Helsinki -- getting to Rock Church

We are arriving in Helsinki via the Regal Princess in a few weeks. I am more a DIY-er when it comes to port visits but Princess had an excursion that seemed really good -- Porvoo, Rock Church and "the farm." Unfortunately, the 3 in my party are waitlisted. First, what do you think the chances of getting off the waitlist are, and second (more importantly), can you take taxis to the Rock Church and other sights in Helsinki easily? Anyone know anything about "the farm?"

Porvoo is a picturesque village but quite a way out of Helsinki so if you have not been to the City before I would be inclined to give it a miss.

Rather than a taxi I would be inclined to buy a day ticket €8 for the City's bus and tram system if you are not wanting to walk -- on our last visit we walked from the harbour via the Lutheran Cathedral to the Church in the Rock, but the Trams are a good way to get around. The ticket also lets you use the ferry (takes about 15 mins) to Suomenlina which would be well worth doing particularly if the weather is fine.

We had taken a ship provided bus into Helsinki and walked to the Lutheran "Rock" church. It was on a Sunday and we attended a 2 pm service. However, we walked back to pick up the bus and missed it. Barely found a taxi to make it back to the ship with 5 minutes to spare. Our only ever close call on missing the ship. Still makes for a good story.

Good advice about taking the trams. It's very easy to do and a cheap way to get around with the 8 euro day ticket.

Here's a link to the map for the city tram routes: https://www.hsl.fi/en/timetables-and-routes/metro-and-tram-routes#tram-routes-and-stops

We did a DIY tour in Helsinki last month using the trams and ferries. Our ship arrived in West Harbour (at LMA). It's an easy walk to the tram stop. You can buy your all-day ticket from the tram driver. We took the #9 tram to main station, Rautatieasema, and from there it was a short walk to Market Square where we got the ferry to Suomenlinna Island. Upon our return to Market Square, we walked down the Esplanade to the Esplanade Cafe where we had a traditional cinnamon roll called a "korvapuustit"--easily the best thing about Helsinki! Then we walked to the closest #2 tram stop (probably Senaatintori) to go to Sammonkatu where we got off for the Rock Church (a short walk away). We walked down to see the Chapel of Silence at Kamppi and then caught the #9 tram back to West Harbour.

You might also be intererested in riding the #2 and #3 trams for a complete tour of the city. I understand that the Visitors Center even has a tourist guide for these routes so you know what you're seeing as you go by.

BTW, the Rick Steves "Northern Europe Cruise Ports" guidebook has good self-guided walks for Helsinki and other ports. Also, the Helsinki tourism website, http://www.visithelsinki.fi/en is really helpful.

We purchased a city bus-tour at the visitor center. (This was several years ago so I don't recall the cost, but it was certainly reasonable). It came with a guide fluent in English. While on the city tour we stopped (and toured) the Rock Church and it also stopped in a park to visit the Sibelius Monument, a large series of steel pipes welded into a wave-like pattern to commemorate their famous composer, Jean Sibelius. This attraction we had never heard about but really enjoyed. From the visitor center we walked down to the waterfront, visited the Lutheran Cathedral and the Uspenski Cathedral before eating a lunch of fried herring and then caught the ferry to Suomenlinna Island, which was probably the highlight of our visit to Helsinki.

We just got back from the Baltics and LOVED walking around Helsinki! We bought an all day tram pass and did the #2/#3 tram that took us to all the great sights. It was fairly easy to do but sometimes we had to ask directions from where the tram dropped us off. Hindsight, I would do the hop on hop off bus as we saw them everywhere we were and the stops were closer to the sights. We were on Celebrity and they made us believe that we should take their shuttle into town, which we did. Had we taken a 2 minute walk through our terminal we would have seen the hoho buses waiting. Some of the sights it will take you to and what we saw as well are: Rock Church, Sibelius monument, Russian Orthodox and Lutheran Churches (both amazing), Market square (eat outside and inside) and many more. You will not have to waste time figuring anything out and you will have commentary on the bus, which we didn't have on the tram.

We are arriving in Helsinki via the Regal Princess in a few weeks. I am more a DIY-er when it comes to port visits but Princess had an excursion that seemed really good -- Porvoo, Rock Church and "the farm." Unfortunately, the 3 in my party are waitlisted. First, what do you think the chances of getting off the waitlist are, and second (more importantly), can you take taxis to the Rock Church and other sights in Helsinki easily? Anyone know anything about "the farm?"

Good luck for getting on that one ship tour and/or making other efficient arrangements. Below are some of my visuals for certain of these key options in Helsinki to provide "evidence" that they are worth visiting and seeing. The Rock Church is not as as handy right next to the wonderful main market area. BUT, it is a very interesting and unique site to experience.

