Upptäcker Helsingfors - Tutustu Helsinkiin

Languages

As a Welsh person, who grew up in the era of road sign painting when English only road signs were still a thing in Wales and many were being painted green, I'm fully aware of bilingual nations, but hadn't known that Finland was one of them. As I mentioned yesterday Finland has Finnish and Swedish as joint languages though the languages are very different. Finnish being a Uralic language along with Hungarian, Estonian and Sami, whereas Swedish is a North Germanic language developed from Old Norse and is therefore in a similar variation of the Indo-European language group as English, which is West Germanic, but has many words borrowed from Old Norse. 

Today's blog title is Discovering Helsinki in both of these languages. It is worth noting that Helsinki was founded by the King of Sweden Gustav Vasa in 1550, so is a much younger city than the three cities we've been visiting earlier in the week, it still has lots to see however.

A short riff on the complexities of English

One of the quirks of the English Language is that early Christians in England (the same isn't true for Wales!) adopted local words to translate some of their key concepts. So, as Neil Gaimen so cleverly points out in American Gods, the Paschal feast, called Pascua and Pasg in Spanish and Welsh respectively is called after the Norse God of re-birth - Eostre in English. The Norse God of the Underworld gives her name in English to the underworld - Hell. Hel being the earlier form. Whereas it is infierno in Spanish and uffern in Welsh, both who retain the Latín form of the word. So, be it Hell Hounds or Helsingfors; which incidentally is the same root as the Danish castle in Helsingør, a place made famous by Shakesphere as Elsinor. 

Enough of reflections on languages, on to this beautiful Friday. 

Morning

I woke a little earlier than yesterday, getting up at 3am and blogging about Warsaw last Sunday!! Drew reviews the blog when he wakes up. I next upload the photos from yesterday in Tallinn and on the ferry to Flickr. Before doing our ablutions.

Breakfast 

We went down to breakfast at 7am. The Holiday Inn here in the centre of Helsinki offer an amazing selection of food, even more than we have had at Holiday Inn's elsewhere. These include three types of pickled herring; one in oil and dill, another in mustard and a third in a tomato sauce, like a salsa texture but without any chilli. 

It being Friday, I avoided meat, but who needs meat where there are so many other lovely flavours. 

Drew was also pleased to be back somewhere with a good selection of sweet treats. You'll see his final (third) plate of breakfast in the bottom photo below.

Senate and Cathedral

We left the hotel at 8am aimed with our list of targets for the day this is our route:

We began by catching the M1 (metro) to the Senate station, where both the Lutheran Cathedral and the Senate Building are located.

The Cathedral is on one of the heights of Helsinki and the Grand Square, with its great statue of Tzar Alexader II and the Senate Building are signs of the long era of Russian Rule.

It is worth mentioning that Helsinki was Swedish from 1550, its foundation, until 1808, when the whole of Finland became the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland, with the Tzar as Grand Duke. This position remained until 1917, when Finland became independent at the end of World War 1. It lost some 9% of its territory to Russia in the Winter War of 1939-40 it remained independent. 

Presidential Palace

We walked down from the Senate Square and came to the seafront. Helsinki has a shore which winds back and forth across the city, so much so that it almost feels like an island - whichever direction you walk you won't be far from the sea.

We came to the sea front

and walked along it looking at the market stalls selling all kind of things, both to locals, and all kinds of tat to tourists!

This led us to the Presidential Palace which is a striking building.

We also accidented upon the, far less formal, changing of the guard at the place. No marching drums here, just two guards and a military policeman walking along the road. The traffic light means you can only see the former in the first picture and the latter in the other, but I was impressed by Drew's quick thinking to get them at all.

Uspenski Cathedral

Close by the Presidential Palace is the Uspenski Russian Orthodox Cathedral which dates from 1868 and is remarkably striking - like a little bit of Russia in Western Europe. 

You can even see the Lutheran Cathedral from the Orthodox one, as both of them are high above the rest of the city.

Kallio Church

From the Cathedral we strolled along the seaside and a harbour which was filled with pretty boats.

