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!