Three Blacksmiths Statue
Today was the first day we’ve arrived at a port in mid-morning, docking at about 10:30 am. We were again amongst the first passengers to get off the ship, and took the second shuttle bus, for €10 into the centre of Helsinki.
Selling fish from the boat
Helsinki is a fairly modern city unlike the others we have been in on this cruise. It has no walls or ancient buildings. We walked through the market, where many stalls were being set up, selling vegetables and fruits. We saw one woman selling fish directly from the back of her boat. At another stall a young woman was selling flowers pressed between glass. Enid bought a small one for her miniature wall at home.
Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral
We went to the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral. It sits high on a large rock overlooking the harbour. Unfortunately it was closed on Monday so we could not go in.
Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral
From here we walked towards the Lutheran Cathedral. We arrived just in time to avaoid a large tour bus, and go into the church without it being crowded.
After lunch in the Esplanade, where we were dive bombed by a couple of gulls as we ate, we walked to a grocery store where Enid got some granola bars. There were young women riding on bicycles, or walking around town wearing bright green bibs, marked “Tourist Information”. They were giving out information about Helsink and so Enid had asked one where we could find a store.
We then walked towards Temppellaukio Church. It was rather hard to find from our city map. It is blocked off from view by many apartment buildings, and it isn’t a tall structure as it is embedded right in the rock. Without the GPS on the phone I’m not sure we’d have found it from the maps we had. The church has a huge copper domed roof. There was a piano concert in progress. All around the piano were “No Picture” signs (a camera with a red slashed circle over it) and right beside it stood a woman taking a picture of the pianist. Since the signs were right around the piano only, and everyone else was ignoring them and taking pictures of the church, so did I (but not of the pianist). As we were exiting the church a large tour bus of Oriental tourists was entering, and jabbering loudly, The girl at the front desk was trying to “Sssh” them with her finger over her lips, but wasn’t having much success. Although there were signs all around in many languages saying “Quiet” it didn’t seem to be having much effect.
After leaving the church we walked back to the Stockmann Store, a very large high-end department store. Enid must have been tired as she hardly looked at the women’s shoes!
A shuttle bus was waiting, and we were back at the cruise ship in mid afternoon, about 3:30 pm.