We were quite taken by the Spanish influenced bar which made a pun, in English, of its name - not the Old Man and the Sea, but the Old Man and the Si!

We located the tram stop for the number 7 tram and headed from the stop at Snellmaninkatuto to Bjorngarden

Note that Bjorngarden is the Swedish name for our stop whereas the map uses the Finnish one. Drew who has been learning Swedish for a few years noted that it meant Bear Park! Luckily the bear was only a statue

At the top corner of the bear park was the Bear Park Cafe (yes it was named in English!) where we stopped for a coffee.

You'll note again the point I had explained to me in Vilnius, that European Americano's are not the same as American ones. Effectively a large Americano is half the size of a large Latte - as is evident from the picture above. At times when you are more interested in the fluids than the flavour of the coffee this can be annoying!

We had come up to this part of town to see the Kallio church, which we had seen in the distance when we were out on our walk yesterday afternoon. The church is 65 metres high, and its cross is 94 metres above sea level. Apparently, the Estonian coastline can be seen from the tower. It has a large tower which is visible through the straight streets of Helsinki for miles. It is the northern end point of a 2.5 km long street

The church was very influential during the independence movement and its National Romantic style reflected the political philosophy of the time. The Church was used for preachers who supported the emergence of a separate Finnish identify in the Grand Duchy. 

Havis Amanda

After our coffee and church break we got back on the no 7 tram to Hallituskatu and tried to find the Havis Amanda mermaid so often mentioned in the online guides to Helsinki. We realised, as we travelled, that we were going close to the part of town where we had been earlier and then discovered why we'd not seen the mermaid earlier. She is away being restored.

In her place there are old photos of the site, which is used as the gathering site for the people of Helsinki when they are celebrating New Year or other major events. 

The message in place of the sign says:

Conservation and renovation

The beloved Havis Amanda sculpture with its sea lions has been transferred to be conserved as part of renovations performed on the fountain and its surroundings. The aim is to return the sculptures in the renewed basin in autumn 2024. The square's archaeological excavations may influence the schedule.

Completed in 1908, the fountain and its bronze sculptures form a work of art designed by artist Ville Vallgren, in addition to its artistic value, the work holds special significance in terms of cultural history and the cityscape.

The statue has gone through a lot over the years. People have climbed on it during various national celebrations, and the salty and windy marine climate has also worn the sculpture's surface.

The artwork has been maintained on a regular basis. Now is the time to carry out thorough renovation and conservation procedures for the first time.

The puzzle of why we'd not seen the statue resolved we walked up the Esplanade Park and saw its pretty statues and flowers.

Old Church Park

We walked from the Esplande into a quiet park outside Helsinki Old Church, called Old Church Park. 

This are that included monuments to those who had died also provides a lovely setting for lunchtime picnics - as was evident today as we walked through. 

The park also had a memoiral statue to Elias Lönnrot, the collector of Finnish oral poet who did so much to capture the Finnish traditions while thet still existed. 

Folllowing a little more strolling we caught the M2 (metro) back to Central Station 

Post Office 

Well, they say the road to Hell is filled with good intentions, in this case it is the road to Helsinki. We bought post cards for my brother and sister and Drew's mum back in Brussels on the second day of the holiday, but we have been carrying them with us ever since (one day short of two weeks). We looked for post offices in Germany, but while we saw many postmen on their delivery cycles, we didn't see a single post office - the same has been true everywhere else, until Tallinn yesterday, when we saw a Post Office, but it was 8.30am, so they weren't open.

Well lucky for us there is a Post Office actully in the Central Square in Helsinki right outside our hotel, so having got off the metro we went to buy stamps. 

I explained I needed two for the UK and one for Australia and she showed me three different types of stamps. I explained, as best I could that I needed two of one type and one of another. It then become clear we were ralking at cross-purposes. It was one fee for all overseas stamps, but I was allowed to choose between three different designed stamps. Confusion resolved I bought the stamps and headed to the hotel. 

Afternoon

We were back at the hotel at 1pm, we both wrote our cards and Drew popped out to post them in the same place as we bought the stamps. 

I completed last night's photos, meaning we are almost up to date on Flickr. 

