Finland 🇫🇮 and Estonia 🇪🇪
Written on October 7th, 2022 by Renan Greca
The last bit of our July/2021 trip was in Finland and Estonia. By looking at the map, it’s odd that we went first to Finland, then to Estonia, considering we were coming from Latvia. That happened because… the flight to Rome was much cheaper from Tallinn than from Helsinki. Guess what? The flight from Tallinn had a layover in Helsinki so it was… exactly the same flight, with an extra step. But it was substantially cheaper. That hop from Tallinn to Helsinki airport was the shortest flight I’ve ever taken, so I guess there’s that?
Anyway…
Finland
We flew from Riga to Helsinki, and from the airport took a train to the central station. Helsinki is not a super exciting place, but it has some unique spots nonetheless. In the center, the cathedral is definitely notable; its architecture is somehow a mixture of classic Greek/Roman temples and Russian Orthodox churches.
During my MSc work, I used a tool called The ONE simulator and used a map of Helsinki to simulate traffic data. Because of that I already had some understanding of the shape of the city before visiting it!
We took a northwest-bound bus to check out Cafe Regatta and taste their cinnamon buns — a local specialty. Walking from there for just a few minutes took us to a park with the Sibelius Monument, a semi-abstract sculpture dedicated to the Finnish composer. If you enjoy the Netflix series Somebody Feed Phil, they also visited these places, just a couple of months after we did!
Regardless of the time of the year, when visiting Finland you need to partake in the national passtime — the sauna (a word that, indeed, comes from Finnish!). There are two general options for this, and fortunately I got to taste a bit of both.
One is to go to a public sauna, which are free and maintained by the community that enjoys it. I went to Sompasauna, where clothing is… optional. I wore my speedo swimsuit and got to chat with a few locals (most of which were also wearing swimsuits). By chance, I met a Brazilian there, who had been living in Finland for a few years already, so already well-adjusted to the local customs. Of course I took a swim in the Baltic sea after a few minutes in the heat!
Another option are private saunas, which of course cost some money but provide an excellent structure and all the necessities. We tried Löyly in the southern tip of the city. You should book a slot in advance, but the experience is worth it. One thing I hadn’t tried before was to drink a cold beverage while inside the sauna — there, I tasted some nice apple cider while sweating profusely. Recommended!
The Market Square is where we can buy fresh berries and fish, including a very delicious and authentic salmon soup. From there, it’s worth taking the ferry to Suomenlinna, included in the public transit pass. This island was used to build war ships and was also a defense fortress for the Gulf of Finland. Its last military usage was in WWII and it’s a nice place to take a walk and enjoy the scenery, despite its violent past.
Finland was initially allied with the Axis in World War II, as Germany offered defense against the Soviet Union which wanted to expand into Finnish territory. Ultimately, Finland signed a peace treaty with the USSR and the Allies, and had to fight the Germans out of their territory.
Once again, we used a car sharing service to get out of town, and headed towards the city of Turku, west of Helsinki. It was perhaps not our wisest choice — we would have liked to also visit some forests further north in the country, but we were not convinced there would be enough time for it. Nonetheless, Turku Castle was worth a visit, since the building is fully explorable and has many exhibits. During the drive, we took a detour into one of the many islands near Turku and we saw some very… Finnish beaches. The fun part is that you can easily stop the car by the road and forage for some berries that are rather abundant.
Estonia
It might be strange to admit this, but one of the highlights of the entire July trip was the cruise from Helsinki to Tallinn. Operated by Tallink, the 2-hour journey cost only about 30€ but it was a memorable experience. The ship feels like a modern mall over water, including a very robust Duty Free shop, Starbucks, Burger King and some other restaurants. Thinking back about it, I think it was mostly a matter of surprise. I had been on short international cruises before (once from Montevideo to Buenos Aires; once from Victoria to Seattle), which were nice, but this one was way beyond my expectations, and even Debo (who woke up in a bad mood that day) had a blast.
Reaching Tallinn, we took a Bolt to the old center, where we stayed in a pretty good hostel. The historic center of Tallinn is certainly the most interesting one out of the Baltics, since you can still clearly see the medieval structure of the place, with large stone walls and towers surrounding the area.
The main square is laid out similarly to the towns in Poland — a big open square with the town hall in the middle and many shops and restaurants surrounding it. There are some historic buildings and cute parks to check out, but you do not want to miss the Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral, which is an impressive display of Orthodox style architecture.
You might think “wow, this guy must be very religious if he recommends so many churches” — trust me, I’m not. But in Europe, there are so many churches with unique architectural styles, which I enjoy observing. And in almost every town, there will be a church that somehow tells the place’s history using just its facade.
This time, we did not go to another town and rather visited the rather special Estonian Open Air Museum. It’s effectively a park populated with buildings and objects that represent the history of Estonia. There are houses from many different periods, ranging from ancient huts to the Soviet-style standardized housing. Cute grandmas live in those houses, taking care of animals, knitting and gossiping. There’s also a very authentic restaurant in it, Kolu Kõrts. Debo found the restaurant during her food research, saying “we absolutely have to go here”, and I found the open-air museum in my own research of places to visit. Turns out they were both the same visit!
