Sheila's Ports of Call Guides: The Beautiful Baltics, Part 3: Happy Helsinki

I have to admit that I was less excited about seeing Helsinki than I was Stockholm and the other Baltic ports of call on my recent cruise, and I get the feeling that this is a common reaction. Helsinki is a nice town, seemingly quiet and peaceful, with friendly people, but it just doesn't seem to hold the true dramatic appeal that many of the other Baltic ports do.

One recommendation that I can make right off the bat for Helsinki is if you are going to be exploring on your own, get a good map, especially if you use your cruise line's shuttle service into town. You need to take some form of transportation from your cruise ship dock into town, unless you're up for quite a walk and you have lots of time. Our cruise line offered a roundtrip shuttle from the dock into town for 8 Euros per person, and since that was less expensive than the cost of a taxi, we took the shuttle. The problems began, however, when the shuttle let us off in the middle of town and we had no idea of where to go and what to see from there. Luckily, I had downloaded an interactive map on my iPhone for this city because the map I had from the cruise ship plus the confusing location where the shuttle left us made it difficult to navigate at first. I had to ask the driver to locate us on the map and to point us in the right direction because I had no idea where we were as we were on some side street that I couldn’t identify.

Once I figured out where we were, though, the city was pretty easy to navigate on foot. Turns out we were about a block away from a large, beautiful park called Esplanade Park, which seemed to be the focal point of the city because people were out there relaxing, people watching, and picnicing all day. The park had beautiful lawn areas and landscaping with flowers and trees, and there were statues in the ceter commemorating important people and events in Helsinki's history. There were streets bordering both the north and south sides of the long park, and these streets had upscale shopping and cafes with outdoor seating, so it really seemed like that whole area was the place to be in Helsinki, and people seemed relaxed and happy. Here is a picture of part of the park:



Once you have walked along the park, it turns out that if you continue to follow either of the streets lining the park straight for a couple of blocks, you will end up at the downtown pier area. This area hosts a daily Farmer's Market where they sell food, ice cream, beverages, produce, meats, and souvenirs. There are many orange-colored tents there and many things to buy and look at, so it's an interesting place to spend some time. All of the sellers that we encountered at the Farmer's Market spoke English, and they were all very friendly and eager to talk about how much they loved their city. Some sellers there took credit cards, but it turns out that if you need to get cash for shopping, there is a bank in a gray building on Etelaespanadi (the street on the south side of Esplanade Park) to the west of the Farmer's Market area.



Once you have walked through the farmer’s market you can continue down Pohjoiesplanadi (the street on the north side of the park) towards the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, the Uspenski Cathedral, which is visible from there. This beautiful church with its red-brown brick, green roof, and gleaming gold onion domes sits on a hill about 2 or 3 blocks walk from the Farmer's Market area.



We didn't go in the Uspenski Cathedral but we walked around that area and had a snack at a nice quiet café along the waterfront behind the church. Afterwards, we went back west along Alexandersgatan until we came upon Senate Square and the Lutheran Cathedral. The gleaming white cathedral with its giant green dome is set in the center of a square that houses not only the Senate building but (I believe) the University of Helsinki. Unfortunately, the cathedral is situated at the top of about 50 steps or so, and with our being so tired, we didn’t go in, but apparently it is quite beautiful inside.



There is a nice souvenir shop across the street from the cathedral, and if you walk straight south from the Cathedral you will come up to Esplanade Park again. From there, we walked back west and over to our shuttle stop, but not before we stopped in a store where I bought a new pair of shoes.

Overall, Helsinki is a nice town but it doesn’t have the appeal or attractions that Stockholm or other Baltic ports have; however, if the weather is nice and you don’t feel like doing a ton of grueling sightseeing, the park and waterfront area is a very nice place to shop, have a bite to eat, and watch the happy people of Helsinki!

Sheila's Ports of Call Guides: The Beautiful Baltics, Part 2: Spectacular Stockholm

If you arrive in Stockholm by cruise ship and dock at Frihamnen Pier, there are a couple of ways to get into town from there. Some cruise lines offer a shuttle service; ours did, and it dropped you off at the Opera House, which was still a few blocks walk to Gamla Stan, the Old Town. You can also take a taxi, but they are expensive. The least expensive alternative is to take the public bus. You can take the #76 bus into town, and you catch the bus at a stop outside Frihamnen Pier. How do you find the bus stop? You follow the blue line that is painted on the street and it will lead you directly to it! One key point you need to know if you want to take the bus into town: BUY YOUR BUS TICKETS FIRST! If you decide to just get off the ship and follow other people walking to the bus stop, you will end up VERY disappointed because you cannot buy bus tickets from the driver; you must buy them in advance.

