Helsinki had a splendid camp site on the outskirts of the city, a few minutes walk from the Metro station. The camp cost €37 a night and the site was pretty full when we arrived on the Saturday.
The next day we took the 20 minute Metro journey into the city, costing €2.95 pp each way. We had booked a table at Kuu, a restaurant that served traditional Finnish cuisine. We enjoyed a fish tartare starter and a smoked salmon soup, followed by a slow cooked moose entrecôte and sautéed reindeer fillet, cooked very rare. We shared a dessert followed by an espresso. The fabulous meal cost €130, washed down with a lovely bottle of Merlot from Bordeaux (another €95).
As we were strolling around the city centre we heard English being spoken and noticed groups of football supporters gathering outside bars and cafes. We later discovered that there was a Nations League football match that evening, Finland v England. As we walked back from the restaurant we were surrounded by folk wearing blue and white scarves. Everyone was very well behaved. England won 3-1.
The weather in Scandinavia in mid October was cold and mostly wet and we didn’t really have the urge to stop anywhere for more than a day or two in order to do our chores. The idea of taking two overnight ferries from Finland to Sweden and on to Poland would cut out 700 miles of driving through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, countries we had visited on previous travels.
