15 June 2018, Friday
This morning, I went up to the 7th floor of my Eurohostel to make use of the free sauna. Use of the morning sauna from 7am to 10am is included in the room rate (i.e. free) while evening sauna from 5pm to 10pm is chargeable at €7.50/guest. Saunas are an integral way of life in Finland so it was great that the hostel provided one that was free for all its guests to use. After an invigorating sauna session, I had breakfast at the self-service kitchen before heading out at 9:30am.
My agenda for today was to join a free walking tour. I found one by Green Cap Tours (click here) and the meeting place was at Senate Square at 10am. Our guide for today was a young lady called Milja, who was wearing a green cap, of course. I didn’t want to tell her that in Chinese societies, you’ll never see a man wearing a green hat or cap because it means that he is a cuckold, that is to say his wife is being unfaithful to him. But it’s ok for women to wear green caps. J
The group was a comfortable size of about 15 people. Milja first brought us to Helsinki Cathedral before going to the University of Helsinki, where we walked through its library and campus. We then made our way to Market Square, where Milja gave us about 18 minutes of free time to explore the market stalls.
Following that, we went to Esplanadi, a narrow park in the heart of the city. Here, Milja introduced us to Johan Ludvig Runeberg, the national poet. He also wrote the national anthem and the words are inscribed at a statue here.
Next, we went to Fazer Café at Kluuvikatu 3. This is the original outlet opened in 1891 by Karl Fazer and it offers French-Russian delicacies that are very popular among the locals.
We eventually made our way to the Helsinki Music Centre and ended the tour there at about 11:40am. It was a casual, informal tour that was not too heavy on information. Overall, it was quite enjoyable. We didn’t take a group photo so I approached Milja to snap a photo with her.
She shared that she was planning to do the whole Trans-Mongolian railway journey and make her way to Singapore sometime in the future. She would essentially be taking the same route as me but in the opposite direction. However, I didn’t exchange contact numbers with her because she was likely going on the trip with her boyfriend, so I wished her well for her own adventure. Later that night, I wondered if all these walking tour guides are really all attached…or do they all say so as a polite way to reject unwanted advances by their guests? Hmmm…
A fellow Singaporean, Shi Mei, was also on the tour. She was just stopping over in Helsinki for a few hours before heading to Krakow (Poland) later today. She would then visit a few other places before going to Tallinn (Estonia), which was my next destination. We hit it off pretty well so we decided to do some more sightseeing together. I told her I’d like to visit Temppeliaukio Church (click here) so we went there first. It was about 15 minutes away on foot. I paid €3 (S$4.88) for a visitor ticket to enter.
It was perhaps the most unique church I had visited so far. Excavated directly into solid rock, the walls of the church were covered in rough, jagged rocks instead of bricks, cement or wood. And instead of a regular rectangle shape, the church was circular and topped with a huge copper dome that looked like a UFO saucer. The pews were also laid with funky purple cushion coverings, making it very contemporary and un-churchlike. I liked that the panels between the dome and rock walls allowed plenty of skylight to enter, illuminating the space and giving it a natural glow. It was very cool and well worth a visit.
After that, we took a long walk back to the harbour to visit Old Market Hall, located next to Market Square. This is the first indoor marketplace in Helsinki, opened in 1889. There are 25 stalls here selling cheese, deli products, cakes, coffee, juices and more. It was very neat and tidy, making it a very pleasant experience strolling through the two aisles. I bought a smoked salmon bread sandwich (€5/S$8.13), a calzone (€3) and a cup of coffee (€1.50) for lunch.
After the quick bite, we proceeded to the ferry terminal beside Market Square and opposite the Presidential Palace to catch the ferry to Suomenlinna. This ferry is operated by the Helsinki Region Transport Authority (HSL) and it runs one to four times per hour. Check the schedule here. The ferry is part of Helsinki public transport so I could take it for free with my 2-day HSL ticket. We caught the 1pm ferry and enjoyed the 15-minute journey to Suomenlinna.
Suomenlinna (click here) is a historic sea fortress situated on a group of six islands. It was inscribed into the UNECO World Heritage List in 1991 as a unique monument of military architecture. Built in the mid-18th century when Finland was still part of Sweden, it has served in the defence of three realms: Sweden, Russia and Finland. It is still commonly known as Sveaborg, its original name in Swedish, which means “Castle of the Swedes”.
