Helsinki (Finland)

Helsinki was not my choice. My partner had for a long time wanted to visit Finland's capital (he collects capital cities) and so I treated him for his 40th birthday. I wasn't against the idea, I just didn't really know anything about the place. We did buy a Lonely Planet well in advance of the trip but since we were also planning to visit Estonia my mind was focused more on my beloved Eastern Europe than on Finland. All I set out with was my pre-conceived ...
...capital though I knew that Helsinki is a city with a strong maritime background.

There is a band called "Architecture in Helsinki"; I don't know much about them other than that I have often thought it a good name. Having now seen much of Helsinki's architecture I appreciate that it is a fabulous name for a band. It is impossible to visit Helsinki and not comment on the architecture to your traveling companion at least several ... more

Helsinki was not my choice. My partner had for a long time wanted to visit Finland's capital (he collects capital cities) and so I treated him for his 40th birthday. I wasn't against the idea, I just didn't really know anything about the place. We did buy a Lonely Planet well in advance of the trip but since we were also planning to visit Estonia my mind was focused more on my beloved Eastern Europe than on Finland. All I set out with was my pre-conceived idea of a very modern and forward-thinking city in the Scandinavian model; I did not expect much in the way of history, certainly not in the capital though I knew that Helsinki is a city with a strong maritime background.

There is a band called "Architecture in Helsinki"; I don't know much about them other than that I have often thought it a good name. Having now seen much of Helsinki's architecture I appreciate that it is a fabulous name for a band. It is impossible to visit Helsinki and not comment on the architecture to your traveling companion at least several times a day. It is not just the buildings as a whole but little architectural details that demand you have your camera in your hand all the time; in the end I stopped putting the camera back in its case. No two apartment buildings look the same; they might differ in colour or the style of the wrought iron balconies at the windows or the superb art nouveau carvings on the front doors.

Indeed, art nouveau is the most common style of Helsinki architecture - in Finland it is known by the German name "Jugend". It can be found in all areas of the city and it lend a distinct air of culture to the city. Yes, there is the striking Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral built in the Russian style with it's gleaming gold finials and cupolas or the imposing white neo-classical cathedral with its stately domes but they are just fleeting moments of grandeur and glamour among the art nouveau. So great is the contrast that, alas, the two cathedrals that face each other in an ecclesiastical stand-off between east and west look out of place in the city - a momentary lapse of taste on the part of the city planners if you like. In any other city these beautiful churches would sit comfortably but here in Helsinki a city almost entirely of two dominant styles - art nouveau and functionalist - they stick out like a sore thumb.

Eliel Saarinen was the architect responsible for many of Helsinki's most celebrated art nouveau buildings, most notably the main railway station with its verdigris accoutrements but the best way to enjoy the diversity of the art nouveau style is to stroll around Katajanokka, an island connected to the south of Helsinki by a bridge accessed from the main market place (the Kauppatori).

The other prevalent style is functionalism, a style associated with the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, a controversial figure in Finland; people seem either to love or hate his work. The Finlandia Hall - the city's chief concert hall - is one of his works and it is one I rather like though I am less keen on another building near the Kauppatori which is being renovated to become a hotel. For my money the best examples of functionalist design in Helsinki are by architects other than Aalto. My favourite is the Olympic Stadium complete with its viewing tower. It was built for the 1940 games that were postponed due to the war but eventually used for the 1952 games which explains why the style does not seem quite right for the 1950s. The clean lines and simplicity of style work well with the white stone it is constructed from and it is well worth the tram ride north of the centre to visit. A ride to the top of the tower is a bargain at Euro 1.50, not least because it is a great way to get your bearings in a city that can seem quite confusing.

It may not help you much on the ground but at least you can work out where you've come from and where certain recognizable sights are in relation to each other. It also helps you appreciate not only how watery but how green Helsinki is. There are plenty of well-kept grassy squares breathing oxygen into the heart of a city where the car reigns supreme but the real lungs of the city is the Central Park which, at 10 kilometres long is pretty special.

Not far from the Olympic Stadium is the Sibelius Monument, one of Helsinki's most famous sights. It's frequently condemned as a poor piece of art but try telling that to the hordes of tourists who pull up next to it and get out of the sightseeing coaches to take photographs. How many of them do you think would recognize a piece by Sibelius anyway? Of course I went - I don't only get excited by functionalist architecture, you know! If the truth be told it is a bit kitsch but it does provide some interesting opportunities for keen photographers; there is a smaller sculpture which is a portrait of Sibelius but the main part is a collection of pipes of differing sizes like a church organ.

What I really liked about Helsinki was the good mix between the natural and the manmade environment. There is no better place to demonstrate this than Suomenlinna, a maritime fortress just off the southern tip of the city. It's a collection of small islands linked by bridges and reached by ferry from the Kauppatori. There are numerous museums and a modern visitor centre as well as coffee shops, a restaurant with a microbrewery and even a youth hostel but visitors should be aware that, other than the visitor centre, opening hours are very limited in the off season - which begins in mid-September. This did not worry us; ther place is perfect for walkers and the nooks and crannies of the fortress walls are begging to be explored. Even with thirty boisterous school children running around Suomenlinna is a haven of tranquility and it's easy to forget you're in a capital city. (For more details on Suomenlinna and its attraction see duncantorr's great account)

The other islands are worth visiting too. Korkeasaari is home to Helsinki Zoo; 10 Euro covers your admission and the return ferry trip from the Kauppatori. Not only is there a small but interesting collection of animals (mostly native to northern Europe/Russia) but the grounds are magnificent and the colours of the changing leaves were superb in late September. Another island, Seurasaari is home to a series of interesting museums including an open air one that illustrates how Finns used to live.

