Helsinki was a quick stop for us during our Scandinavia tour. This city is mostly known for being a port town with massive cruise ships stopping here everyday.
There is a wonderful market right at the waterfront.
It is full of Finnish goods.
And plenty of Finnish food. We fell in love with the salmon dishes!
The salmon soup, called Lohikeitto, was amazing. This is definitely something I will make when we get home.
Some of the food was a bit out of our comfort zone. I mean how many of you would have eaten a Moose Meat Pie?
Finland as a country has often been overshadowed by their powerful neighbors, Russia and Sweden.
They have persevered wonderfully though and the country is full of people with a good sense of humor and serious LOVE of saunas.
Just to share how much Finns love saunas- there are 5 million people living in Finland and 3 million saunas. That is more than one sauna per household! The Finns view saunas as a necessity as opposed to a luxury.
There are many public saunas that are in resort spas with pools, bars, and restaurants.
Helsinki doesn’t have an old town with cobblestone roads like many other European cities. Instead the architecture is much more modern- and by modern I mean from the 1800-1900’s.
In the center of the city is the Helsinki Cathedral. This Greek looking church was originally built as a tribute to Nicholas I in the mid 1800’s who was the Emperor of Russia and Grand Duke of Finland.
After Finland’s independence in 1917 it became an Evangelical Lutheran cathedral which it remains today.
Another massive building you will notice a few blocks away from city center is the Uspenski Cathedral.
This gothic style church was built to commemorate Russia Emperor Alexander II.
The last part of this post that I highly recommend to anyone coming to Helsinki is go to Suomenlinna, which in English means Castle of Finland.
This fortress is located on an island which is only a short boat ride from Helsinki. It was originally built in 1748 by the Swedish in 1748 to protect against Russian expansionism.
The Swedish surrendered to the Russians here in 1808 during the Finnish War.
The Russians built extensively on the island and during WWI the island became a fortification designed to protect St Petersburg, Russia.
There were tons of man-made caves you could climb through that were completely pitch black, even in the middle of the day.
The fortress became part of an independent Finland in 1917. It also served as a prisoner of war camp during the Finnish Civil War in 1918.
The island has a cute town with coffee shops, hostels, and restaurants.
They also have a WWII submarine you can tour.
Helsinki is a smaller city with lots of waterfront areas. There are tons of harbors filled with beautiful boats everywhere.
There are also many small islands in the distance. Many of which are only big enough for one house or building.
I was lucky enough to witness an amazing sailboat race during a run on the waterfront.
There were hundreds of these colorful sailboats covering the bay. People were stationed all along the water with picnics to spend the afternoon watching the race.
Our trip to Finland was short, but full of surprises. Onto our next stop: Stockholm, Sweden!
Chasing Summer 