Suomenlinna Church was the first building we visited. It was originally built as a Russian Orthodox garrison church in 1854 and originally had five steeples with onion domes. At the beginning of the Finnish era in 1918, it was converted into an Evangelical-Lutheran church. The main dome lost its onion shape and the tower was made quadrangular. Another interesting thing about the Suomenlinna Church is that the dome also functions as a lighthouse, making it one of the few churches in the world with this dual purpose.
As we further explored the islands, we encountered many well-preserved stone tunnels and hidden passageways. We also saw many big cannon guns. Visiting Suomenlinna during the summer is great because the weather is lovely and flowers are in bloom. Large swathes of the island were covered in pretty yellow flowers, swaying gently with the breeze.
We spent just under two hours visiting Suomenlinna and caught the 3pm ferry back to the city centre. I then bade goodbye to my new friend and wished her safe travels for the rest of her journey. It had been nice having someone I could talk to (and in Singlish too!) and I really enjoyed her company.
After that, I made a trip to Mäkelänrinne swimming centre because it had been a while since I last had a swim. This is the most popular swimming hall in Finland and admission costs €6.70 (S$10.90). With such pricey admission, I made good use of the 50m pool and managed to complete 20 laps. It was a good workout.
As I didn’t have anything left on my agenda, I casually strolled around the neighbourhood, walking in the general direction towards the city centre. I reached Kallio Church and popped in for a look. Like the Helsinki Central Station, it was constructed in the same Art Nouveau style and made of grey granite with pale green roofs. Its interior was very simple and elegant.
For dinner, I wanted to try some traditional Finnish food. I went to a nearby pub/restaurant called Cella. It was recommended by my Eurohostel as a good restaurant serving traditional Finnish food. To my pleasant surprise, Cella was showing live World Cup football matches on a big screen. I was so happy as I finally had the chance to watch a match! It was still relatively empty when I visited at 6:45pm so I picked the best seat with a good view of the large screen. They even had a second, smaller screen showing live Wimbledon tennis so I had the best of both worlds.
My sister had visited Finland before and she told me that I should try reindeer meat while I’m here, so I ordered a sautéed reindeer meat with mashed potatoes and lingonberry for €19.90 (S$32.34). It tasted like lamb kebab.
The first match between Morocco and Iran was quite boring and it ended with a 1-0 victory to Iran. The next match would start only in 1½ hours’ time so I ate and sipped on my beer slowly to stretch the time.
As the kick-off between Portugal and Spain drew nearer, more people started streaming in and the pub was full in no time. As far as I could see, everyone was a local. It was a very exciting match and Ronaldo scored a hat-trick. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to secure victory for Portugal as the match ended all square.
I couldn’t have asked for a better match to watch as the atmosphere was great, like a true blue local pub, but not rowdy. I also had three beers that night and was slightly tipsy when I left at about 11pm. The sky was still quite bright and about to set. Gotta love these long summer days.
When I reached my room, I saw that I had a roommate (I didn’t have one last night). He introduced himself as Ali from Iraq. He said that he had been studying in Finland for three years now. He told me that I was the first Singaporean he had ever met, and I said likewise. He shared that he was an admirer of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore. I felt really honoured to hear foreigners say nice things about my country. During my travels over the years, I have encountered many people who don’t know where Singapore is. And yes, there are still people who think that Singapore is part of China. So it felt great to have someone from as distant as Iraq know about Singapore and our prime minister.
Ali was really nice and we had a good chat. He revealed that like me, he was also heading to Moscow to catch the World Cup. I told him it would be cool if we could catch up again over there. However, as it was getting late, we didn’t chat for much longer. He then gave me a 1,000 Iraqi dinar note as a souvenir. I wanted to reciprocate so I looked into my wallet to see whether I had any Singapore dollars. The smallest currency I had was a S$10 note so I gave it to him.
Initially, he didn’t want to accept it as he said that it was too much, considering that the 1,000 Iraqi dinars he gave me was worth only about US$1, or around S$1.312 at the time. But I told him that he could buy me a drink if we ever meet again in Moscow, and he reluctantly accepted it.
Actually, I do like having roommates because it makes the stay more meaningful. Of course, you can sometimes get horrible or scary roommates (like in Copenhagen) but generally, most of the roommates I have had are friendly and nice. And that is really the best part about travelling – meeting new people from around the world. Never did I expect that I will have a roommate from Iraq and a newly-acquired 1,000 Iraqi dinar note in my pocket. Come to think of it, currency notes make great souvenirs. I should carry some S$2 notes with me when I travel in future!