From the beginning of December 2024 to the beginning of January 2025, I was in Latvia, Finland, and Sweden. This time we are going to Finland.
From Riga, Latvia to Helsinki, Finland is a one-hour flight. The flight arrived in no time at all. Like Riga, Helsinki is also a bit of a letdown with temperatures in the single digits.
Nevertheless, soon after our arrival in Helsinki, it started snowing. It was quite heavy, and in no time at all it became a silver world.
The originally white Helsinki Cathedral is now completely white. Combined with the Christmas market in front of the cathedral, this was the kind of Scandinavian Christmas scenery I had hoped to see! But the snow had completely melted by the next day. Although it is better for sightseeing without snow, it was a bit disappointing.
The day after arriving in Helsinki, we went to two covered markets to look for food to cook and eat in our rented apartment. one was the Old Market Hall near the harbor. It is a historic building with a great atmosphere, but there is very little uncooked food available.
We moved on to another Hakaniemi market in search of food. As it was just before Christmas, there were crowds, especially at the butcher’s and fishmonger’s shops. I bought some vegetables from the greengrocer, and some glossy salmon fillets and smoked salmon from the fishmonger. On the day before Christmas and the day of the holiday, I ate these simply prepared foods at home.
In addition, my French husband said, “It would be nice to have a buche for dessert at Christmas,” so we went to Chez Janet Gourmet & Gift, a store that sells French pastries. They were already selling galette, which is eaten in January in France, so I bought a slice of that as well. To be honest, I did not have high expectations for the taste, but to my pleasant surprise, “Both the bûche and the galette are delicious! I was pleasantly surprised with the taste of both the bûche and the galette.
Since I had been cooking for myself most of the time in Helsinki, I went to a restaurant only once. I went to the restaurant “Kuu” because it was highly rated on a certain review site. The waiter was very friendly and attentive, and the fresh fish dish, reindeer meat dish, and even the dessert at the end were very good, but all the customers, including myself, were tourists! When I asked the waitress why, she said, “It’s been like this ever since it became the top review site. When there are performances at the nearby National Opera House, Finns come too”.
I went to the Design Museum because I was interested in Finnish design. I thought I would get an in-depth look at the history of Finnish design, but perhaps my expectations were too high, as I felt that neither the permanent exhibition nor the special exhibitions were worth the price of admission. The free Helsinki City Museum, which introduces the history and culture of Helsinki, was more interesting, including the special exhibitions.
There are many churches in Helsinki, but Temppeliaukio Church is made of a large rock hollowed out and filled with glass, creating an open and mysterious space inside. The acoustics are very good, and although it is nice that quiet music is playing, it is also very noisy, with tourists talking loudly! It was unfortunate that there were people with their feet on the chairs and even people taking pictures of cosplayers. It would be better to go when there is a concert going on.
After regaining my composure, I left the church and walked toward the sea, where I found the Hietaniemi Cemetery. In Finland, it is customary to visit graves at Christmas, and candles were lit here and there. It looks like a Bon festival.
We were not able to go inside the Uspenski Cathedral, the largest Russian Orthodox church in Scandinavia, the streamlined Helsinki Central Library, and the wooden Kamppi Chapel, where visitors can experience a world of silence.
We left the city of Helsinki and went to a very popular tourist attraction, the fortress of Suomenlinna. It is only a 15-minute ferry ride away. We took the recommended route on the map available at the tourist information center (Japanese version available), but it took us about 3 hours to see Suomenlinna Church, submarines, cannons, Kingsgate, and so on. The map said there was a Urasenke tea house, so we searched quite a bit to see if we could at least see the entrance, but we were disappointed that we could not find it until the end.
After walking a lot and getting a little hungry, we stopped at a cafe where the quiche and soup felt like they had been properly prepared in the kitchen, and after warming our bodies and minds, we boarded the return ferry back to the city.
There are many saunas in Helsinki, but I found one in the forest, a bit far from the city, and decided to try it. I made a reservation online and went to the sauna, but when I arrived at the time, there were only other guests ahead of me. There was no check-in, and when I wondered what I should do, the guests ahead of me told me many things. Many of them were families. Many people were wearing Santa hats as sauna hats, as if it was Christmas, and the atmosphere was friendly.
You are free to use the swimsuits and sandals in your basket, and you can also rent towels and other goods. After changing into swimsuits in the changing hut (men and women together, but I didn’t mind), you are free to spend the next two hours at your leisure. There are two saunas, and if you need to cool off, you can go to the ocean right in front of you. The water was not frozen, but it was cold enough to give up after a few seconds.
I had the world of the Moomins in my head, and since I entered the city from quiet Riga, my first impression of Helsinki was “It’s a city! I had a big MUJI store in Helsinki. There was also a large MUJI store. This MUJI has locally made products that are only available at MUJI Helsinki. And, to my pleasant surprise, the tap water in Helsinki is very tasty! The water was gentle on my skin and hair, which I appreciated.
Next up was our final destination, Stockholm, Sweden. We spent one night on a ship to get from Helsinki to Stockholm, and the trip was more comfortable than we had imagined.
© Source travel watch
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