You can buy your bus tickets inside the port building which you walk through right after you get off the ship. You can buy single tickets, return tickets (one ride there and back), or all-day tickets, which are good for multiple rides on and off throughout the day. Since we didn't plan on taking the bus more than just getting to Gamla Stan and back, we bought only return tickets, and they were still less expensive than the cruise line's shuttle (and they got us closer to Gamla Stan). It is quite a walk to the bus stop outside the Frihamnen port area – probably about a mile — but certainly doable in 15 to 20 minutes, so keep that in mind if you can't walk well. The buses can be crowded and are not air conditioned (at least they weren’t when I was there) so keep that in mind if you are traveling in warm weather. Board the bus through the front door and show your ticket to the driver. Once you are on the bus, notice the electronic displays which tell you the next stop coming up and watch for your stop. When your stop is approaching, press one of the red buttons on the bus to request a stop, and you may have to press another button in front of the bus door to get it to open.

We took the #76 bus from outside the port area to Kungstradgarden, which is a short walk to Gamla Stan (Old Town) so we could get cash at an ATM, and it was about 3 blocks straight and across a bridge to Gamla Stan. If you don't need to get cash first and want to go right to Gamla Stan, you can take the bus to the Slottsbacken stop. Kungstradgarden is a very nice part of town, very modern, and it is in stark contrast to the Gamla Stan. If you get off at Kunstradgarden like we did, you follow that street (Kungstradgardsgatan) in the direction the bus was going and you will eventually come to a bridge; you can see the Royal Palace from there so it’s easy to find your way. The picture below is a view of the Royal Palace from across the bridge on Kungstradgardsgatan.



If you get to the Royal Palace before noon on a weekday you can see the changing of the guard ceremony, which is pretty cool. You need to walk around to the side of the palace and enter the courtyard there in order to see the ceremony so don’t get confused if you can’t find how to enter the palace grounds. The Palace is not a grand, spectacular building, but it is very large and stately looking and you can tour the Royal Apartments and other areas for a fee. Here is a photo from the ceremony:



I had planned to follow a walking tour that I had downloaded from the Internet but we decided to just walk around and go where we wanted. We ended up on a major thoroughfare, Vasterlanggatan, that had tons of shops and cafes, so it was very nice, and with the weather being sunny and in the mid-70s, it was really a wonderful day. We did some shopping in the myriad of shops (souvenir and otherwise) but as we weren’t very hungry, we decided to wait until we got back on the ship to have lunch. As we worked our way back up through Gamla Stan to the bus stop, we came across the Nobel Museum and took a few pictures but we did not go in. Stockholm is really a great city and everyone we encountered was very friendly and spoke English, so communication was not a problem at all.

There are many other sights to see in Stockholm, like the Skansen (open-air museum) and the Vasa Museum (a 17th century warship recovered from the ocean after sinking on her maiden voyage), and you can see these by taking a ferry from Gamla Stan; or by the #76 bus to the Djurgarden stop.

To catch the #76 bus back to Frihamnen from Gamla Stan, you walk to the Royal Palace, cross the street, and walk about a block down to your right and the stop is in the middle section of the street. The ride back to Frihamnen is relatively short, and once you get off the bus, you follow the lines on the pavement back to the pier.

Another option for getting around town and sightseeing in Stockholm is the Hop On/Hop Off ("HOHO") bus and/or boat. You can catch the HOHO bus right at the Frihamnen Pier and it will take you all around Stockholm, including Gamla Stan; but it is a much more expensive option, and I think you can get around from sight to sight pretty easily by either taking buses and ferries or walking. Plus, if you walk or use public transportation to get from place to place, you get more of a feel for the city than you would if you just sat on a sightseeing bus. I thought that taking the #76 bus was very easy and I would recommmend it to all of my cruise clients who would like to see Stockholm on their own while in port.

All in all, Stockholm is a very cool city: it has an interesting contrast between old and new; interesting things to see; great shopping; and very friendly people. In one word, I'd say Stockholm is SPECTACULAR!

