Day 9 – Monday 8th
September 2014 – Helsinki, Finland
We arrived
at 08.00 at the Melkinian Quay in Helsinki, which is an extension to the west
harbour, where I used to berth on previous ships, thirty years ago.
After a
leisurely breakfast in the self-service Lido restaurant; boarded the 11.00
shuttle bus into the city. On the way,
we passed by the shipyard at the top of the harbour and I was surprised to see
no ships being built or repaired. Here
they used to build all of the Royal Caribbean cruise liners and the finest
ice-breakers in the world, now their order book appears empty.
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| Parliament |
The short
bus ride dropped us off at Erottaja Square and on another beautiful warm sunny
day, we walked along to the Finnish Parliament building.
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| Railway Station |
From here it
a short distance to the bustling main railway station and its adjoining bus terminal.
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| South Harbour |
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| Market |
This took us onto one of my favourite places
in Helsimentnki, Etalasatama (south harbour) where all seems to radiate from.
There are
covered-in and flea markets here, which was very popular of this warm day and
with other visitors, we joined in one of the open air stalls for lunch of
shrimps and salmon.
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| Palace & Church |
At the
harbour side is the Presidential Palace and the imposing Uspenski Cathedral,
neither of which we had time to visit.
The next street behind the harbour thoroughfare is the Lutheran
Cathedral, situated in Senate Square.
This is the
heart of the city with a statue of Tsar Alexander II, at one time Grand Duke of
Finland and a friend of Finnish self-government. On one side of the square stands the
Government Palace, formerly the Senate of the Grand Duchy, opposite is the
University dating from the 1830’s. The
Library to the north is considered the finest building in Helsinki. The north side of the square is filled by the
Lutheran Cathedral of St. Nicholas.
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| Senate Square |
This square
is also a fine vantage point to sit and ponder as to what is around you and
watch the activities of others, as they take in this stop on the hop-on,
hop-off tour buses.
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| Tram outside Stockmans |
On the way
to the shuttle bus stop went into the main department store of Stockmans.
Finding our
way into the basement and the food hall, I was on the look-out for a drink you
can only get in Finland, one which I enjoyed very much, called ginny-long a
mixture of gin and grapefruit juice.
Unfortunately, there was none to be found on the shelves.
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| Bubbles Bar |
Prior to
boarding the shuttle bus around the corner found this wonderful bar which sold
ginney-long on draught, so I was very happy, and arrived back on board for
16.30.
We sailed an hour later, and glad
I had returned to Helsinki.
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| Depart Helsinki |
It has
always been a fine, clean, beautiful city with a population of half a
million. Wandering around the city
centre brought back a lot of happy memories, though I did see cruise ships and
ferries, I wondered, where have all of the other ships gone?
Dinner in
the Princess Grill of fish cakes, lamb shank, strawberry mousse were all
superb. Our table is starting to get a
bit of a reputation; as though we are not the last ones to sit down and dine. We
are becoming the last ones to leave as the stories circulating around the table
are more and more interesting.
Into the
theatre, to watch the Royal Cunard Singers and Dancers, who gave a wonderful
show before introducing Mark Donoghue, I had seen on the Queen Elizabeth
and good to see his act again.
The day
ended in the Queen’s ballroom; after having a most wonderful day ashore.
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