Our 24 hour transport ticket runs out at 2.30pm so we stop in the room and have some tea, siesta for an hour and complete the second blog post of the day. Warsaw to Vilnius!

I even take advantage of this quieter afternoon to edit this morning's photos and prepare them for posting later. 

As we are Silver-Elite members of the IHG Rewards club we are eligable in this hotel to a later check out. I pop downstairs to reception and confirm the arrangements. At no extra charge we are able to check-out tomorrow at 2pm, which is very helpful with our ship departing at 5.15pm tomorrow.

At 5pm we buy our new 24 hours tickets (to make sure we can use them to get to the ferry tomorrow. Then we shower and dress up for dinner - which is a special (aka poncy) one and which deserves its own blog post. 

Vilnius - 700 years old and looking good for her age

 

A native of Vilnius, Irina, 41 (quoted by the Summer of Solidarity Website) says:

the old city of Vilnius makes you feel like you are inside of a fairytale

and I couldn't say she is wrong. The fairytale feel of the city includes both rivers - the Neris and the Vilnele - as well as the Old Town which evokes the many layers of Lithuania's history with Polish, German and Russian influences over that time.

But, of course, first a little about the beginning of our day. 

Morning

I have a late lie in, by my standards, I don't wake until it is 6am and it is light already - normally at home I wake at 5am, or earlier if it gets light earlier. Snoozing until 6am is a surprise to the system and doesn't help with keeping up with the photos and the blog. I'm beginning to think that long journeys on trains, though they feel (and are) comfortable are actually more tiring than one feels at the time, as this pattern of late waking faced me the first day in Berlin too.

Sunday Mass

I had originally planned to go to Mass in the nearby church of the Archangel Raphael, but when looking at Mass times I had seen that the Cathedral had Mass at 8am  (and 9am, 10am, 11.15am, 12.30am, 5.30pm and 6.30pm). As this seems a good time to go to Mass and get back to the hotel for a late Sunday breakfast, they open from 8am to 11am, I'd decided on this arrangement. The difference is between 350 meters and 1.2km (about .8 of a mile) in walking and a fresh Sunday morning walk is a great way to get to Mass.

I had got ready and left the hotel at 8.40am, getting to Mass at 8.55am. It is an amazingly lovely day, a few degrees cooler than Warsaw, but sunny and fresh.

Mass

My Universalis app, which I use daily in the UK for readings and the changing prayers of the Mass, and have used successfully in the US (where they use a different translation of the readings), Spain, Portugal, Denmark, France (well actually in French in a church in Copenhagen) and Italy - and on this holiday in Germany and Poland - doesn't stretch to Lithuanian or any of the Baltic Languages. Luckily there was a Lithuanian Mass sheet in the Cathedral, so I was able to join in the Mass (by guessing the sounds of some of the letters) and follow the words in Universalis in English - especially the ones which change daily, like the collect prayers and readings. 

The priest was a man in his 30s and had a very resounding voice. When I go to Polish Mass I often think the priest is shouting at people, due to the tone of the language, not his actual shouting. But Lithuanian, while sharing some Polish (and some German) words, doesn't sound harsh at all. I'm put more in mind of the prayerful tones of Mass in Croatia. 

The Mass was a lovely celebration with a congregation of mixed age from 5 years to 90 years olds (at a guess).  Today's first reading is a favourite of mine from 1 Kings 19:9,11-13. Where Elijah seeks to experience God, he is faced with a mighty wind, an earthquake, a fire but the Lord was in none of these. 

After that there came the sound of a gentle breeze. And when Elijah heard this, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Knowing the Lord in silence, being present to him as he is present to me, is such an important part of my experience of prayer, that having it reinforced by the message of the prophet feels like a blessing on this morning. Perhaps that was what the priest was saying in his homily, but I have absolutely no idea!! I can hope and pray!

Mass finished at 8.45am and I went back to the hotel.

Breakfast

The breakfast at the hotel was amazingly generous. With cheese, cooked meats, pate, pickled corn, pickled onions, pickled red cabbage and pickled carrots. 

