage. When in Rome, right?!

A collection of photos from our morning exploring central Helsinki – including my Moominjuice!

After stopping for a coffee – apparently Finns drink more coffee than anyone else on Earth! – we decided to take the ferry over to Suomelinna, an island just off the coast of Helsinki known for its history as a military/naval fortress defending the city. Between the beautiful natural environment of the island, and the military history, Suomelinna proved to be a great way to spend our afternoon – we only left when the 75km/h winds and rain began to get too much!

Suomelinna – located just 15 minutes off the coast of Helsinki and absolutely worth the visit!

By the time we had made it back to our accommodation in Kallio, we were soaked through and in need of inexpensive feeding – luckily, we’d spotted a pizza place nearby with large pizzas for €8.50! I must point out – everything I’d read online prior to coming to Helsinki had warned me that it would be expensive – but clearly the people writing these articles haven’t been to Australia recently! The average price of things in Helsinki seemed roughly on par with those in Australia, and occasionally they would actually come out a bit cheaper – a nice surprise, for sure.

Our last act for the day was to go to a Finnish sauna. The Finns take their saunas seriously – I believe that Finnish saunas are actually on the UNESCO cultural heritage list! – and so we knew we’d have to do one before we left! I’d made a booking for 9:30pm at Löyly Sauna, and so we made our way up there, looking forward to the warmth of the sauna, and a little apprehensive at the thought of jumping into the freezing cold Baltic Sea, something you do to cool down after sitting in the sauna.

I must say – it was a great experience, something absolutely worth doing if you are in Finland, but by god, the Baltic Sea was COLD!

We were up early the next morning, refreshed after the sauna, with doughnuts and coffee again in hand, this time ready for the next adventure – bring on the Baltics!