Suomenlinna Sea Fortress

Wednesday, October 10

Though the promise of “partly sunny” skies was in doubt when we started out this morning, we remained hopeful that the clouds would part in time for us to see some blue skies, sunshine, and the brighter aspect they would bring to our day.

We left our apartment and took a tram to the central train station, where we stored our luggage until later this afternoon.  Another tram took us to the port and the continuing herring market, where we boarded a ferry (part of the city transit system) for the 15-minute ride to one of Finland’s most visited sites, the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress.  

Construction of the fortress began in 1748, when Sweden ruled Finland, and the fortress served as a Swedish naval base until the war with Russia in 1808; it remained a Russian base for the next 110 years.  The island served as a prisoner of war camp during the Finnish Civil War (1918) and was a naval submarine and artillery base during World War II.  Now, the fortress is a UNESCO heritage site and a peaceful venue for walking paths, parkland, museums, restaurants and a few shops; the site extends over several islands connected by bridges.  There is a large Lutheran (formerly Russian Orthodox) church, with a functioning lighthouse atop its steeple.  The original onion domes of the Orthodox era were removed when Finland took control of the island in the 1920s. 

When we arrived at Suomenlinna, the skies were still mostly overcast, but during our time there, the sun stopped flirting and decided to show itself for real –and what a difference that made!  The gray water of the sea turned blue and the turning leaves started to glow yellow, orange and green.  We reveled in it all -- unzipping jackets, loosening scarves, and removing gloves – as we made our way to the King’s Gate, the spot where the Swedish king’s ship anchored as he surveyed the progress of the fortress’s construction.  We sat for a long time on a dock near the site, enjoying our lunch, the gorgeous scene before us, and memories of the trip we’ve had.

The sun changed even our return ferry ride back through the harbor to the market square.  The trees on the small rocky islands in the harbor showed off their colors, the stars on the domes of the Helsinki cathedral shone, and the golden onion domes atop the copper spires of the Orthodox cathedral fairly twinkled – what a treat!

Back in the port, even the herring market had taken on a lighter feel as we crossed it to take our final tram ride to the Kamppi Chapel of Silence. A cooperative effort between the Lutheran Church and the social services department of the city, the chapel is a roughly ovoid-shaped structure constructed of curved strips of wood – orange-y on the exterior, a pale pine inside.  Set in one of Helsinki’s busiest commercial areas, it is amazingly still inside.  No photos, no whispers, a dozen bare wooden pews, a scattering of pillows, a plain altar holding a simple cross and open bible and lit by a single candle – all these elements combine to make a small space of quiet respite.  

After a few minutes, we were back in the hubbub, on the Metro and headed back to the train station where we reclaimed our luggage and headed out of the city on the commuter train to the airport.  From there, we took a shuttle to our airport hotel for the last night of this trip.   

The first leg of our trip home will be a 6:00 flight to Frankfurt tomorrow morning.  From there, we’ll fly to San Francisco and then home tomorrow evening.  Once there, we’ll no doubt have a chance to re-acquaint ourselves with sunshine on a regular basis!

It’s time to come off the road and get back to real life after another fine trip. Thanks for joining us along the way.

 

Helsinki

Tuesday, October 9

This morning, we decided to follow a walking route described in one of the publications we’d picked up at the TI yesterday, so we took a tram to its starting point, the Senate Square.  This large area is the central city’s main square and was once its trading center.  Today, it’s flanked on two sides by the Government Palace and the University of Helsinki, but they are dwarfed by Helsinki Cathedral, which sits atop two wide sets of steep stone steps.  From its commanding hilltop position, the stark white cathedral topped by five green domes is a landmark visible from much of the city.  The interior of the church is austere, with little ornamentation other than its organ pipes and statues of Martin Luther and two other Lutheran figures.

Back down at sea level, we passed through the Tori District, the tiny historical center, which leads to the harbor-side market.  The Presidential Palace, complete with a couple of palace guards, also faces the port.

