I didn’t have the best night’s sleep in the hotel. I think my body clock was all messed up, with an early start yesterday and the two hour time difference. That along with the excesses of Christmas were surely having an effect on me and I felt very restless. 

I didn’t rush to get up as the hotel was serving breakfast until 1pm. Tara, our server last night, had proudly said that the Kultá breakfast is known as the best in Helsinki, so sounded like it’s nit to be missed.

We went downstairs at about 9:45am and was greeted by one of the waiting staff. She asked us if we had eaten breakfast here before and because we hadn’t, she gave us a guided tour of everywhere in the breakfast area. 

There were different sections offering hot items such as bacon, reindeer sausage, tomatoes etc. There was a cold meat, cheese and salad section with every type of pickle you could imagine. The bread section was also varied and we could order an omelette or fried egg however we wanted it cooking at the hot counter. I can see why people who aren’t staying in the hotel will come to visit. 

Once we’d eaten we got wrapped up and ventured out into the damp, drizzly Finnish weather. We walked towards the market we had been at yesterday. There weren’t many stalls out; it could have been to do with the weather or maybe because it was Sunday. We passed through, buying a couple of customary fridge magnets and went to our first point of interest which was the beautiful Uspenski cathedral. This is thought to be the largest Orthodox cathedral in Northern and Western Europe.  It is very imposing, situated on the top of a hill in the Katajanokka area of Helsinki. We went into the entrance of the cathedral but weren’t able to enter the main area of worship as mass was taking place. It looked beautiful inside. The outside of the building had domes that were painted in gold. Their curved shape reminded me a little of our visit to St Basil’s Cathedral and The Kremlin in Moscow in 2014. They are very similar to the domes there. Finland was an autonomic Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire when this cathedral was built in the 1860s which probably explains the style of the domes. This cathedral was built at the request of Alexander II, the then Emperor of Russia.  There is a large statue of said Emperor in Senate Square.

It felt very windy at the top of the hill so we walked back down to ground level and along a tiny part of Helsinki’s 130 kilometre long public waterfront until we decided to get away from the coastal wind and back towards the city. 

Our next destination was the Helsinki Cathedral, which is found in the Senate Square. It is one of ten cathedral churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. It is the main church of the Diocese of Helsinki and the Helsinki Cathedral Parish, but for many people it is regarded as the symbol of all Helsinki.  We walked up the steps from Senate Square to the entrance, taking in the city views from the top.  The cathedral is open to visitors all year round unless there are events taking place.  The organ was playing when we went in. We didn’t spend long there, just enough time to take in the decorative elements of the cathedral. 

Our next stop off was the Temppeliaukio Church, which was a good twenty minutes walk from Senate Square. This is another Lutheran church, opened in 1969 in the Töölö neighbourhood of Helsinki. It was built directly into solid rock, which is why it’s also known as the “Church of the Rock” and “Rock Church”. The main church hall is covered with a dome, lined with copper and supported on the rock walls by reinforced concrete beams. It was a lovely and warm place to escape from the cold. As expected, it was very quiet apart from music being played from some speakers.

Our last attraction was the Sibelius Monument which was another good walk from the Temppeliaukio Church. It was still drizzly but thankfully we were dressed for the weather. We didn’t spend long at the monument but I found out that it was dedicated to a notable composer, Jean Sibelius.

https://www.hamhelsinki.fi/en/sculptures/sibelius-monumentti-sibelius-monument/

We took a few pictures and then headed back to the city centre. It was after 13:30 so we needed to get something to eat. Google led us to Zetor, a restaurant that had been recommended to us by a friend. We hadn’t booked but just turned up and there were a few empty tables. We were shown to a table that was situated next to an old Zetor tractor. There were quite a few dotted around this large restaurant, all with tables surrounding them. It was obvious that it was a tractor theme and was decorated as such. It had a great menu with a good choice of typical Finnish food and drinks. Service was also brilliant and we didn’t have to wait too long before being served. I went for a classic salmon soup, a local dish which was delicious.

https://www.raflaamo.fi/en/restaurant/helsinki/zetor

Once we’d eaten we headed back to the hotel for a well earned rest after our 18000 step walk. A few hours later, we only ventured out as far as the hotel restaurant Kultá, where we were treated to another food extravaganza. We took advantage of the fresh local produce before retiring to bed. The next day meant we were checking out and heading to another country not so far away.