To the Top of the World

Never having been to Scandinavia, John and I determined to make it our holiday destination for 2007.  We travelled in July for twelve nights. 

  Our first stop was Stockholm, gracefully set on 14 islands which are connected by 40 bridges.  It is widely acclaimed as one of the world’s most beautiful capital cities. We took a three hour tour of the city and then explored the Old Town, Gamla Stan, which is situated on an island with narrow medieval streets and eighteenth century Royal Palace, The Great Church and old Finnish Lutheran Church.  In Stockholm many people live in apartments but love the outdoors.  We discovered beautifully cultivated flower garden allotments, complete with little chalets, in a local park near our hotel.

We travelled overnight by modern Silja Line cruise ferry across the Baltic Sea to Helsinki.  We passed numerous islands with holiday homes, sailing and motor boats. 

Disembarking at Helsinki the following morning we enjoyed a sightseeing tour with a local guide.  We gained the impression of a clean, bright, modern city, which is a mixture of east and west.

Our first stop was the neo-classical Senate Square with the Government Palace and domed Lutheran Cathedral.  Near the seafront fish market we passed the Presidential palace, City Hall and Orthodox Cathedral.  Two other memorable sites were the monument to Sibelius, the country’s best loved composer.  It is an unusual work of modern sculpture representing immense organ pipes.  The other unusual place was a large, modern, circular church, Taivallahti.  It has been carved out of a rocky mound with a domed copper roof.  Bare rock forms the walls and light enters beneath the domed roof. 

In the evening John and I returned to the Cathedral, which is typically very plain inside, for an Organ Concert.  The chief organist was an American, Carolyn Shuster Fournier.  The most memorable work was by Marcel Fournier [1899=1963] called ‘Bells’.  It involved three extra organs, which had been brought in and situated in the gallery which surrounds the interior of the church. 
The one disappointment of our holiday was an excursion to the historic town of Porvoo, where we had hoped to visit the Cathedral.  Sadly a drunken youth had set fire to the Cathedral in 2006 and we found it closed and clothed in scaffolding and a plastic tent.

We greatly enjoyed visiting the Olympic Stadium and its museum, which was within walking distance of our hotel.  Outside is a statue to Paavo Nurmi, the famous runner and one of John’s boyhood heroes.  We took the lift to the top of the tower, which gave a wonderful view of the stadium and indeed the whole of Helsinki. 

A flight northwards of 1hour 40mins took us to Ivalo on the shore of Lake Inari, famous for its salmon fishing. Some members of the party spent the evening at a reindeer farm amongst the Sami people.

A drive northwards of 160km took us across the Norwegian border to the port and iron mining town of Kirkenes, close to the Russian frontier.  En route we encountered many reindeer, lakes and stunted forest.

We boarded the ‘Richard With’ of the Hurtigruten line for a five night cruise to Bergen. It is a modern Coastal Voyage ship, which serves the coastal population of northern Norway for deliveries of post, goods and is  the means of transport between the coastal settlements.  The facilities on board were good especially the food and we made several stops each day, some short others permitting a trip ashore.

So ended the first half of our varied and enjoyable holiday.

Margaret Symonds