Then there was soused herring, herring with vegetables and, something I've not seen before on this trip - sprats in oil. I loved all of them, probably to much, but they are delicious and the sprats were a real treat as I have them so little at home. 

There was also a fantastic range of salad vergatables, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, lettuce. 

Then, of course, there were the cooked items. Smoked sausage, bacon - the unusual, to my mind, southern fried chicken (as we would call it)

crapes with curd, curd being very common on breakfast menus here, scrambled eggs and porraige 

Oh, and of course there was the dessert course of various fresh fruits. What a feast, we didn't eat all of it, of course, but we did quite a bit of damage! We won't be eating again for some time!

Things to note about Lithuania

Befofe I go into the details of the day, there are a few things that come to my notice about Lithuania.

1 - I had no idea how Catholic it is!! With 250 people at one of the seven masses in the Cathedral today and another six churches, each with four or five masses of their own - a whole lot of the population is going to be at Sunday Mass - not counting the Orthodox population who will be at their Liturgies too. 

2 - Thy number floors from 1 up. It is a system that I have always thought of as American for numbering floors - i.e. the Ground is number 1, not 0, thus our room 710 is on the sixth not the 7th floor. It turns out that this is true of all the Baltic States and Helsinki! Poland following the Western European tradition, is the last we shall see of it for some time.

3 - Lithuania uses numbers not day names - so signs, like the breakfast sign in the hotel says:

I - V - 6.30 - 10

VI - 7.30 - 11

VII - 8 - 11 

this is true in shops, churches, indeed everywhere I saw signs with days - unlike the naming of floors, this was a specific feature of Lithuania and we haven't encountered it anywhere else this holiday. Though finding out about it did make sense of the question the receptionist had asked me when checking in:

Receptionist (Looking at my passport which has the month in the first three letters) - What number is February

Haydn (looking a little puzzled) - zero two

Receptionist (also looking puzzled now) you mean two (or maybe he thought II as the numbers, apart from room numbers, all take Roman Numerals!

Gediminas' Tower

Anyway, at 10am, after a quick visit back to the room we were out and ready for our visits to Old Town, Vilnius. 

Our first target was a place we had seen when walking back from dinner last night - Gediminas' Tower. This tower is on the site that the first castle in this town, originally wood, was built by Grand Duke Gediminas. Thus, he is credited as being the founder of Vilnius. He also founded a dynasty that over the centuries came to rule not only here but in Poland, Hungary and Bohemia too. A brick castle was built here by Grand Duke Vytautas in 1409 - the current building was a reconstruction by a Polish architect in 1933, based on archaeological research. 

The Castle is reached by a small funicular, though there are steps we thought it unwise to climb all 135 at this hour of the morning with a lot of walking still to do in the day.

The Tower was a great place to take lots of photos of the town, especially out into the commerical parts of the new town, where our hotel is placed. They are in this selection below:

We also took some shots of the Hill of the Three Crosses, here early Franciscan missionaries were killed by the local inhabitants who wanted none of the 'new' religion. 

Cathedral Square

Though another Mass was on by the time we got to the Cathedral we were able to see the Bell Tower and take photos of the many and various statues on and around the Cathedral.

Vilnius University

We continued along Pilies Street to the University of Vilnius. Here we saw the amazing paintings which adorn the walls of the University courtyard. 

We also visited the Church of the two St. John's (the Baptist and the Evangelist). Mass had just finished so we were able to take in the church which during Soviet times was a warehouse but has been carefully restored. It now marks many of the people who made Lithuania the country it is today, be they philosophers, poets or teachers. 

Literatų Street

Literatų Street translates as Literati street and it took its name from the many printing houses and bookstores which were located in the street and from the fact that the famous Lithuanian poet Adam Mickiewicz, him of the big statue we saw in Warsaw (and will see more of later today) lived.

During 2009 when Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture the people working on the project decided to make use of the name and create a series of plaques marking artists, especially those involved in literature, who had some (however loose) connection with Vilnius or Lithuania. There are now 200 such plaques on display.

Churches

At the end of the street, we came to the small, pretty, Orthodox Church - dedicated to the Mother of God.

