After our two days in St Petersburg, we sailed to Helsinki; the capital of Finland.
As we docked quite far out of Helsinki, we had to take a shuttle bus into the city centre. We decided to take the day quite slowly after our busy two days in Russia.
Before we went on our Baltic cruise we watched a few episodes of “Travel Man: 48 Hours in…” as they visited most of the cities we were going to visit on our cruise.
In the episode where they spend 48 hours in Helsinki, they visited the public sauna which you can see in the picture above. They also have outdoor swimming pools so you can cool down after you’ve been in the sauna.
Saunas are a huge thing in Finland and apparently many people have them in their own homes. There’s even a Burger King in Helsinki with a sauna inside!
Right next to the public sauna is a ferris wheel called the SkyWheel. My parents went on it when they visited and they said the view was amazing.
The building in the picture below is the Uspenski Cathedral.
We walked by the harbour and explored an amazing outdoor market that sold food, clothes and souvenirs. Many of the dishes contained reindeer which I was too keen on! We just bought some pretzels from a nearby supermarket instead.
Eventually we stumbled across Helsinki Cathedral. Isn’t it stunning!
We then walked over to the main shopping area of the city. I have to say, it really reminded me of Liverpool. No wondered I fell in love with Helsinki!
As it was a Sunday, many of the shops were closed and the city was very quiet.
So before we went to Helsinki Tyrone and I joked about the idea of seeing Kimi Raikkonen; a F1 driver that we love who originates from Finland.
It was the F1 summer break while we were on holiday so we knew there was a chance of him being at home in Finland with his family, and his wife had tagged herself on Instagram at a gym in the city centre the day we were there (we’re not stalkers at all, I promise!).
Then, while we walking past the park, a Ferrari drove past. Sadly we couldn’t see the drivers face but we are like 90% sure it was Kimi just from the way he had his hand on the steering wheel! Of course, we could be completely wrong but we’re just going to believe we saw him!
We saw trams in most of the cities we visited on this cruise but in Helsinki you can take a tour of city in one of these old fashioned trams. So cute!
After Helsinki we sailed to Stockholm. I have to admit the next post in this Baltic cruise series is quite a short one; mainly because by that point in the holiday my legs were killing me and we didn’t manage to explore too much of the city.
Don’t forget to pop back for the next post!