Fare Magazine – Issue 02: Helsinki

Fare connects armchair travelers with immersive and nuanced stories from cities around the world, and also serves as a kind of roadmap for those who are ready to make the actual trip to see things for themselves.

Helsinki is a city at its height.

It is also something of an anomaly. Culturally, it is a partial amalgamate of its neighbors—and former rulers—in Sweden and Russia, but as the capital of a young and independent Finland, it is full of nascent pride and positivity. It rejoices in an entrepreneurial spirit and a belief that new projects and new legacies can be made here, even as older ones are preserved and celebrated.

While some cities in Scandinavia exude a “Nordic cool,” in Helsinki, there’s a collective nonchalance, and a widespread pragmatism. Helsinki's streets are filled with art nouveau design, with the work of celebrated Finnish modernists also very much on display. Even now designers, artists, makers, chefs, and hip-hop stars embolden the city’s claim to a vibrant lifestyle.

In Issue 2: Helsinki, prepare to explore: 

• The sweet smells and folkloric past of a Karelian bakery
• The island of Seurasaari, where deep in the woods you'll find a centuries-old village, restored from along Finland's eastern borders
• The old-school gems of Helsinki's restaurant scene, institutions with classic Finnish fare and interior, unchanged in nearly a century
• An enigmatic bar with famous patrons where Soviet-era ideals still live
• The torikahvilat, the orange tents of Helsinki's market squares, with their famous breakfasts and apple-mash doughnuts
• The history of the naval fortress of Suomenlinna, one of the largest in Europe, situated across the Wolf Isles

Specs: 170mm x 240mm, lithographically printed on Arctic matt and Cyclus Offset stock; perfect bound. Approximately 190 pages.