After spending two days in Tallinn, it was time to head over to Finland. Finland has been named one of the top three destinations to visit in 2017.The capital Helsinki is just a two hour ferry ride from Tallinn. The national airline Finnair also has five weekly flights between Singapore and Helsinki. It offers the shortest route to Northern Europe via Helsinki, so do consider Finnair if you plan to visit Europe.

In 2012 Helsinki was the World Design Capital and celebrated its 200th anniversary as the capital of Finland. In 2014 Helsinki was awarded City of Design status as part of the Creative Cities Network established by UNESCO.

Even though we arrived on a cold bitter winter morning at the port of Helsinki, the sun greeted us warmly. The temperature was around -16 deg C. We took a tram to the city centre and set out to explore some sights before meeting my Finnish friend, Mikael. He had done his exchange programme in Singapore and now we are going to visit his city!

Finnish people are warm, open and sincere, even though they might tell you the exact opposite. And they are used to the cold winters with short daylight hours, so even if there is a teeny weeny bit of sunlight even during winter time, they get all excited and go outdoors to soak up the sun. Unlike us who come from a tropical climate, we could not walk for more than an hour on the streets without feeling our frozen toes literally, so we had to take several breaks inside shopping malls and McDonalds to warm up.

Just like in Estonia, sauna culture is a big thing in Finland. There is nothing more Finnish than sauna, and many Finns think you can not grasp Finland or its culture without bathing in a sauna.

During our short trip to Helsinki, we managed to have a sauna experience, visit the quirky churches of Helsinki and took a day trip to Suomenliina island. Even the central railway station is a sight to behold due to its massive granite structure that was designed using the National Romantic style.

UNIQUE CHURCHES
Helsinki has some pretty funky-looking churches, such as the Russian orthodox church, the “rock” church and the wooden chapel. Temppeliaukio Church is the “rock” church located in the Töölö neighborhood of Helsinki, built under a huge tavern, so it has a natural cooling system and surround sound effects. The Kamppi “wooden” Chapel of Silence is a Lutheran chapel located on the Narinkka Square, which depicts the art of using wood in Finnish architecture, to give it a balance between nature and development.

SUOMENLINNA, THE FORTRESS ISLAND
The fortress of Suomenlinna is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Finland’s most popular sights. The beautiful islands of Suomenlinna are only a 15-minute ferry ride away from Helsinki Market Square. With the one-day transport card, you can also board the ferry to Suomenliina without any extra charges. Suomenliina caters to everyone; whether you are looking for a cheerful weekend with friends, a tranquil evening stroll, picnic or perhaps a jog – it is all made possible by the diverse routes, locations, restaurants and cafés across the islands. With the sun shining brightly, we forgot about the cold and happily wandered around the island.

ICE SKATING
I love ice skating on real ice outdoors, and not our artificial ones at Jcube or Kallang ice rink. Hence I could not resist the opportunity to ice skate in one of the ice rinks in the middle of Helsinki, at the Ice park right by the Central Railway Station. They provide rental of skates at reasonable prices. Other places that you can go to for ice skating are Tuusulanjärvi lake or the sea off Vuosaari, or the rink right next to St. John’s Church in Punavuori and a prominent one at Brahenkenttä field in Kallio.

Helsinki is indeed a modern, pocket-sized European city known for design and high technology. Its attractive and unique character comes from its proximity to the sea, as well as its location between the East and the West. I would say this has to be one of my favourite Nordic countries. And while I did not manage to visit Rovaniemi this time, which is the famous Santa Claus village in the northern part of Finland and to see the northern lights, it is a sign that I should come back to Finland again!