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Summer chill

Photos: Jagadeesh M. R.

Nature’s bounty and Man’s skill Come alive in Finland

I must admit that my knowledge of Finland and Helsinki was largely restricted to Kimi Raikonnen and Linus Thorwald. And, that it was a land of perpetual daylight, and covered with ice — a myth that I associated with Iceland as well! Attribute that to the fact that Finland and its people probably never featured in our history books, which largely focussed on the Romans, the French and the English.

We flew Finair to Helsinki from Mumbai, an eight-hour journey. This was the first stop in a European tour covering nine countries. The temperature outside was delightfully cold around 8 or 10 degrees, considering that we had journeyed to a summer quite different from ours — a place where the sun never sets till midnight; elsewhere in the north of Finland, it’s almost 24 hours of daylight. The drive on our tour bus from the airport to our hotel on the outskirts (a place called Hyvinka) was refreshing, past thick, green wooded groves of birch and beech, water bodies, lush green meadows and very few people!

Helsinki’s population, I vaguely remember the guide saying, ran into some 60,000 or something. Our hotel was situated on a small hill, surrounded by some kind of forest. Weary from travel, we were lulled into sleep by the delightful songs of birds and other sounds from the forest.

The next day, we left on a city tour with a local guide.

“Helsinki is 60 per cent forest, has one hundred and eighty eight thousand lakes, and the Fins retreat to their lake houses and saunas as often as possible…” our guide explained, as we craned our necks to catch a glimpse of the city, our digital cameras clicking each moment. The guide further enlightened us with a brief history — Finland was ruled by Sweden for a large period from the 12th century till the 16th century before Russia took over.

But around the 18th century onwards, Russian Emperor Alexander I, who was Grand Duke of Finland during 1809-1825, gave Finland extensive autonomy and created the Finnish State. The Lutheran Church retained its position in Finland, and so did Swedish as the official language of the country. In 1812, Helsinki was made the capital of Finland.

The town’s centre or centro was quite busy with trams running through at speeds slow enough for people to cross the roads. Shops had their summer sale on, while street cafes did brisk business. Quite a few street musicians played at street corners on accordions or the guitar or saxophone.

The coach stopped at the Senate square and we did the steep climb to the impressive Uspenski Cathedral. The Cathedral was built between 1862 and 1868, and designed by Russian architect Aleksei M. Gornostajev. Since he was given a free hand in choosing the location, he decided to build it near the sea and chose a suitable rocky outcrop.

Next, we visited the wonderfully crafted rock cathedral, a modern-day prayer hall and performance area carved inside a huge piece of rock, in the heart of the city. The dome-like roof and the natural rock surface lend themselves to incredible acoustics. A small orchestra was rehearsing in a corner. We moved on to a park featuring a huge structure made of steel, resembling a pipe organ suspended in space. The modern sculpture was a tribute to Finnish composer Sebilios.

We passed the Helsinki Winter Olympic games venue and ended the day at 9 p.m. But, it still looked like 4 p.m. back in India, as we stopped at one of their beautiful and picturesque lakes to sample local ice cream, and the Finns apparently eat ice cream even during winter!

We left Finland, enlightened, and glad we hadn’t visited in winter!

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