From here we walked up to two much larger churches just a few meters away.

The first was a Franciscan church dedicated to St. Bernadine of Siena who had founded a religious order, nuns of which, before the arrival of Russians in Vilnius had a large convent just along the street. The convent gardens are now a park.

The second is St Anne's, donated by a member of the Lithuanian ducal family called Anne - it is a pretty church and was full of tourists, but retains its role in the community too.

The Republic of Užupis 

Užupis is a small district in Vilnius, separated from the town centre by the River Vilnelė, which gives the town its name. In 1997, the residents of Užupis, largely students at the Art Academy and others looking for a more laid back way of life [Co-Pilot's note: Hippys!!!], declared the area a republic and designed and wrote its own constitution, flag and other emblems of statehood. The lasting effect was to gentrify Užupis as more and more people came to the area.

The Dalai Lama, held with reverence by the community here, visited on one occasion due to an invite from a follower. He, and Buddhist ideology in general, is very evident in the district.  

There is an Angel at the centre of the district. Its Constitution in multiple languages (sadly no Welsh) is on a series of walls.

The Diehard Coffee Shop

By this time, having walked in every increasing temperatures (89F) in the sun, it was time for a break. We saw a full coffee shop, so walked a bit further up the road to an enjoyable place. The Diehard Coffee shop, here we were invited to sit with the staff members as we got introduced to them and to Igor, who used to work with McKinsey Consulting in London. He was very friendly and engaged us in conversation, fine when it was about business and our trip. A bit more challenging when it proved to be about his love for the Premier League - though Drew managed to bluff most of the responses based on his friends on Twitter.

Ordering coffee, while a pleasant and relaxed process, did take some time. I ordered an Americano and was asked if I wanted an American Americano or a European Americano - I hadn't known until today that there was a difference. Apparently, an European Americano is two espressos and an equal amount of hot water on top - an American Americano is double that amount of water to espresso ration!! I was here because I was thirsty, so I went with the American version. I was then asked which bean I wanted, there were three: Brazilian, Ethiopian or Coconut Brazilian, each with different characteristics. I went with the Ethiopian, which seemed to gain approval from the guy serving us and from Igor. Drew had a Latte, his only decision was Oat or Cow - a common query about milk across Europe these days! As a non-drinker of milk I'd not realised quite how often oat or almond or coconut milk is used in the UK and elsewhere, but the figures indicate it is very common.

Die-Hard Runners Cafe is called this as it is a runners' cafe, so Drew was able to share stories of his half-marathons with people who had done them and many more halves and full marathons. I'm hoping it inspires Drew to do more of these as it means I get more holidays and more nice meals 😊

The walls of the cafe have winners' medals [Co-pilot's note: I, dear readers, like this description of the medals. I have a number of them and as someone who is a genetic runt with a dodgy right leg, it is good to know I am a winner!!] from all over the world. I wondered whether Die Hard films had a runners' reference, but the waiter explained that the owner had done training with some of the elite Kenyan athletes (they often win marathons) and the training programme was called 'Die Hard'.

The coffee was welcome and amazingly tasty as well as providing interesting conversation. We left at 2pm and walked up to the end of Užupis having loved our time there. 

Viewspot

After crossing Užupis we came to a lovely park with ducks and climbed up to the area called Subačiaus apžvalgos aikštelė, this gave an excellent location for a view back to the Town - as it is one of the few high places in Vilnius. 

The other attraction of the Observation area was that buses ran from there and our next stop was at the other end of town. So, we caught the Bus 89 to what is called the Gate of Dawn. From Game of Thrones fans this sounds very much like a GoT location, but that is the Gate of Dorne, not Dawn 😉

The Gate of Dawn

The Gate of Dawn is the one remaining original entry to the Old Town. From the outside the gate doesn't especially stand out, but from the inside it is quite spectacular.  

There is an amazing Icon of Our Lady of Mercy which has stood here for 450 years. You are able to enter the shrine and pray, which I did, but not take photos at the shrine or in the church below. Still it is a very spiritual place, full of faith in the gentle and loving mercy of the Lord. 