Here's the web location for the official tourism office in Helsinki.

http://www.visithelsinki.fi/In_English/Visitor/Helsinki/Tourist_Information.iw3

Helsinki does not have the centuries of Royal heritage and architecture that you will see in Copenhagen, St. Petersburg and Stockholm. We also did a tour outside of town to the country home for the famed Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen at Hvittrask with its buildings made of natural stones and logs from the surrounding area. He was the father of the famed American architect who designed the St. Louis Gateway Arch, Dulles and JFK TWA terminals, CBS Black Rock building, etc. In Helsinki, our tour also passed the Saarinen designed train station, Olympic Stadium, used for the 1952 Olympic Games and the statue of the "Flying Finn", runner Paavo Nurmi, and visited the park with the stainless steel monument for composer Jean Sibelius, a patriot whose most famous orchestral piece was appropriately named Finlandia. The market area is a must-see for great "walking-around" sights and options.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 183,322 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki’s traditional Eastern Orthodox Church, is placed on a solid stone base overlooking the main market. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary and designed by a Russian architect, it was built 1862–1868. On the back of the cathedral, there is a plaque commemorating Russian Emperor Alexander II, who was the sovereign of the Grand Duchy of Finland during the cathedral's construction. It is claimed to be the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe, has has several valuable icons and attracts over a half million tourists yearly. Admission to the Cathedral is free of charge and it is closed on Mondays.:

Helsinki’s Church of Rock, or Temppeliaukion Kirkko, is carved out of solid stone with a unique contemporary design. This Lutheran church was opened in September 1969. For economic reasons, its suggested plan was scaled back and the interior space reduced to about one-quarter of the original, pre-WWII plan. The interior was excavated and built directly out of solid rock and is bathed in natural light which enters through the glazed dome. The church is used frequently as a concert venue with its excellent acoustics. The acoustic quality is created by the rough, virtually unworked rock surfaces. The Temppeliaukio church is one of the most popular tourist attractions in this city with half a million people visiting annually. :

Overlooking and dominating Helsinki's Senate Square, this is the Helsinki Cathedral, originally called the Church of St. Nicholas. This Lutheran Church was commenced in 1830 and completed in 1852. Its dome is a key local landmark. A statue of Russian Emperor Alexander II, erected in 1894, is located in the center of the square. After Finland's independence in 1917, demands were made regarding the removal of the statue, but that never happened. Senate Square is one of the main tourist attractions of Helsinki.:

This Helsinki park has a stainless steel sculpture dedicated to famed composer Sibelius who is best-known for his symphonic work. The monument was unveiled in 1967 and sparked a debate about this abstract art. It consists of series of more than 600 hollow steel pipes welded together in a wave-like pattern. It weighs 24 tons and measures 8.5 × 10.5 × 6.5 meters. This Sibelius Park has a nice, wooded setting next to the water. It is about a mile and a half from the main downtown. Sorry, not as handy to the main Market/downtown area. It is also near the stadium setting for the XV Olympics for when it was staged there in Helsinki in 1952. The Olympics were supposed to be there in 1940, but that got moved back due to World War II.:

Helsinki’s rail station was designed by famed architect Eliel Saarinen who has American connection through his later work here and his famed son, Eero, who did the St. Louis Gateway Arch, Dulles airport terminal, CBS building in NYC, TWA terminal at JFK airport, etc.:

Helsinki’s City Hall in the main downtown overlooking the market area:

We are arriving in Helsinki via the Regal Princess in a few weeks. I am more a DIY-er when it comes to port visits but Princess had an excursion that seemed really good -- Porvoo, Rock Church and "the farm." Unfortunately, the 3 in my party are waitlisted. First, what do you think the chances of getting off the waitlist are, and second (more importantly), can you take taxis to the Rock Church and other sights in Helsinki easily? Anyone know anything about "the farm?"

I forgot to mention to stop at the Olympic Stadium where you can walk into the actual stadium for free. We paid 5 euros each to go up in the tower to see a nice aerial view of Helsinki. There may be a discount in the hoho brochure. The bus stops right in front of it.

We are arriving in Helsinki via the Regal Princess in a few weeks. I am more a DIY-er when it comes to port visits but Princess had an excursion that seemed really good -- Porvoo, Rock Church and "the farm." Unfortunately, the 3 in my party are waitlisted. First, what do you think the chances of getting off the waitlist are, and second (more importantly), can you take taxis to the Rock Church and other sights in Helsinki easily? Anyone know anything about "the farm?"

We took the HOHO bus right outside from where we docked. There were 2 diff. HOHO buses offering tickets right inside this area where they were selling souvenirs. One was a little cheaper so we went with that company. We took the HOHO bus directly to this area--about a block or so away--little uphill.

(Interesting place). We had decided that that was the furthest destination we wanted to stop at. However, it was closed as the Chinese Prime Minister was visiting. We were told to come back alter, which we did. We took the bus around until we were near the first square going back--think it was called Senate Sq. where there was a festival going on. This white church was there--forgot name. I did not choose to walk up the many stairs and stayed at the festival but the others walked up and were ok with with it but didn't sound like it was that great. We then walked down to the Market Sq. which was busy, but fun to walk around. We stopped in this cafe that is mentioned in Rick Steve's book. It was crowded and the pastry looked great, but we did not order food as we were not hungry. We however, used the bathroom here and they were clean. Walked around the area and across this little street where there were street vendors. (prices here were cheaper than at the shops/ booths right outside the ship).We had a beautiful sunny day and are people who enjoy walking around and seeing the vendors.

We took the Hop-on-hop-off bus in Helsinki. It starts from the Senate Square in Front of the St.Nicholas Cathedral. You can bye a day ticket there or right on the bus anywhere else along the rout. It was very convenient. It had stops in all the main places of interest and you can listen to some comments using the audio-guide. It has a stop near the Rock Church as well. We listened to some music there. The sound was beautiful.

Hi! We did a DIY tour in Helsinki with Rick Steves’ Northern Europe Cruise Ports. It’s a great book and it really helped a lot. We just loved the Rock Church and Helsinki Cathedral . City hall is really interesting. These tree attractions are the main highlights of the city. There were also quite a few very interesting buildings designed in Art Nouveau stile just along the streets.

Jess :)