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Links: to Copenhagen Baltic cruising :Day 1 - Copenhagen to Oslo Day 2 - Oslo Finale: Copenhagen encore
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leaving Helsinki, Finland, 11 June 2014, Wednesday One of them I half regret is not seeing the "rock church" properly. Its proper name is the Temppeliaukio Church, and it's quarried out of natural bedrock, so you can see why it's called by its pop name. Another church which probably deserved a closer look was the Uspenski Cathedral (right), said to be the largest Orthodox Cathedral in Western Europe (Finland is largely of the Lutheran denomination). But, touring around can be tiring - too much to see, too much to absorb. Dave's been away from home two months now, and I'm sure days and countries are blending into each other for him - I know they are for me, and I've had only half that time travelling. One benefit of these condensed city tours is the little dose of history the tour commentaries contain. For example, I didn't know that these Scandanavian countries have a fair record of struggles for territory, and that Finland was once part of Sweden. Finland's spot on the globe does mean it is squeezed between conflicting interests - most recently, between the USSR and the West. |
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| Helsinki was meant to have her moment of sporting glory in 1940, when the city was allocated the Olympics. World War Two intervened, and Finland had to defer its date with history to 1952 , when the city staged the Summer Games. Two standout reminders of that are the Olympic Stadium, with its 72m high tower, and the national tennis centre, built for those games. | ||||||||
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above: the Olympic Stadium, and right, the national tennis centre |
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Our ship was berthed at a wharf reserved for these big cruise liners. Outside our cabin window is a construction site (below). It looks like the authorities are expecting a big growth in such traffic as there is a fair bit of work going on, apparently extending these berths as vessels such as the Royal Princess are too big for the inner city wharves.
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One of Helsinki's tree-lined streets, with trams and tram lines. Finland's national Parliament building |
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| And another time change is
coming tonight, when we gain an hour on the voyage across the
northern Baltic to Sweden.
Tomorrow - a day out in Stockholm |
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As
far as sightseeing is concerned, today was a very lazy day in
Helskinki. Despite the warm, sunny day, just meant for getting
out and about, we didn't feel like doing much. So, we jumped on
one of those hop-on/hop-off buses around the city. As a
consequence, we probably missed half a dozen sights worth
seeing, or just caught glimpses of them in our drive-by.
The
overall impression of Helsinki is of a pleasant maritime city
(it covers quite a few islands), with trees and green parks in
abundance. Traffic is often brought to a standstill by
roadworks, since summer is so brief here, and that's when all
the road repairs have to be done.