My favourite area of the city is Kallio, slightly to the north of the centre and just past one of the city's main lakes. Here you'll find an alternative Helsinki with more unusual bars (marketed more towards the younger, studenty crowd) and shops. As well as a couple of general second hand shops we found a real treasure chest of 1950s, 60s and 70s Finnish design focusing mainly on kitchenware made by the Arabia company who are still based just up the road. This distinctive brand is typified by naive floral designs and bright cheerful colours and is highly sought after by collectors; I could have spent hundreds on it but had no means of getting the stuff home.

If you've heard that visiting a Scandinavian city is expensive I am sorry to say I cannot tell you otherwise. Compared to other European capitals, with possibly the exception of Rome, it is expensive. There are ways of cutting costs however.

You can buy a Helsinki Card for 24, 48 or 72 hours. They aren't cheap, however, so it's worth doing a little research in advance to find out how much you might need it. We didn't buy one because we just couldn't make it pay. Unless you intend to visit a whole array of museums in one day it doesn't reduce your costs much at all although it does give free travel within the city.

We bought 24 hour travel tickets directly from the tram driver and this served us well and was good value at 6 Euro each; individual tickets are valid for one hour and cost 2 Euro. The trams are easy to use and cover the city well but the tickets are also valid for buses and local ferries too. (This does not include the Zoo ferry but does include the ferry to Suomenlinna).

Another way to save money is to take advantage of lunch menus in restaurants, look at for the signs outside or in the window offering "lounas" for anything from 5 Euro upwards. Some restaurants exist only as lunch restaurants, others offer a selection of main courses until around 2 or 3 o'clock. You get a buffet salad, your main course, a jug of water and sometimes even a pudding in the price. Afterwards you can help your self to unlimited coffee, which I'll come onto in a moment.

Ignore the comments of Jacques Chirac and Silvio Berlusconi - Finnish food is delicious! Perhaps not so great for vegetarians but if you eat meat or fish you will find a host of interesting and tasty dishes. Salad bars often include a variety of herring dishes and pickles as well as conventional salad ingredients. A buffet is a good way to sample a selection of traditional main course dishes; we found one little restaurant that had a splendid evening buffet where we sampled reindeer along with delicious beef stew, cabbage leaves stuffed with pork and a beetroot gratin that makes my stomach rumble just to think about it. In the evening the prices are more expensive but when you see a main course price it will include a salad starter, any accompaniments (rice, potatoes, vegetables, etc) and coffee to finish.

Coffee shops abound in Helsinki, hardly surprising when you learn that Finland is, along with Norway, the world's greatest consumer of coffee. Many sell fancy cream cakes and elaborate gateaux but the traditional accompaniment is a "pulla" - a cinnamon bun topped with little pieces of rock sugar that look like snow crystals. My problem was that the coffee is not freshly made and unless you ask for a latte or a cappuccino, you will be told to help yourself from a slightly warm percolated jug. When was it made? Who knows? At least in most places (except the really swanky ones - of the kind I'm unlikely to frequent anyway) you can have unlimited top-ups in the way common in the America.

Street food can be fun: we ate at a little stall at the Kauppatori and had reindeer sausage with vegetable rice and a little serving of lingonberries (this is a traditional accompaniment for reindeer but is god with other meat too). If you don't mind the enormous seagulls prowling around this is a delicious and quite reasonably priced lunch. Other bargains can be had in the kauppahaali. The kauppahaali is situated next to the kauapptori and is an upmarket indoor food market with a few eating places here and there. It's a good place to buy souvenirs and presents such as tinned reindeer meat, cloudberry sauce and speciality liquorice.

Helsinki has plenty of places to stop for a drink and, as in many other parts of Europe, its as acceptable to ask for a coffee as for a beer. Popular Finnish brands include Koff (my favourite) and Lapin Kulta but the best places are the microbreweries that tend to offer a choice from lager, pils and a darker beer all made on the premises. Vodka drinking is popular but for a taste of Finland you should try "salmiakka" - a schnapps into which a liquorice sweet has been dropped and left to dissolve. The resulting drink is thick and black and quite salty - I loved it! A large beer will cost about 4 Euro in the centre of Helsinki and out in Kallio its only 2 Euro.

I have hardly scratched the surface of Helsinki. The more I read and the more I saw of it, the more I wanted to see. Even for a capital city it seems a very cultured city; the adverts in the trams were for Paul Coelho's latest book, something that struck me as quite different to the usual sort of public transport advertising and I saw no end of music venues and concert halls. It's a very arty city with not only large well known institutions such as the Kiasma Cnetre for Comtemporary Art but smaller galleries among the shops showcasing the work of minor artists. Home to alternative bands such as the Rasmus, HIM, Nightwish and Hanoi Rocks, Helsinki has a strong homegrown music scene and more goths per square mile than I've ever seen. If you are into rock/alternative music Helsinki will delight you with the best selection of bars I've ever come across.

Helsinki reminded me a little of Liverpool, no doubt because of the maritime influence but also in some part due to the heavy leaning towards the arts and music. Maybe it's also something to do with those two cathedrals built in dramatically different styles. Liverpool, too, I find hard to navigate with its maze of docks and small village-like quarters.

It took me a while to really like Helsinki; when I arrived it wasn't what I had imagined and so I went across the Baltic to Estonia where I instantly fell in love with Tallinn. Returning to Helsinki two weeks later I saw the city in a new light, and a favourable one at that. Full of diversions and yet tranquil and fresh, Helsinki is a destination I would not hesitate to recommend.

Published elsewhere under the name fizzywizzy

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