We walked into the Old Town and passed lots of lovely shops and restaurants - this part of the town is very tourist focussed. Still we did see yet more of the wonderful churches of Vilnius. 

More Churches

First was the Orthodox Cathedral, though we could only take photos of the outside it was calm and peaceful inside.

Next was the sixteenth century church of St. Teresa and Drew and I got mixed messages when he asked: "How come it is that old when she died more recently". I of course assumed Drew was talking about St. Therese of Lisieux, who was a few centuries later than St. Teresa of Avila for whom the church was dedicated. I was surprised by his detailed knowledge of the saints, until it became clear that he was talking about St Teresa of Calcutta, a much more recent saint! 

The final church we visited was dedicated to a local Saint - Casimer. A open, well-lit church, this parish clearly has an active community - lots of images on the walls of the Parish Youth Group on pilgrimage, and evidence of Tigger and Piglet in the box of toys in one of the side chapels.

The Town Hall

Our last visit of the afternoon was to the Town Hall and the Presidential Residence (which abut each other). It was here a few months ago that NATO had their annual meeting and signs of the NATO flags are still all over town. It is the town hall that is shown in the photo at the top of the blog.

Back to the Hotel

We took the Bus number 10 back from old town via cathedral to our hotel.

By this time the heat, and the walking, had overcome us. We strolled back to the hotel. It had been 6 miles of walking and another mile and a half by bus. The miles excluding the 1.6miles I'd done walking to Mass and back that morning. Perhaps it was no wonder I needed a cold shower and an hour to cool down. 

Two hours later at 6.30pm it was time to go out for dinner.

Dinner

Revived by our showers we went out at 6.30pm and decided to walk back in to town. We found Lokys after a period of walking up and down a street as Google Maps told us we had passed it - it turned out it was up an alley off the street. So, we arrived almost exactly on time (two minutes early) for our 7pm booking.

Lokys (the Lithuanian for Bear) is a restaurant based on foods from earlier days in the Lithuanian story. We enjoyed the experience of exploring such unusual flavours.

We began with bread, rye, which was served with a beetroot spread. The bread was tasty, but the beetroot blew me away. The tangy flavour of this slightly sweet vegetable went so well with the bread that it seemed it should be a permanent condiment for it. 

Drew had Salad with beef served with sun-dried grape tomatoes, walnuts, radishes, berries, cherry tomatoes and blueberry relish. This was as amazing as it looks, a lovely cooked piece of beef, with delicious salad veg brough together by the relish.

I had opted for salad with smoked fish served with sun-dried grape tomatoes, walnuts, radishes, cherry tomatoes and blueberry relish. The little pieces of smoky fish were mixed in with the leaves, the walnuts added earthiness to the flavour and the radish a little heat the cherry tomatoes were a sweet flavour and again the blueberry worked so well with the rest of the dish.

Drew had decided to take a risk and opt for the Beaver stew with tomatoes and mushrooms, served with mashed potatoes seasoned with spinach - while neither of us had had beaver before, Drew decided he wanted to taste it. He said it certainly didn't taste like chicken 😉 . Rather it tasted like a richer more flavoursome pork. It seemed to have a similar texture to boar meat. He enjoyed it and eat every bit of it.

I went a little more conventional, having the Meats of the restaurant - venison and boar steaks and a game sausage - served with parsnips, fried tomatoes, sauteed potatoes, artisan honey steak sauce and mint relish. I've had all these meats before, but really enjoyed the way they worked together. 

Drew finished with Rye bread delicacy with hazelnuts, cranberry jam and burnt morels. He found the texture unusual but liked the taste. He hasn't been having many desserts this holiday, but would happily enjoy this one again. 

We left the restaurant and wandered back to the hotel. It became cooler as the evening wore on, but was in no way uncomfortable. We passed the cathedral for the last time.

And got to bed at 10pm. A busy, somewhat exhausting, but absolutely fabulous day. We had walked 7.5 miles and done 24,000 steps (according to Google Fit), Drew whose stride is a little shorter than mine normally does more steps than me, but today (with the extra walk to and from mass) he has only done 21,580. Only being used in a comparative not an absolute manner in this case 😂