Not to be outdone by the Lutheran Cathedral, the Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral commands its own hilltop near the port.  A remnant of Russia’s domination of Finland, the copper-domed brick church is one of the largest Orthodox churches in Western Europe, despite the fact that only 2% of Finland’s population is Orthodox. 

Helsinki has its own area of Art Nouveau architecture, though small when compared with the hundreds of buildings in Riga’s “collection.”  We seemed to be the only tourists checking it out this morning.

We continued following our walking tour along a waterfront area lined with old warehouses now converted to shops and restaurants, all with views of many vintage multi-masted wooden sailing ships moored nearby.

Though it wasn’t exactly raining, there was a wet mist that was beginning to chill and dampen us, so we headed for the Vanna Kauppahalli, Old Market Hall for lunch.  We had terrific salmon sandwiches and were happy to have a chance to sit in a warm, dry place for a while.  

Re-energized, we caught a tram to see the Temppeliaukio, or Rock Church.  One of Helsinki’s main attractions, this Lutheran church was built right into solid rock and topped with a wide shallow dome constructed of concentric rings of copper tape.  Natural light enters through ribbed skylights that surround the dome, and in some spots water seeps down along the rock face.  In addition to being a tourist attraction, this is a functioning parish church.  Its acoustics also make it a popular concert venue; it was set up for an orchestra when we visited today.

Several bus stops from the church, we visited the beautiful park and monument dedicated to Jean Sibelius, Finland’s greatest composer.  His music is credited with helping to build national unity during its struggle for independence from Russia. The surrounding park was doing its best to show off its fall colors, but on this gray day, much of that was left to our imagination.

With that, we took a bus back to the Kamppi (Kampen) Center, where we picked up some wine in the Alko store there.  In Finland, wine and liquor are only sold in these state monopoly stores.  Like everything else here, things are more expensive than in the relatively inexpensive Baltic countries we’ve just visited.  Yesterday on the ferry, we were interested to note people carting cases of soda and beer across the gulf from Estonia.  

Another thing we’ve learned (and seen for ourselves) is that Finland has two official languages.  All the street names and signage are in both Finnish and Swedish; we’ve seen less English signage here than in most places we’ve visited, though everyone we’ve encountered does speak English. 

The forecast for tomorrow looks drier, so we’re hoping to visit a group of islands off the coast of Helsinki, site of an 18^th-century fortress.  Fingers crossed…

To Helsinki

Monday, October 8

We dropped off our rental car at the airport and took a bus to the ferry terminal just outside Tallinn’s Old Town.  We were impressed by the huge ferries making the crossing to Helsinki every couple of hours.  There seemed to be an endless stream of cars and big rig trucks streaming onto the vehicle decks as we joined the pedestrians on the upper decks for the 10:30 sailing. The ship seemed like a cruise ship – bars, lounges, restaurants, duty-free shops, a supermarket, and cabins.  We found ourselves seats and the two-hour Gulf of Finland crossing passed smoothly and quickly.

We took a tram to a large shopping area and transport hub near our apartment.  Because we knew we’d be unable to check in until 4:00, we checked our bags into a storage locker and set off to spend the afternoon getting oriented.  The address we had for the local TI was incorrect (by a lot!), but it did bring us near the local port-side fish market, so we checked out the offerings of everything from herring (It’s herring festival time in Helsinki!) and salmon to reindeer skins and moose burgers.     

As the rain continued on and off, we took a tram to the actual location of the TI, conveniently (and logically) located in the central train station, very close to where we’d left our luggage  some time earlier.  After chatting with a gracious and knowledgeable lady at the TI, and loaded up with maps, we took a Tram for a loop around the city.  This enabled us to get some sense of the lay of the land and – not incidentally – to get out of the rain.

By the time we completed our tram circuit, the rain had abated and we took the Metro one stop back to the transit and shopping center where we reclaimed our luggage and made our way a few blocks to our apartment before the rain began again.