It is our last port of call on this cruise, until we return to Amsterdam. We have sea days for the next two and then we fly out Sunday. The Baltic Sea has been very calm the past couple of weeks, likely no seasickness aboard anywhere. I don’t know is if these are typical summer sea conditions here.
If you come to Helsinki, do make a point of visiting the Church of the Rock, It’s built into an old rock quarry which they roofed over and installed a floor, pews and a pipe organ. I’m not the only one who finds its craggy stone interior walls and vaulted ceiling create a very spiritual-feeling space. Having visited it twice on earlier trips, we passed this time.
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We saw something very interesting on the short voyage here last early evening from St. Petersburg. The estuary of the Neva River has been sort of dammed with a breakwater and enormous gates at the entrance so it can be shut off from the Baltic. A web search for Neva River flood control will bring up photos of the gates.
The gates exist to prevent a storm surge from heading upstream to St. Petersburg. The Baltic Sea notoriously has almost no tides but St. Petersburg with its canals and channels is very at-risk of flooding.
If you’d like to see photos of the places we’ve toured on this trip, please visit the other DrC’s blog here.
