Helsinki Day 5

Another beautiful day today and not too windy so we took a waterbus to Vallisaari and Suomenlinna. I felt we could have spent one day on each.

Vallisaari is a nature reserve. People used to live there but no longer do. It was stunning with birds, butterflies, flowers and, unfortunately mosquitoes and huge biting ants! They weren't really too much of a problem but we didn't want to stand around too long in certain places. I saw a woodpecker of some kind but didn't get a good look. One of the extras shows a stand of horsetail. The photo doesn't really do justice to how beautiful it was, sparkling in all different colours.

We then took the waterbus again to Suomenlinna. There was a lot to see here and it is too difficult to choose photos so above is the sky just before we left and one of the extras shows a Barnacle Goose surveying the landscape. These islands are both very much recommended!

When we got back home, I scurried back to the hotel to change as we had booked a meal at a Finnish restaurant. My husband had sauteed reindeer and I had vegetable rolls (stuffed cabbage leaves) in tarragon sauce with mashed potato. It was delicious.