Monday 22 August. Helsinki

 A lot of Helsinki is closed on Monday. We head off on the metro and make our way ro Temppeliaukon Kirkko, the Rock Church. Carved out of the thick pink granite it is an impressive space. It has a beautiful copper ceiling and is Nordically minimalist. From there we walk to the Sibelius memorial: silver organ pipes floating in the air set in parkland beside the Baltic. 

We get a bus to central station, with its a rather austere  communist style exterior  and have coffee inside the art nouveau  interior.

From there it’s a short metro ride to Hakaniemi food hall for more cured fish on rye bread and then a tram to Loyley for our sauna by the Baltic. We spend from 4 to 6 pm immersing ourselves in the surprisingly warm Baltic and then exfoliating ourselves in the dark sooty smoke sauna and the traditional sauna. They both have what look like small nuclear reactors which can be opened with a giant lever to hurl more water into the hot rocks to raise the temperature.

A beer on the sunny deck and then another tram to a Finnish restaurant we’ve read about off the beaten track. Pickled herring and then fried Baltic herring with mash and pickled cucumber and beetroot. Absolutely delicious. Then a tram and metro back to Rastila