Helsinki is the capital of Finland. It’s also the largest city with 1.58 million people living in the metropolitan area. It is about 50 miles across the Gulf of Finland from Tallinn, Estonia. Over the years, Helsinki has consistently rated high as one of the most livable cities in the world. From Tallinn, Estonia we went to Finland.
Helsinki, Finland
The first settlers arrived after the Ice Age approximately 5000 BC. It was founded in 1550 by King Gustav I Vasa of Sweden as a trading town. Despite fires, the plague and numerous wars, the city gradually became well established by the 1800s. In 1917 Finland declared independence from Russia. Finnish and Swedish are Finland’s official languages, but you can easily get around speaking English almost everywhere. More than half of Finland’s total imports pass through the port of Helsinki. Helsinki’s main industries include food, metal and chemical processing, printing, textiles, clothing and the manufacture of electrical equipment. They hosted the Olympics in 1952.
We went on a crusie through the harbor, a nice way to see the sights and get some history.
Suomenlinna is a huge maritime fortress spread across eight islands. The construction started in 1748 as protection against Russian expansion. It was surrendered to Russia in 1808 until Finland’s independence in 1917. It’s now a tourist location, primarily a picturesque picnic site.
Helsinki Cathedral with its tall green dome is a whitewashed, neoclassical cathedral built in the mid-19th century. It is still used as a church and special events like weddings. It is also one of Helsinkis most popular tourist attractions. When we were there, they were setting up for a music concert outside the cathedral.
Sibelius Monument was constructed by Finnish artist Eila Hiltunen in 1967 to honor Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It consists of more than 600 hollow steel pipes weighing 24 tons. It was to capture the essence of the music of Sibelius.
Until 1890, all shipping came to a halt during the winter months because the sea would freeze. The Finnish Board of Navigation commissioned the ship Murtaja, an icebreaker, to provide year-round shipping in the Baltic Sea. Steam engines gave way to diesel then diesel-electric with azimuth thrusters to now liquefied natural gas. Polaris, their latest ship is capable of maintaining a speed of 9.2 knots (10.6 mph) in 3 ft of unbroken ice.
