Helsinki Bus Audio (Visual) City Tour

The Audio City Tour is one of the things any visitor to Helsinki shouldn't miss. (Relatively) small as Helsinki may be, there's still so much to see. The audio tour takes you on a drive-by to the more relevant spots of the city, which you can revisit later on if you have extra time. For the best deal, get yourself a Helsinki Card. Price of the card varies with the validity duration: 29 euros for 24 hours, 42 euros for 48 hours, and 53 euros for 72 hours. Just the Audio City Tour is already 23 euros, so it's really a good deal. On top of that, you also get:

• free entry to major sights and over 50 museums
• free travel and entry to Helsinki Zoo and the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress
• unlimited rides on public transport within Helsinki

On with the tour. Meeting point is at the Helsinki Expert Kiosk right in the Esplanade Park, beside the Elva Stage. The bus is painted very distinctly, so you won't miss it. My suggestion is that you be there half an hour before departure time. The ride is very popular, and it's first-come-first-served. Once on the bus, you're provided with a Sennheiser headset that you plug into the seat in front of you to hear the audio commentary. By pressing the up/down buttons, you have a choice of 10 languagues, including Latin.

Actual tour starts at Esplanade Park. The park used to be a meadow watched over by a shepherd by the name of Pasteur. Why a Frenchman would be in Helsinki hundreds of years ago, I don't know. Pasteur lives in a small wooden cottage, and people started calling it The Chapel. That cottage is now long gone, and in its place you see this classy cafe called Kappeli.

Moving on we stop at the Senate Square. In the middle of the square is a statue of Czar Alexander II, who made Helsinki the capital of Finland. Behind the statue is the Helsinki Cathedral. If you stand on the steps in front of the cathedral, to your left is the Council of State, which is the Prime Minister's office. On your right is the Helsinki University. At the back of the square, we pass by Crown Plaza, the National Archives, and the Bank of Finland. (In 2002, the Finns switched from markka to euro.) Across it is the House of Estates, meeting place of the clergy, burghers, etc. Further down the street is the Bank of Finland Museum.

Turning left, you'll see the Soderberg House, which is the residence of the Lord Mayor. It's also the oldest building in Helsinki. Further down on your left is the House of Nobility with a mini-park in front of it. Following the road, you'll see the Helsinki Garrison on the right with the lone soldier standing guard. On the left is the brick-red Uspenski Cathedral. The main golden dome represents Jesus, while the 12 smaller domes represent the apostles. Back at the Market Square, on the left are the Presidential Palace and the City Hall. In the middle of Market Square is a monument (with a bronze double-headed eagle on top) erected in 1836 to commemmorate the visit of Czarina Alexandra.

Turning left, you'll see the Havis Amanda fountain - the symbol of Helsinki. Next, we pass by the Old Market Hall, and we end up at the Olympic Terminal, where the huge Viking and Silja ships dock. From the South Harbour, you can see the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. Made up of 6 islands, Suomenlinna has about 1000 permanent residents and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Next, we pass by Kaivopuisto Park and the Eira District. Lots of Art Nouveau buildings here.

At this point, I started to get data overload. All I remember is that we passed by the old Sinebrychoff Brewery, a weekend flea market, the Museum of Foreign Art, and the Alexander Theater, which used to be the National Opera. We end up on Boulevardi, which is another popular shopping street. Along Boulevardi, you'll find the famous Ekberg Cafe and this wooden church, which is around 170 years old.

Turning to Mannerheimintie, which is the main street, you'll see the Swedish Theater and the Stockmann, the largest department store in the Nordic region. As they say, if you can't find it in Stockmann, you don't need it. In front of Stockmann is the statue of the Three Smiths. Not sure what its history is. Behind it is the Old Student House. Further off are two famous local restaurants - Zetor and La Tour. On the other side of Mannerheimintie are some shopping centers - Forum, Glass Palace, and Sokos. Across the street is the Post Office with its museum, library, and cafe. Right beside the post office is the Contemporary Museum of Kiasma (meaning crossover). Slightly across it is the Finnish Parliament.

We made a scheduled stop at Temppeliaukio Church, a.k.a. Rock Church because it's built right into one side of a hill. It has a copper ceiling, which made use of 22kms of copper wire. Acoustics is said to be very good. After 10 minutes, we continued on with the tour. You'll notice two Schools of Economics - one Finnish, one Swedish. Passed by Hieteniemi cemetery and Hietaniemi beach, then made another stop at the site of the Sibelius Monument. The place has quite a bit of history. Apparently, there's a big public disapproval when Eila Hiltunen was commissioned to do the monument because her design was so radical. Constructing it was no easy task - together with an assistant, Eila Hiltunen spent four years welding the 600 acid-proof stainless steel tubes. By the time the work was unveiled in 1967, she was afflicted with chronic bronchial asthma from the toxic metal fumes. Nowadays, the Sibelius Monument is one of the not-to-be-missed sights in Helsinki.

On our way back to Esplanade Park, we pass by the Tram Museum. Back on Mannerheimintie, we see the Olympic Stadium and the Linnanmaki Amusement Park on the left. On the Toolo Bay, you'll see the nice wooden villas. On the right, right in front of the Crowne Plaza Hotel is an art installation called Ode to the 60,000 Lakes. Further on, you'll see the National Museum on the right and Finlandia Hall on the left. Next comes the Helsinki City Museum, the glass and steel offices of the Helsingin Sanomat, then Kiasma again. The bus takes us back to Esplanade Park, and that's the end of the tour.