Day 6 - Helsinki, Finland

Today we woke up right by the port of Tallinn - we’d booked this hotel on purpose, because the ship for Helsinki left at 7:00 in the morning. The port terminal was like an airport, and to get into the ship you followed a long corridor - Lampros couldn’t believe that it was a closed space, he thought we would embark like in Greece, by the car garage. We got in, it left 20 minutes early and found a nice spot to sit. Even though I started watching a film I couldn’t stay awake, so I followed Lampros’s steps and slept on my backpack.. we arrived in Helsinki around 9:30, the trip was very smooth but the cold hit us as soon as we walked out…although the sun was out, the temperature was only 2 degrees.😬 (it really hurts your face but it’s free Botox!)
Firstly, we went into the food court that’s on the port where we “scouted” for what we would be having for lunch later on😉. Then, we decided to visit a cafe called RAMS that had the same policy as all the other cafes we’ve been in - no laptop area. We spent some time there to sort out what we would be doing with our day. After we enjoyed our coffee and a warm welcome from a small black dog that was excited to see us, we walked around the city. We saw the cathedral, a few souvenir shops (everything is so expensive here compared to the rest of the countries we’ve visited on this trip), and just enjoyed the sun where it wasn’t windy!
In Finland, there’s a very popular children’s book series called “Moomin” and it’s about some small trolls that look like hippos but are called Moomins. These tales are very popular in Finland and the Nordic countries - I remember seeing them in Norway shops and in Copenhagen, and I also know that Cecilie likes them a lot too (surprise!). After visiting their boutique I’m intrigued in reading a few, maybe I have to add them to my reading list soon..!
Then it was time for checking into our room - which was a small apartment and rather challenging to get to - the key was in a lock around a bicycle opposite the building, then we had to figure out the exact door and find the apartment but we managed in the end 😂.
Around lunch time, we noticed a lot of young kids walking in the streets and we suspect that they were all returning home from school - by themselves, crossing roads, saying goodbye to their friends and continuing their way, on scooters, all super independent and happy. We discussed how confident they looked by doing so and what a difference it makes to a society when kids are allowed to be moving freely at such a young age and taking the responsibility of themselves - and on the opposite side, how welcoming society around them is considering that they’re not in danger or afraid to do so. Who knows when (or if ever!) kids in Greece will be able to do so…food for thought.
After our walk we went back to the food court and had a couple of Vietnamese sandwiches, I had the pulled pork and Lampros had the shrimp. They were delicious, just what we needed after all that walking. We were considering visiting the saunas which is a must in Finland, but our time was limited and we didn’t have swimming costumes or flip flops which meant that we would have to rent those too, plus our towels and entrance fee. Instead, we decided to use their public transport by boat and visit a small island called “Suomenlinna” for a quick walk around. The boat only took 10 minutes and then we roamed around the island for another 40’ so we could get back to Helsinki by 19:00. The island has the Naval academy there and we saw a few sailors in uniform arriving to Helsinki for their night out. We explored the old fortress which was built in 1760 by the Swedish Kingdom. It felt very peaceful and we noticed that there are many residents on the island. Ideal for an antisocial person! 😂
When we got back to Helsinki, we decided to have burgers, so visited one of the shopping centres and eat there.
Already very tired, we headed back to our room. Now, we’ve sorted our backpacks out for tomorrow since it’s our last night away. We watched a bit of YouTube and climbed on our bed (look for it in the picture!)
Sweet dreams! See you tomorrow!Læs mere