Helsinki and Tallin

For our 2016 holiday we decided on a Scandinavian tour. A flight from Manchester to Helsinki was followed the next day by the two hour long ferry crossing to Tallinn in Estonia.

A day trip to Tallinn from Helsinki 

Leaving Helsink aboard the "Star"

Our first view of Tallinn was of the cruise ships and church towers.

Tallinn harbour

City wall ramparts.

A street scene!

The oldest pharmacy in Europe.

Catholic cathedral

Nikolause Church

One of the Guild houses

St Olaf's church interior

St Olaf's spire

Tower on city wall

Gate at north end of city wall

Gate leading to the Pikk Jalg lane up to the cathedral

Orthodox Alexander Nevski Cathedral domes

Parliament building opposite the cathedral

Alexander Nevski Cathedral

Gate to the Patkuli viewing platform

Looking over of the city from the Patkuli viewing platform

Soviet era diesel locomotive on the through Tallinn to Moscow sleeping car train.

Russian spellings/ alphabet on carriage 16.

Old Russian steam locomotive

More city walls

The car ferry the "Star" that we travelled on back to Helsinki.

A day in Helsinki 

Helsinki railway station in pre-war brutalist style.

Typical city centre buildings often built out of brick that dominate relatively narrow streets.

Helsinki cathedral

Panoramic view of Senate Square from the cathedral steps. Click on the image to see a larger version and then click on this to see even larger image.

The cathedral from Senate Square

Tramway junctions are a feature of many Helsinki streets.

Russian orthodox church near the harbour.

Helsinki water front from the ferry to Suomenlinna (Sveaborg in Swedish)

Sveaborg fortress on a separate island to the main island.

Old military headquarters

Our ferry named after the island 'Suomenlinna - Sveaborg'

Silja line ferry to Stockholm.

Helsinki tram at the terminus on the north west side of the city.

The view over an inlet of the sea from a small cafe near the tram terminus.

Murals on the walls of the passage from the underground railway.

Helsinki shopping streets

Russian train to St Petersburg

The overnight sleeping car train to Moscow.

This was a surprise. The coach is actually a prison cell van - there were two guards to look after the prisoners.

A double deck sleeping car used on trains ot the far north of Finland