The Baltic - Part Three, Finland

Finland

How can you tell the difference between a Finnish introvert vs extrovert.  When talking with you the introvert will stare at his shoes... the extrovert stares at yours.  

A stereotype, but not our experience.  While the Finns seem naturally reserved, once you've engaged them they are extremely friendly and warm.  Part of this friendliness, vs their southern neighbors, we believe is their different experience post WWII when their southern neighbors were occupied by the Soviet Union for over forty years. In 1939 Finland heroically fought off Soviet invaders in what is called the Winter War.  Despite a much larger Soviet Army, Finland was defending their homeland and much more prepared for a winter war with temperatures as low as - 45 deg F.  In a reversal of Napoleon and Hitler's invasions into Russia, the Soviet Union was ill prepared for the brutal winter and suffered severe losses.  Despite not being successful in their invasion they still succeeded in concessions of land and reparations from Finland to cease hostilities.  However, Finland never had KGB offices in their cities torturing the citizens and forcing neighbor to inform on neighbor, brother on brother.  

Finns fighting for their homeland in winter camouflage 

During Sweden's occupation they generally had a positive relationship with the locals.  Many Swedes emigrated to Finland, and today Swedish is an official second language with most street signs are in both languages. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine both countries simultaneously broke from their historic neutrality and applied to NATO for protection.  As has been frequently cited, Finland shares an 800 mile border with Russia, the longest in Europe.  

The first stop on our journey was Helsinki. Finland is rather new on the global stage of sovereign nations obtaining their independence only at the end of WWI.  The capital city does not have the grandeur and wide boulevards of Empire cities like Paris, Stockholm, Copenhagen, or Vienna, nor a historic medieval core as many other cities we've visited in Europe.  The scale of Helsinki is manageable, and not overwhelming.  Being located on several islands there are delightful walks in town and along the coast. We stayed at a large hotel next to the train station, which is not our typical choice, but it was easy access by walking or tram to the major sites and Market Square on the harbor.   

View down the shopping street toward the soaring 

Train Station clock tower and our hotel in distance.

The city was founded by King Gustav Vasa of Sweden in 1550.  (We'll meet him again in Stockholm).  Helsinki was Sweden's trading and commercial hub in the eastern Baltic while the provincial capital was Turku to the west. Its rise came after it was made the capital of Russian's Grand Duchy in 1812 after the Napoleonic wars.  The city developed several grand buildings along the waterfront in the Neo Classical style of the nineteen century.  

Market Square under the orange umbrellas by the 

harbor in front of the Presidential Palace.

Lutheran Cathedral and Ferris Wheel along the harbor.

Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral remnant of Russia's long presence.

Finland also boasts several internationally known architects. Their style ranges from a Romantic Art Nouveau style of the early 1900s to the mid-century organic style of Frank Lloyd Wright.  

Central Train Station by Eliel Saarinen before emigrating to the US.  

Twin heroic male sculptures flank the entry in Finish Art Nouveau. 

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis by his son Eero Saarinen 

who also did the Dulles International airport near Washington, D.C. among others.

A famous, if somewhat bizarre, underground church called 

Temppeliaukio "Rock" church as it is blasted into the outcropping.

School interior by renown architect Alvar Alto using organic forms and innovative materials.  

One of the major historic and contemporary sites in Helsinki is Suomenlinna (Sveaborg in Swedish). These eight fortified islands from the mid-eighteenth century formed the second largest defensive construction in Europe after Gibraltar.  It was constructed by Sweden in response to Peter the Great building St. Petersburg and naval base nearby on the Baltic.  It had a dry dock for ship building and repair, 200 buildings, 6000 workers, and six km of fortified walls bristling with armament facing the sea to repel any invasion.  Unfortunately, it quickly fell to the Russians when they blockaded the delivery of supplies and bombarded it from the land side in winter. Today it is a historic park with lovely green spaces for tourists and locals.  In the summer there are picnics and walks, and in the winter cross-country skiing.  

