Our grand return to the European Union, and the last leg of our Baltic adventure, began with a few days off from city life. I'd hoped to go further north, but the transport fees and schedules weren't in our favor, and honestly, it probably wasn't the right time of year. I'd wanted to visit the Sami people, the European Union's only indigenous people, who inhabit the Arctic Circle across Russia, Finland, Sweden, and Norway. They happily receive tourists interested in learning more about (and financially supporting) the Sami. I'd also have loved to see the Northern Lights, one of northern Finland's major draws, but they aren't generally visible after early-to-mid March. I reluctantly acknowledged that some bucket list items can afford to go unchecked.
We stayed in a home in the outskirts of the Helsinki metropolitan area alongside a lake, complete with rowboat that we took out for a spin. Literally. To be generous, we were both a bit rusty on our rowboat skills, so some spinning definitely happened. I am proud to report, however, that nobody tipped the boat, which counts as a win in my book.
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| Our Airbnb home on a lake came complete with our own private rowboat. |
The next morning we got ourselves out to the Nuuksio National Park, probably the best nature escape near Helsinki. The birch tree forests shaded us from a surprisingly sunny day as we hiked past lakes and rugged, untouched terrain. The scenery could not provide a starker contrast from where we'd just been two days prior, and it provided a welcome balance to the trip.
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| Nuuksio National Park, the best nature escape in Southern Finland |
After a couple of days nearly off the grid, we headed back to the world's second-most northern capital city. The prices immediately reflected that we were back in a Nordic country, where we were no longer equipped for the fancy wining (beering?) or dining of Talinn or Saint Petersburg. But Helsinki still had plenty to entertain while holding tight our purse strings.
We visited fancy churches, from the spartan Lutheran Tuomiokirkko just north of Senate Square to the Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral to my personal favorite, the late-1960s Rock Church, or Temppeliaukio kirkko, whose own unique take on Nordic modesty is expressed in its guise of a giant pile of rocks.
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| Notable churches of Helsinki. Leftmost images: Lutheran cathedral Tuomiokirkko. Top right: Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral. Bottom middle and right: Late 1960s Rock Church, a semi-underground church which appears, from the outside, like a giant pile of rocks. |
We spent our time wandering along the waterfront, down the tree-lined boulevard called Esplanadi, and across the city admiring the sights.
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Highlights of Helsinki.
Top row: Nicolas and me in front of the Sibelius Monument; Rauhanpatsas, or Statue of Peace, a monument to the friendship between the Finns and the Soviet Union, erected in 1968; the Three Smiths Statue, unveiled in 1932.
Middle left: the Helsinki waterfront.
Bottom row: A sideview on the Presidential Palace; a memorial on Esplanadi to Zacharias Topelius, a Swedish-speaking Finnish journalist and historian; a small German church; monument on Esplanadi to Johan Ludvig Runeberg, a Finnish-Swedish poet; the Kallion Kirkko, a church built in the Art Nouveau style that can be spotted all around Helsinki |
While wandering along Esplanadi, we stumbled upon the existence of techno-opera. Who knew?
I even found some impressive consignment shop offerings—thank you,
Recci!
Remarkably enough, through the wonders of Facebook, I had the chance to catch up with a friend I'd made while backpacking through Southeast Asia last year. We didn't just enjoy good company out in the town, but also back in our Airbnb home, where we had the pleasure of staying with a worldly musician and her gracious hostess of a cat.
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| Our feline Airbnb hostess in Helsinki graciously allowed us to share her bed, if we asked nicely. |
Finally, on our very last night, we allowed ourselves a bit of Finnish culinary exploration at Juttutupa, a restaurant and bar that was once supposedly a favorite of Lenin. A table in the corner where Lenin and Otto-Ville Kuusinen supposedly liked to meet up is known today as the "Revolutionary table," at least according to the restaurant menus, though we couldn't figure out which corner table they meant. I sampled the fried vendace fish with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. Not bad at all, though Tallinn still topped the list for food on this Baltic trip.
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| Traditional Finnish food at Juttutupa, supposedly one of Lenin's favorite hang-outs. |
The skies finally opened up on the morning of our departure, but we could hardly complain after Mother Nature had spent the past week and a half smiling down on us. It was time to head home.
