Finland: Helsinki + Turku

Helsinki

From rainy Norway, we headed to Helsinki - thank god, the sun was shining (well, most of the time). Helsinki is not really a city I hear much about when reading European blogs, I guess it's comparatively 'off the beaten path' considering that it's a major European city. 

Before we starting exploring the city we stopped at what turned out to be an amazing little coffee place (wish I could remember the name) - best cappuccino I have had so far on this trip. We soon realised that Helsinki is a city that fully supports cafe culture - my favourite! 

Michael walking through Esplanadi park, a central and very popular park in Helsinki. 

Next stop was Kauppatori - the central market in Helsinki. 

The market place was in a giant square, right next to the marina, it was huge but a lot of the stalls were selling very similar goods. I was quite tempted by these berries but they were really expensive (yes, turns out Helsinki is not a cheap city). 

Next we made a stop at the Uspenski Cathedral - a major Orthodox cathedral in Helsinki that was situated on top of a hill, overlooking the central market.  

Below: The Helsinki version of the 'love lock bridge?'

Since it was the first sunshine filled day of our summer holidays we were happy to be outdoors - we walked around the marina / port of Helsinki and enjoyed finally getting some sunshine (we were yet to find out how limited our time in the sun would be). 

The Helsinki Cathedral - turns out Helsinki not only has a lot of cafes but also a lot of lovely churches. 

There were a lot of people (tourists) in this square snapping photos. 

While we were walking around Helsinki, Michael took a photo of this sign that he liked - it's pretty clever so I decided to include it. 

We spent almost a full day in Helsinki relaxing in the park and soaking up some sun! This is a panorama taken from Kaivopuisto park in Helsinki - looking south towards the Baltic sea and surrounding small islands. 

Michael, not known for his enthusiasm for park selfies. 

Turku

From Helsinki, we headed to Finland's oldest city: Turku. This was originally the capital city of Finland before Helsinki took over. Turku is a really quiet city on the western coast of Finland, it is the gateway to the Finnish Archipelago as well as Sweden and it's surrounding islands.

Michael striking a pose outside of the Turku Cathedral. 

The Turku Library - this library is actually huge, apparently they have recently renovated it and added on a huge modern section. Turku has it's own university, hence the need for a fully stocked library. I actually thought it was really pretty, I love that all the locals leave their bikes unchained out front. 

Turku is essentially based around the Aura river, there is a lovely riverside walk and the whole walk way is packed with cafes, restaurants and stalls selling ice creams or other snack food. Boats sail along this river and out to the Finnish Archipelago. Above is Michael walking along the Aura river. 

Once again, we invested a fair amount of time in sampling the local coffee that was on offer. 

As we continued to walk along the river it became less focused on cafes and restaurants and more focused on boats - it was really scenic and peaceful. 

Outside the Martime Museum was a boat called the Suomen Jousten, you could pay to go on board the boat but we settled for checking it out from a distance. 

Michael spent a fair amount of time admiring this boat and taking lots of photos. 

Michael posing with his favourite boat. 

We also walked to the Turku Castle (photo above), which was, honestly, one of the more disappointing castles we have seen in our European adventures - we settled for walking around it and the heading off.

I really liked this giant daisy outside of the Maritime Museum, hehe!

One of my favourite stops in Turku was the Market Hall - a huge indoor marketplace filled with street style food, bakeries and sweet treats. 

Above: we stopped a a fish market stall called Wallins that was selling all kinds of delicious fish and seafood goodies. I ordered smoked salmon stuffed with prawns and cheese (YUM) and Michael got a Samlon pie with blue cheese. The fisherman would then cook the fish while you waited and serve you up a very fresh lunch!

These yummy variations of fish and chips ended up being the cheapest meal that we had had since leaving London, 10 euro for the both of us - delicious!

Finally, another one of our favourite things to do while travelling is indulge in a sneaky afternoon beverage - although, I am not sure why Michael looks so angry! 

Well that's a pretty basic summary of our time in Scandanavia - from the limited time we have got to spend here we have discovered beautiful scenery and cities but with a fairly expensive price tag! From here, we head across the Baltic sea to the Baltic country of Estonia. 

xx