The Quin Road
Description: Tour
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The West Harbour (Slide 1 of 2) -
The Baltic was formed 15 000 years ago as the glaciers of the last Ice Age receded. Compared with the world's oceans, it contains very little salt and can freeze over in winter. The ice melts quickly in the spring.
Its eastern spur is the Gulf of Finland, which reaches to St. Petersburg. The northern part is the Gulf of Bothnia, which stretches to within 80 kilometres of the Arctic Circle. Because of its northern latitude, the sun hardly drops below the horizon in summer.Highslide JS
Half of the coastland is forest. The islands are countless, some covered by coniferous trees, some just barren rocks polished by the waves.
The Baltic separates but unites the nine countries along its coastline. Clockwise from Sweden these are Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Denmark. Because of shared history, Norway is sometimes included, although its coastline is all to the Atlantic.
Hernesaari (Slide 2 of 2) -
Passengers of ships using Helsinki as a turnaround port (the place where the cruise starts and finishes) have access to cruise terminal buildings.
For the rest, there are limited quay facilities. Two of the four locations where the ships berth are so close to the centre that this hardly matters.
Hernasaariin the West Harbour has a cabin by Quay C containing a couple of souvenir shops and a tax refund office. Also in attendance on the quay are "Helsinki helpers", guides hired by the city to dispense advice and information.
These are seriously useful people.