Suomenlinna Fort from the air

The end of our first day we dinned at restaurant Savotta, across from Senate square, serving traditional Finnish cuisine.  We had an appetizer plate of arctic char, reindeer, bear, with beets and potatoes.  The setting was classic Scandinavian with hand painted blue nature graphics on the walls, and waitresses in traditional garb.  However, this was not a tourist attraction, but caters to locals who still live and appreciate the tradition.  Hardly a word of english was spoken, except by us.  Delightful.  

Senate Square outside Savotta with the Lutheran Cathedral out of frame to right.

On our second day we took a boat tour through the nearby islands.  While we did not get inland to see their famous lakes and forests, from Helsinki the attraction is the sea.  There are many marinas from which to explore uninhabited islands. 

Waterway between two islands.

A scrum of kids sailing.

The older generation splashes about despite the chill of September.

While probably not used as much any more some still 

wash, beat and dry their rugs on piers along the water.  

Some portions of the inland waterway reminded us of Lake Washington

with lovely homes along the shoreline.  

They are in the process of building a new bridge to connect these islands to the mainland.  Its design is elegant and intended to be environmentally sensitive and minimize the impact on the view with its narrow profile and thin cable supports incorporating separated lanes for traffic, bikes, trams and pedestrians.  We suspect it will become as identified with Helsinki as the Tower Bridge is to London, the Brooklyn Bridge is to NYC or the Sydney Bridge is to Sydney. 

Kruunuvuori Bridge underconstruction.  The central tower is just emerging with rebar between 

the roadway supports, which will be removed once finished to maintain the open view.  

Illustration of final bridge

Another site only a tram ride from the Market Square is Seurasaari Open-Air folk museum.  Located on an island about an hour tram ride away the site includes ~100 relocated historic timber buildings in a natural setting displaying the way people lived in Finland not that long ago, and still do in the country.

Seurasaari island is in upper left corner while fortified Suomenlinna Fortress is in the lower right.

Historic old cabin on Seurasaari

When the Finns have free time or a holiday they most likely will go to a family or friend's cabin on a lake in the woods.  The only heat is a wood fired stove, and every cabin must have a sauna.  But the sauna is not just for vacation or retreats, it's part of the Finnish culture, used multiple times a week.  Most apartments and homes have their own sauna, companies and institutions have saunas for their employees, and there are public saunas for those that don't have access.  There are over five million people in Finland, and they have over 3 million saunas, or 1.5 people per sauna, more than any other nation.  (The only Finnish word in the english language is sauna.)  

My favorite memory in Finland was being introduced to a good friend's son, Markos, who is getting his master's degree in Helsinki in environmental sciences.  (She is the Honorary Vice Consul of Finland to Washington State).  He took a break from his studies to take me to a traditional co-ed community sauna outside the city on the banks of the Baltic.  No tourist attraction was this.  There were three  rustic wood fired saunas of different sizes and temperature holding between six and twelve people of all ages, shapes and sizes.  They were decades old donated from some family retreat on a northern lake.  The community supports them with donations and repairs, including maintaining a supply of firewood.  Markos and I undressed, stashed our clothes in a locker, and waited outside in the raw... weather too... with others.  Because people are inside for a short time due to the heat, the wait is never more than ten minutes.  

"Pop-up" sauna on the Baltic.

While the Finns seem naturally reserved, they are not reserved being natural in the sauna.  After a few minutes the uniqueness (or interest) of the exposure evaporates in the heat and becomes irrelevant.  I think the puritan west could benefit from the normality of it rather than the exploitation.  After being nicely braised, we dove into the Baltic.  After my initial gasp, I was surprised it wasn't salty.  Marko explained that with only a narrow connection to the North Sea, the Baltic is highly diluted by all the fresh water flowing into it from the surrounding nine countries.  That's also why it freezes so quickly in winter.  Then, a family will use a chainsaw to cut a hole in the ice before diving in.  It's a thing.

The next morning we took the tram to the Viking Line pier just down from Market Square for our crossing the Baltic to Estonia.  

Major ferry transit hub for destinations to 

St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and Tallinn, our next destination

Next Post:  The Baltic - Part Four, Estonia