Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki, Finland – what a nice surprise for us! Only a stone’s throw from Tallinn, Estonia (50 miles north) and 250 miles east of Stockholm, Helsinki has a population of about 630,000, an urban population of 1.2 million, and a metro headcount just north 1.4 million – it’s the largest & most populous city of Finland. And as the capital, Helsinki was rated as recent as 2015 as one of the world’s top 10 cities.

There are two cruiseliner ports. If you dock in the larger of the two, I’d recommend the Hop-on/Hop-off bus for sightseeing as it’s quite a distance from city center. If you berth in the smaller one adjacent to the large Ferris wheel & public swimming pool, everything is within reasonable walking distance. When I say reasonable, I mean a good, long day of roughly 10 miles. But a fairly easy walk. We didn’t know any better and purchased our bus tickets, only to Hop-off a short time later and finish the long day on foot. The tickets are always relatively cheap, so no great loss. On our way to catch the bus located behind the Parliament building, we stumbled on a red carpet with security cones, a military band and soldiers. A very nice security guard stopped us – I apologized profusely and he simply smiled. I asked what was going on, and he said the Prime Minister of Japan & his wife were due to arrive for a meeting. I asked if we could wait for photos and he said as long as we remained behind the cones. It was about a 20-minute wait before we heard sirens and a convoy of black SUV’s pulled in. It was the security detail along with the traveling news media. About 5 minutes later, the Prime Minister’s motorcade pulled in amid cheers from the growing crowd. We were able to get a few decent pictures as he walked the red carpet and acknowledged the local military. What a great way to begin the day! 

Called the "Daughter of the Baltic", Helsinki is located on the tip of a peninsula and on 315 islands. The inner city area occupies a southern peninsula. We talked with a local travel guide who told us the average maximum temperature from June to August is around 66 to 72 °F. She also said our visit marked the sunniest day of the year so far. She moved from Italy a few years ago and said she was almost ready to head back because of continual cold, wet days. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages here, but we found that most speak English.

Overall, we had a great day touring and walking the city. As with most of the ports we’ve visited on this trip to date, we found the city to be clean, well-maintained, & friendly.