We spent our full day in Helsinki well, after starting out with a pretty fantastic breakfast at our hotel. It’s too bad this belly fills up so quickly!
We headed down to the main market square to catch a ferry towards Suomenlinna Island. The fog was thick and the breeze was chilly, so it’s a good thing it was just a short 15 minute trip. We wandered the island complete with old army barracks, a few rather dilapidated residences, and some old fortress walls. In between there were rolling hills, old cannons, and narrow gravel paths to explore even older buildings. We stopped for a coffee/ hot chocolate and homemade baked goodies in an old shipyard, near an authentic little snack shack.
In the afternoon we signed out beach cruiser bikes from the hotel and rode past the main shopping street, market square and along the ferry terminal boardwalk. We then continued onwards past a long harbor full of sail boats and fishing boats, as well as some rocky beach areas complete with sunbathers. It was a nice leisurely seaside ride, for the most part, which was perfect since this bike had no gears (the last had 3).
Lunch was at Ursula cafe, with a great view of the water, but the sandwiches were average at best and the patio was crowded and pretty noisy. We should have held out for one spot further down the road with music and better ambience from what we saw from the path. Doesn’t that always happen??!!
For the evening meal we stayed close for a little tex mex (i think) and cold drinks on a patio while dodging pigeon poop and soaking up the toasty early evening sun. I’m getting pretty tired of eating out… Just want a bowl of cereal or… something.
Tomorrow we hit Russia by train for our 5th and final country on this Euro-adventure.