We boarded the ship on Wednesday, May 28th in Stockholm. Our first cruise port was the following day in Helsinki, Finland.
the ship for this cruise
May 29th
First order of business once we disembarked was to get a geocache. The first one did not pan out for us, but this one was a success.
This accordion player was guarding the cache at the bridge. It cost Hubby $1.00 to sign the log!
a wall mural
OFD and I explored Uspenski Cathedral, the main church of the (Greek or Eastern) Orthodox Parish of Helsinki and the Orthodox Church of Sweden. The cathedral's red-brick exterior features 13 golden onion domes, symbolizing Christ and the twelve apostles.
After Helsinki was made into the capital of Finland in 1812, Alexander I decreed in 1814 that 15 percent of the salt import tax were to be collected into a fund for two churches, one Lutheran and one Orthodox.
The central cupola of the cathedral is 33 meters high.
Helsinki's Orthodox Church, considered to have formed in 1827 with the construction of the Holy Trinity Church, Helsinki, was in need of a larger church than before for a growing Orthodox parish.
According to a local gentleman whom I visited with at the end of the day and who said he was a guide for the Uspenski Cathedral told me since Alexandar I gave them money for the first church, he was not going to give any more money for a larger church. He told them to build it themselves. And they did. Using personal funds and the red bricks from Russian fortresses, Uspenski Cathedral was built. (Wikipedia confirmed his story. The Church website does not mention the bricks from fortresses.)
The Uspenski Cathedral was consecrated on October 25th, 1868.
Used in construction of the cathedral, 700 000 bricks were brought over in barges from the Bomarsund Fortress that had been demolished in the Crimean War. (All Italics are directly from Wikipedia)
It is the largest Orthodox Church in Northern and Western Europe.
The gold and red colors used throughout the cathedral symbolize divine light and the Holy Spirit. The ornate chandeliers and domes are designed to draw the eye upward, reminding worshippers of heaven.
The cathedral is a popular tourist attraction, drawing approximately half a million visitors annually. Beginning May 2025, it cost 5 Euros to view the inside of the cathedral; prior to that, it was free.
Another bridge with locks. LOTS of locks. One of the locks was a geocache.
Hmmm. Which one?
Eureka!
a squirrel moment
Suomen Ritarihuone
The building, called Ritarihuone in Finnish and Riddarhuset in Swedish, (House of Knights) is of Neogothic style. The building is located in Kruununhaka, downtown Helsinki. The block and its land is owned collectively by the Finnish nobility. There are the offices of the House, for example its General Secretary, the Chancellery, and the Genealogist as well as a library, archives and heraldic collections.
The House of Nobility either refers to the institution of the Finnish nobility or the palace of the noble estate in Helsinki, Finland. The Finnish nobility was from 1809 until 1906.
The elected head of state is the President, and Finland is a parliamentary republic since 1918.
Senate Square
Alexandar II
Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 2 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881.
Senate Building
Helsinki Cathedral
The church was originally built from 1830 to 1852 as a tribute to the Grand Duke of Finland, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia.
This is the Lutheran Church built from the salt import tax decreed by Alexander I in 1814. There are 12 larger-than-life zinc sculptures of the apostles on the apexes and corners of the roofline, added in 1849.
pulpit
Altar, with Carl Timoleon von Neff's painting The Descent of Jesus from the Cross donated by Nicholas I.
organ at the back of the church
chandelier, the most ornate item in the church
Martin Luther
In 2018, there were half a million visitors. The church is in regular use for services of worship and special events such as weddings. Finland's national Saint Lucy's Day celebrations are held at the cathedral.
We did some shopping and had a bite of food at the stalls in Market Square before returning to the ship.