Baltic Cruise - Helsinki

Cruising the Baltic (June 4 & 5, 2015)

The main reason for  this trip was to visit St Petersburg and we had decided that rather than travel independently, we would take a cruise. A luxury cruise!

The Silver Whisper. Our cabin was one of those square windows below the boat deck.

The cabin was very nice and very comfortable but we didn't have a balcony (they were much more expensive)

We left Copenhagen and cruised the entire next day, which gave us a chance to explore the ship.

As you would expect, the restaurant was very elegant. This was taken at lunchtime, so it's fairly quiet. It would be much busier at night.

Helsinki, Finland

Our first stop was Helsinki. We were there for about eight hours, so we had time to walk around the city center, which wasn't very big. It was a beautiful sunny day, although it was chilly and quite windy. We docked very close to the city center where a bustling market was opening when we arrived.

The Market Square. Ferries to the outlying islands of Helsinki also leave from here

Food was a big part of the market and as you might expect, fish was the main item on the menu.

The city center has some very pleasant green areas near the water but you can tell from the clothing, it was a little chilly. (That's Kristine in the lower right)

The main shopping area of Helsinki

The impressive Art Deco clock tower of the main railway station

Helsinki Cathedral (built 1830-1852) in front of the Senate Square.

Catedral Upenski, the Eastern Orthodox Cathedral of Helsinki

We decided to be brave and took a boat tour of the islands of Helsinki. Brave because it was cold and windy.

Not as brave as these kids, who are learning to sail in boats the size of a surfboard

The islands are reached either by ferry or private boat. This is the NJK Yacht Club.

And this is a restaurant, which of course is only open in the summer

And some traditional sailing boats moored in front of some of the older buildings in Helsinki.

After our chilly cruise around the bay, we decided that enough was enough and headed back to the warmth of our cruise ship and a hot shower.