With the Baltics completed, I wanted to squeeze in one more new country: Finland! That would also complete the Nordic countries for me. And to get from Tallinn to Helsinki, there’s really no better way than by ferry.

Again, another annoyingly early wake-up, although I did get to see the full moon and then the sunrise over Tallinn, so it wasn’t all bad. My hotel was within walking distance of the ferry terminal too, which made things easy.

I arrived with plenty of time to join the throng boarding what was essentially a small cruise ship, complete with a casino, shops and multiple restaurants.

I found a spot by the window and worked while we sailed for about two hours across the Baltic Sea and into Helsinki.

Once on land, I made my way to the hotel, dumped my bag and headed straight back out to explore, walking down the Esplanade towards the other harbour. I arrived just in time to jump aboard another boat, this time for a tour of Helsinki’s islands and canals.

The cruise took about 90 minutes, passing Suomenlinna and a string of smaller islands. The leaves were only just beginning to change colour, so there were flashes of red and yellow among the green covering the islands.

So many places to go hiking, all so close to the city.

It would have been nice to have more time.

Once back on land, I grabbed lunch from one of the market stalls by the harbour and chose salmon.

Man, it was delicious.

Then I wandered up to Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral. By then, tiredness was starting to win and, with nothing much else on my list for the day, I headed back to the hotel for a nap.

Later, I went to the gym and cooked myself dinner – saving a teeny bit of money – before meeting Connor, the Irish guy I’d met in Riga and Tallinn, for a drink.

Helsinki on a Sunday night, however, was very dead.

Two of the gay bars were closed, despite Google insisting they should be open, and the place we eventually found was both extremely quiet and extremely expensive. 

We tried one more bar, which was technically open but seemed to have been taken over for someone’s birthday party.

I called it a night and left Connor in the company of a drunk Finnish lesbian.

I was very happy to go to bed.

The next day, I caught the ferry over to Suomenlinna. The fortress was established by the Swedes in 1748, later taken over by the Russians, and eventually became part of independent Finland.

It has no shortage of defences – humour not being one of them – along with old military buildings, fortifications, gardens and plenty of places to sit and look out over the sea.

People still live there, so it’s also an active community, although I suspect many of the locals do their best to avoid the steady flow of tourists wandering through.

I had a great day exploring the little islands that make up Suomenlinna. I had a good lunch, found time to sit and read, enjoyed the sunshine and generally wandered wherever I felt like going.

I headed back to the mainland, had another nap, went to the gym, ate dinner, and then went out to see Helsinki City Library.

And boy, what a place.

I’m so glad I went.

First, there’s a cool neon “Helsinki” sign out the front. Then there’s the building itself: wide, flowing and full of curves, with huge amounts of glass – probably very welcome during a Finnish winter.

Inside, it had just about everything you could possibly want.

There were around 20 chess tables, with people actually using them, two cafés, loads of bookable study and meeting rooms, rooms for computer gaming, maker spaces with things like 3D printers, plenty of books – actual books! – and a large outdoor terrace with a great view over the city.

Arriving around sunset made it even better.

I loved it.

Afterwards, I wandered through a few more streets and tried to see the round church, but it was closed and by then too dark to properly see anyway. I grabbed a late dinner and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning I went to the gym – it came free with the hotel, thanks Bob W Kampi! – packed my luggage and caught the train to the airport, ready for my flight back to London and getting very close to the end of my three-month trip.

Helsinki is beautiful, and I’d love to come back and spend more time hiking around the city.

Or maybe head north to Lapland and explore those wilderness areas instead.

There’s always somewhere else to see.