Europe India Trip: Day 30-31: Klaukkala - Helsinki ride & Helsinki Sight Seeing [May 12-13, 2023]
The day I ate good Indian food after a long time. Also, I was denied entry into walking tour for the first time :)
This is part of my Europe India solo motorbike trip . Please read the post for more context.
As mentioned in my previous post, the plan for the day to ride to Helsinki, stay there for a day for sight-seeing & then leave for Tallin.
I remember spending my morning trying to find a place to stay in Helsinki. It was weekend & the Cheapsleep hostel that I was eying, had its price raised to 35 Euros. There as a Seumolinna hostel for 25 Euros but it was located in an island & I was not sure if I can take my motorbike to the place. I tried calling them but they dint pick.
I then messaged a few Airbnb hosts for discount & got responses from two. Tapio & Tiina from The West Wing were ok letting go of the cleaning charges as I was carrying my own sheets & we agreed on 15 Euro price. I also got a response from Cata of The Art Gallery Room & guess she was nice enough to offer me the common room & said I could pay what I like. But then I had committed to Tiina & I went with it.
I remember that Manne’s friend Ansi had come over to help him with some carpentry work. Ansi was in India while Finnish embassy was getting setup in New Delhi. We also talked about Manne & Ansi’s ride to Lapland (the northern part of Finland .. like how Scotland is in north of UK). Apparently riding to Lapland is the THE thing among biker riders in Finland.
I remember leaving to Helsinki at around 12:30 PM. I asked Manne about some cheap & nice place to buy a sleeping bag & Manne told me about the Recycling Center in Espoo & gave me the cordinates on my Google Map.
The place was around 40 kms & there was a Subway inside S Market close to the Recycling Center. Manne had mentioned it as a Flea Market & I assumed it to be a place where people sell used stuff. But later, I figured, it was like Fretek in Norway. It is where functional but discarded stuff is sold for cheap.
I remember speaking to my wife while I was in Subway & she mentioned that she has an office colleague from her Nokia days, staying in Helsinki. His name is Sarvanan. Sarvanan & I spoke & coincidentally Sarvanan is in Espoo. So he readily agreed to come & meet me at the Recycling Center.
I had picked a sleeping bag by the time Sarvanan came. The sleeping bag was priced at 3 Euros & needed some cleaning up, which Sarvanan said that can be done at his place. So we decided to head to his place. I also ended up picking some Whey Protein at a supermarket next to Sarvanan’s place. I was concerned I am not eating enough protein in my diet & been looking for Whey Protein for some time now.
Sarvanan stay with his wife & two lovely kids. Sarvanan’s wife was outside town so he very kindly cooked dinner for everyone including me. I think I had some Indian food after like a month & I remember eating it in pure silence while Sarvanan sitting next to me trying to keep conversation going :).
I left Sarvanan’s place in Espoo at around 8 PM to the Airbnb place I had booked.
I had located my Airbnb place on Google Map (link) & was able to ride to place without much problem. The room was quite small but well, for the price, I was getting a private room (the price was not good enough for even a shared dorm in Finland). The place was a bit far from center but with my motorbike, it wasnt a problem.
I remember cooking myself dinner in the night. I had some noodles left from previous purchases & since I was fairly tired, I did not want to spend much time.
The next day, I got up & realized I have not booked a walking tour of Helsinki. I found one & decided to just show up. It started at 10:30 AM & the city center was half an hour ride from my place. Plus, it took me some time to figure out a free parking. Unlike rest of Europe, in Nordic countries, you cant park motorbike on the sidewalk. I had zeroed in on a parking by looking up ‘mc parking’ around the walking tour start point & started to ride by like 9:45 AM. It was Saturday so things were favourable for me as there was less traffic & parking were not that occupied.
When I reached the parking spot, I figured that it is paid parking. I decided to park my bike at the fag end & hoped it would be fine, & pretty much ran to the walking tour start point, which was a km away (I had around 10 min). I reached the tour start point but then I was being told by the tour guide that it is fully booked & they do not have space for gate crashers. I was also told that another tour would happen at 1:30 PM at the same time. So I decided to try my luck later.
