HIGHLIGHTS OF SCANDINAVIA TOUR - HELSINKI, DAY 2

Hello my dear readers.  Hope you are well.

Apologies for breaking the flow of my Scandinavian adventure narrative but sometimes unexpected things take the priority and you have to put everything else on hold and deal with them.  That's life, I guess.

Anyway, back to my story 🙂. If for any reason you would like to go back to Day 1, you can catch it up here.

On the morning of our Day 2 we woke up feeling refreshed and eager to see more of this lovely city.  

The room that was booked for us by our tour provider, Nordic Visitor ,was very pleasant, we had a lovely view over the Bay of Finland, the bed was big and comfortable and the amenities were all top notch.  But first things first - the breakfast.  It was served in a buffet style or smorgasbord as they call it in this neck of the woods.

I am fairly familiar with some of Finnish dishes and the principals of smorgasbord due to the fact that Russia, or USSR as we used to call it back when I was living there, shares a border with Finland and over the years has been engaged in various war conflicts thus having a long history of war and peace between them.   

In my view, the most notable similarity between Russian and Finnish cousins would be the use of methods of food preservation of summer seasonal fresh produce that you can eat during the cold winter months.

We share the love of pickles, jams, compotes and marmalades.  We used to pickle tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, capsicums and even watermelon.  The apples and apricots were made into compotes, while the raspberries and strawberries became jams, marmalades or aromatic syrups.  And not to forget the pickled herring, smoked trout or salmon and tinned sardines.  The list can go on and on and on and I was quite looking forward to tasting these dishes again.

Traditionally, a smorgasbord usually involves several courses starting with herring, followed by other fish, cold cuts and cheeses then hot dishes with specific rules to avoid mixing flavours.

As we entered the dining room, we were welcomed by the delicious flavour of freshly baked breads  and sweet and sour pastries .  It was a feast for the eyes. The smorgasbord was more than I dreamed of:  tables strategically places around the room to give people space to easily walk around them were heavily laden with fresh and cured produce, all placed in accordance with the tradition of keeping different flavours separately.  One table was totally dedicated to cheeses and other dairy products.  When I came to a table with fresh fruit and vegetables, I was amazed by the freshness and aroma of the produce and the widest variety of fresh berries I have ever seen.  It was a feast not just for our stomachs only but for the eyes too.

With great difficulty we tore ourselves from the smorgasbord and went outside.  Although they say that Helsinki is a very walkable city, we decided that if want to see more, we'd better get on Hop-On Hop-Off bus as we normally do on our first day in any foreign city.

We hopped on the bus at Market Square, one of the most visited and enjoyable places in Helsinki, where people come to buy fresh produce, eat delicious food cooked at the food stalls right in front of them, have a cup of coffee in the nearest cafes and is one of the top spots in Helsinki to experience the local culture.   It is located directly on the waterfront of the South Harbour which is a part of Gulf of Finland and the broader Baltic Sea. 

One thing that I love about being on the top deck of the bus is that you get a totally different perspective of the city and people below.  You are able to see the details on the building facades that you won't be able to see from the street all the while listening to the commentary through the headphones. 

Driving around Helsinki, we spotted another sauna/restaurant called Loyly Helsinki.  

We ended our bus tour exactly where we started, in the Market Square.  Once we disembarked from the bus, we went to walk around an open air fresh produce market and food stalls.  I was absolutely fascinated by the variety of fresh berries similar to the ones I saw at our hotel at breakfast.  Some of them I have never tasted nor seen before.  We couldn't help but buy ourselves a small bag of cherries and ate them right on the spot. They were absolutely delicious, juicy and sweet.

 

We ended our day by having a very nice dinner at Ravintola La Famiglia (ravintola in Finnish means restaurant) in the city centre and slowly made our way back to our hotel.

The following morning we said goodbye to this hospitable city and took a cab to the ferry terminal to board a ferry that would take us across the Gulf of Finland to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia to continue our Highlights of Scandinavia tour.

But that is for another post

Until then,

Anna

xoxoxo