Our second day in Finland

Today was our second full day in Helsinki. We had been here one day, prior to leaving for Russia about 11 days ago.

The plan for today was to visit the island of Suomenlinna,to get there we caught a ferry for about 15 minutes.  Suomenlinna was inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1991 to preserve it for future generations as an example of 18th century fortress architecture in Europe. Whilst there are a numbers of interesting sites to visit, the three main sites of attraction are the fort and a church and a WWII submarine.  The fort was built by the Swedes in the mid 18^thcentury. The church, Soumenlinnan Kirkko, was built by the Russians in 1854. It originally was a Russian Orthodox Church with its typical onion domes, in the 1920s it became a Lutheran church and its exterior was changed, no more onion domes. One interesting fact about this church is that it is the only church in the world to be a church as well as a lighthouse.

We walked around the fortress, and this gives you a better understanding of the type of hard life that the people living in this environment and time must have had.

A really interesting place to visit and explore.

Returning to the city area we explored, for a second time the local market in the port area, and I took the opportunity to buy a hat, as the one I had purchased in Iceland was left behind in Moscow’s railway station, about a week ago.

We had a stop in the Senate Square, a big plaza in the centre of Helsinki, to have a break and eat a nice icecream. 

The last stop today was at one of the five branches of the Helsinki city museum. This museum was built by a wealthy merchant.  It is certainly a very interesting museum providing the visitor with a very comprehensive of the development of Helsinki as a city, including its social and political history.  It has sections dedicated to children’s activities, and today – being a Sunday, many families were here enjoying this great museum.  Again a very worthwhile place to visit in Helsinki.

Tomorrow we have an early start as we are spending the day in another country, Estonia, and we are leaving early to get there by ferry.

Please see more photos of today’s journey here

Another great day in Finland.