I was carrying my laptop so I decided to get into a cafe & write pending blog post. I looked up for coffee & decided to walk in to Robert’s Coffee after reading a review that their Cinnamon Bun were voted the best buns in Helsinki.
I am glad that I decided to come to the place. It had a wow decor, I had one of my best flat white outside UK & the Cinnamon Bun was pretty yum too. There were other sandwiches too but I decided to surpress my urge. Totally recommend the place to eat & generally pass time. It was also cheap as per Helsinki standards. The Flat White was 4.5 Euros & bun was 3.5 Euros.
I spent time writing the blog & then headed out to the walking tour. Unfortunately I did not find any tour at 1:30 PM. Maybe I heard the wrong time. I decided to attend the same tour the next day & then decided to walk back to the Railway Station that I had passed & click a few pictures. The place had piqued my curiousity but I did not have time then.
I remember Sarvanan had called & told that he would be coming to Regatta Cafe later in the day & will also hand me over the sleeping bag that we left drying at his place. I had told him about the walking tour but then messaged him that the tour did not happen so that he can come in early.
I then walked to the church made of stones. I remember Manne telling me about it when I was statying at his place in Klaukkala. It was a 2 km walk & I decided to leave my bike parked at the place where I had left before (I did check & figured it was as is parked).
The Church was also venue for musical concert. I figured later that in Finland, it is a usual strategy to bring folks to church :). I also went around from outside. It was a bit of a climb as the church was carved out from a large boulder & you need to climb from the side.
Sarvanan messaged that he would be leaving for Regatta Cafe, so I decided to walk from the church as I was on the cafe direction itself. I remember crossing some nice parks on the way.
Sarvanan came with his family at around 4 PM & I met his wife Nithya for the first time. I had met his kids the day before itself. We adults ended up talking till 6 PM. Sarvanan had to meet another friend so they left at around 6 PM & handed me the sleeping bag.
I then decided to go to Soumelinna island . I had read that it is the number one place to visit in Helsinki on Tripadvisor. I walked to the place where my bike was parked, tied the sleeping bag on the back seat & rode my bike to the ferry point. There also I parked my bike in a parking. It seemed like it is a paid parking but there was nobody manning & as usual, I did not pay. Maybe, the weekends are free parking but I was not sure.
I then looked around & saw this really nice church with golden top. Later I got to know it is Russian Orthodox church. Unfortunately it was closed then so I just looked at it from outside & started to walk to ferry point to Soumelinna island.
I knew I need ticket for the ferry. I ended up buying a zone A,B ticket for 3.1 Euro. Only later I realized there was no ticket checking & I could have taken the boat for free practically speaking. It was a 15 min ride & ferry was there every 20 min.
The ticket that I bought was valid for 3 hours from the time of buying it. I had time till 9 PM so I thought maybe, I would use the same ticket to go back. But I knew the tickets wont gonna checked so I can go a little late too.
Some quick history - Soumelinna has large fortress built to protect Helsinki from any foreign invasion. It had the entire settlement for army & artillery.
I think I was back by like 9:20 PM but I saw the ferry leaving right in front of me. The next ferry was at 9:40 PM. There was a supermarket nearby so I thought of buying myself a beer that I can drink in the hostel. But then I was told in the supermarket that I can only buy beer in Finland till 9 PM.
I instead bought a coffee & came out to wait for the ferry.
I was back to Helsinki, picked my bike & rode back to the hostel.
I forgot to mention that I had vacated the room in the morning as it was not available (I messaged Tiina in the morning). Tiina instead offered the cottage in the yard which she said is a summer cottage. I agreed. I came in the evening to check it. It was a bit shaby but usable. I also decided to test my new sleeping bag & I was glad it held well.
I remember coming back & cooking. I met two Finn ladies in the kitchen who were watching the Europe singing competition show which has become pretty popular apparently. Unfortunately Finland came 2nd (they told me the next day).
For me, my plan was to do the walking tour the next day (the same that I missed) & I had booked it this time. Post walking tour, I had decided to catch afternoon ferry to Tallinn (Estonia). I am glad that I extended my stay for one more day for the walking tour as it happened to be one of the best tours I did. More about it in the next post.