Finland

I've only been to Finland twice before: once for a wedding in 2012 and before that in 2008. So it's been almost 10 years since my first visit and I can still remember it as if was yesterday. To be fair, I also stayed for a month since I was taking a Finnish language class at Helsinki Summer University (did I mention that I'm a language geek?) so it was quite an intense summer.

In any case, I love Finland and so it was high time to come back for some sauna and salmiakki, two things you best enjoy on an island in a lake in the woods far away from "civilisation". So that's what we did! After taking the boat from Tallinn to Helsinki we didn't hang around but got straight on the train to Mikkeli in South-Eastern Finland. From there we took another bus to a village called Anttola where we rented a canoe and spent the next 3 days paddling around lake Saimaa.

It was beautiful! We paddled to a small island in the lake where there was a "campsite", i.e. some spots in the woods where the trees were chopped down to put up our tent and a basic cooking shelter with a fire place. Oh, and of course a sauna! It couldn't have been more perfect. On top of that we were also fairly lucky with the weather and it only started raining on the last day but we even managed to time it well and break down our tent in short break when it was still dry.

Having the sauna was great also because there was no electricity or running water of course so at least we could wash with warm water in lack of a shower. Plus you could enjoy the heat and then take a dip directly in the lake outside - so refreshing! That is kind of the essence of a Finnish summer holiday in my mind and we totally maxed it this time.  I have to admit though that I still missed the shower a little bit, especially because the lake water was very soft and made my hair go all funny. First world problems, yeah.

The canoe rental place "Wild Canoe" was great, by the way, I can totally recommend it. For a very decent price (250 € for two people) we rented the canoe, all camping- and cooking equipment except the sleeping bags for three days, plus we could stay at their base camp for free another two nights. The issue is of course getting there if you don't have  car so the opportunity to arrive the day before, stay over in one of their cottages, and start paddling the next morning is really handy. We did the same thing when we got back and because all our stuff got wet we even had time to dry some of our clothes before going back to Helsinki. On top of that, the guys were every so friendly and helpful and answered all our questions very patiently. Even when I asked if there were bears on the island.

All in all we spent 5 days in Anttola and we returned to Helsinki for another couple of days in the city, enjoying the perks of a real kitchen and bathroom and catching up with some old friends from Uni that I hadn't seen in years. Of course, I also needed to fit in a visit to the Marimekko outlet shop although I didn't find too many bargains this time (you can see the fabric and the shirt in the last picture above).

Oh Finland, you certainly didn't disappoint this time. Although I would probably not do the three-day canoeing tour again because I can tell you, I was EXHAUSTED.