Sheila's Ports of Call Guides: The Beautiful Baltics, Part 1: Wonderful Warnemunde

Warnemunde, Germany (pronounced "Var-nah-moon-duh") is the port of call for Berlin, which is about 3 hours away by bus. There are many excursions available to Berlin, and most last all day since it takes so long to get there. If you don't want to venture that far into Germany, there are other places to see that are closer, like Schwerin, for instance; and if you don't feel like going far at all you can take a very short train ride to Rostock, or you can just hang out in Warnemunde. I would be willing to bet that most passengers on our cruise went to Berlin, because the ship seemed quite empty until the late evening, and then you saw many people walking around looking absolutely exhausted.

My travel companion and I didn’t want to take the long trip to Berlin this time so we decided to go somewhere a little closer. One of the great things about the port in Warnemunde is that the train station is a very short walk from when you get off the ship. In the photo above to the left you can see a line of people walking from the ship to the train station. We took the train from Warnemunde to Rostock, and then from there bought tickets to Schwerin (pronounced "Shway-reen") so we could go to see the castle there. I wasn't sure how long the train ride would be to Rostock and I asked a lady sitting near us how far the Rostock station was, but she didn't speak English. Nevertheless, we arrived at Rostock safely by watching the signs as we arrived at each station.

We arrived at Rostock station on the lower level and had to go upstairs in order to find someone who spoke English and who could help us buy our tickets to Schwerin because I had trouble figuring out which train we needed to take from the signs on the lower level. The lady at the DB Service Point counter was very nice and we got our tickets promptly. Once we bought our tickets to Schwerin Mitte station, which is the closest train station to the castle, we had a bit of a wait so we walked around the immediate area of the station, but there really isn’t much there other than a pharmacy and a few other shops.

The photo on the below on the left is the front of the Rostock train station.

The train to Shwerin Mitte station took about an hour, and it turns out that the cars have a digital display telling you the next stop so it really is easy to navigate. I was a little worried about how exactly to get to the castle after we arrived at Shwerin Mitte, but it actually turned out to be a piece of cake.

After you get off the train, you take the stairs up to the street level and turn right. Ahead of you is a shopping center called Schlosspark Center, and if you walk in that direction, you eventually will cross a parking lot and you can enter the mall from there. Once inside the mall, you turn to the right and walk all the way down to the end. When you exit the mall doors at the street level, you will face a street called Schlossstrasse that leads directly to the castle. You walk straight down that street for about a mile and the castle is right there. You turn right at the castle and walk around to the side to the entrance. Entrance fee is 6 euro per person and an audiogude is another 2 euro. There were a fair number of rooms to see but most had no furniture, or the furniture that was there was not authentic. Overall the castle was interesting to see but not a major attraction and it does not compare with other castles in Germany, such as Linderhoff or Neuschwanstein.


After touring the castle we started heading back to the train station, but as the train to Rostock is every two hours, we had more than 90 minutes to kill before the next train, so we explored. We found a lot of stores on streets right off the Schlossstrasse, so we shopped a little and then we found a great little café in which to have lunch. We had pork medallions, fried potato dumplings stuffed with sour cream and cheese, and salad. It was delicious and it was a nice way to relax and soak up some German atmosphere. Our waitress did not speak English so we had to gesture and point, although she did understand us enough to give us a menu translated with English, and luckily we had Euros on hand because the restaurant did not accept credit cards.

To get back to the train station, you go back down the same street from the castle, enter the mall, go all the way down to the other end, turn left, and take the elevators to the top floor of the parking structure. Exit the elevator, then find a gate leading to the sidewalk. Follow the sidewalk until you can turn right and you will see the train station. At the station, look at the platforms below and you should be able to see on which track the train back to Rostock will be arriving. As I said earlier, the train back to Rostock from Schwerin Mitte station only runs every two hours, so you need to plan your day accordingly if you want to visit Schwerin by train. The ride back to Rostock was pleasant, and this time when we arrived at the station, we easily found the right track for the train back to Warnemunde. When you arrive back in Warnemunde, you can take the tunnel that goes under the tracks and keep going straight and that will lead to you to the port area, where you turn right and you should see your ship docked there.

Another couple of notes about our day: it was mid-May when we were in port and the temperatures were in the high 40s/low 50s, so if you visit this area around that time of year, be prepared and dress in layers. Also, we did not encounter many people who spoke English outside of shops and attractions, so communication could be a problem if you don't speak German.

Overall, my travel companion and I had a great time on our adventure to Shwerin and we thoroughly enjoyed our day. I've heard from other travelers that Rostock is a nice place to hang out and sightsee, and I think next time I go to Warnemunde I will do that; but for now, I consider Warnemunde to be quite wonderful.