We started our last full day on a (disappointing) city tour by bus; there was not much new to see, beside the comercial harbour and the Sibelius monument.
After that we finally had a look into Tuomiokirkko, from there we headed out for the design museum to see some examples of Finish design, as well as an exhibition on Marimekko. We finished the day and the trip of with a fabulous Easter dinner in a Finish restaurant.
This gallery contains 12 photos.
On our second full day we made it out to Soumenlinna, Helsinki’s sea fortress … Obviously we had to leave downtown first, taking the ferry over to Soumenlinna. On arrival to Soumenlinna we basically followed the tourist trail heading up … Continue reading
Today had actually been God Friday – so we had the chance to witness the Helsinki God Friday procession all the way from Kaisaniemi Park to Senate Square in front of Tuomiokirkko showing the stages of the suffering of Jesus.
After the Last Supper (shown in Kaisaniemi Park) the masses moved from the park to the Säätytalo, the House of the Estates. The final part of the procession – the crucifixion of Christ – then took place at the steps of Senate Square.
This gallery contains 19 photos.
A few friends and myself made it into Helsinki (Finland) over the Easter Holidays. We used our first day for some first explorations on what (based on what we were told later on) was the first sunny and (somewhat) warm … Continue reading
Today we were looking for something different, so we left Hong Kong behind and took a ferry bound for Macau. After a 70 minute ferry ride we made it into Macau, where we headed straight for the historic city center to see Macau with its Portuguese heritage.
In the afternoon we took a taxi to get to the not-so-traditional part of town – heading directly for The Venetian, a combined hotel, shopping mall, casino and show/ convention complex – about three times the size of its sister in Las Vegas. We had a stroll through the mall with is channels and even changing lighting; after that we went a level a down to do some gambling … I lost my usual 10 EURs at the Roulette table.
We made it back into Hong Kong around 21:00. We were hungry at that point and ended up in The Best Seafood Restaurant (its actual name) for some (from a Western standpoint) more experimental food, including jelly fish and century eggs.
Today we once more left the big city behind and took a ferry to the outlying island Cheung Chau. Here we roughly followed the Lonely Planet suggested island walk, passing by a number of temples and shrines and getting some views around the island. After that we had a late seafood lunch at the harbor front.
In the late afternoon we made our way back to Hong Kong – in time to get on board another ship for a dinner harbor cruise in Victoria harbor during the light- and laser show.
This day brought us out of the big city into the small satellite town of Sha Tin (which by itself already accounts for 700,000 inhabitants). From the train station we made our way up into the hills to the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery.
After we made the 400+ steps up to the monastery we directly went to the monastery’s resthouse to get some (vegetarian) lunch. Only after that we started to explore the monastery.
About half a year back I had managed to get some good flight deals into Hong Kong for my parents, my sister and myself.
We made it to Hong Kong after an eleven hours flight on an aging Lufthansa 747 around midday. To fight the jetlag we headed out directly to see the main attractions. First we took the star ferry to cross over from Kowloon to Hong Kong island to then make our way to the Bank of China Tower, where we managed to get up to the viewing platform on the 43rd floor. After taking in the views here, we continued our way heading on to the Peak Tram station to get up on the Peak for even more fabulous views.
We started our second day in Hong Kong with a sumptuous breakfast; after which we continued to Lantau island by MTR, there changing to cable car, to get up to the giant Buddha near Po Lin Monastery.
From here we did proceed to Diamond Hill to see Nan Lian Garden and the nearby Chi Lin Nunnery. From the nunnery we MTR’ed to the next station to see one of the most popular temples in Hong Kong – the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple – home of three religions: Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.
We made our way down Rano Tau again and headed for the islands interior on the worst dirt roads, I have ever used on a bike (even worse than Bolivia’s infamous Death Road, less traffic though).
At Ahu Akivi we left our bikes behind and started the hike up Maunga Terevaka (another one of the three volcanoes), with 507m the highest elevation of the island. The view got better and better the higher we made it. On top we could see the sea in all directions – again with the knowledge, that there is no inhabited island within 2000km in any direction.
On the way back we stopped at banana cave and some other spots – though after having climbed two volcanos that day, we were about to loose the spirits and decided to head back for town and some proper food.
This was the last full day of my whole trip – and it was a fabulous day.
I teamed up with a Londoner; we hired bikes and set off for the climb up Rano Tau (410m), one of three (extinct) volcanos that originally created Easter Island.
Attractions up there are the water-filled crater of the volcano, the Orongo ceremonial village and of course the views of the open sea – including the knowledge, that there is nothing out there in any direction for at least another 2000km.
