Saariselka, Finland

The Delightful Arctic Heat


rail for heat
Sign indicating the sauna cabin in a hotel in Saariselka
New clients"
Couple prepares to enter the complex where Saariselka's smoke sauna is located.
cold nook
Nook of the building that houses the Kilopaa Fell Center smoke sauna.
Anti-grid boards
Seat boards and fire-retardant equipment in the Kilopaa Fell Center smoke sauna hut.
Finnish Sauna
Group of Finns enjoy the heat of the loumlyly, the steam produced by the water poured over the heated stones.
back to heat
Woman leaves avanto (opening in icy river or lake) back to sauna.
Interval
Smoke sauna user leaves the cabin with one of the plates used as a seat
- 5th
Thermometer records the winter temperature at the Kilopaa Feel Center.
Outgoing I
Visitor holds her board and prepares to leave the group
Couple drinks beer after a period inside the sauna.
Just in case
Buoy ready for any emergency on the avanto.
Anti-grid boards II
Seating boards hanging outside the sauna.
avant bath
Two ladies leave the avanto (open hole in a frozen lake or river) after another post-sauna dip.
finnish fire extinguisher
Sauna made
Finn leaves the bathing building of the Kilopaa Fell Center after a prolonged sauna.
It is said that the Finns created SMS so they don't have to talk. The imagination of cold Nordics is lost in the mist of their beloved saunas, real physical and social therapy sessions.

The end of March arrives. Inari receives a new edition of Kings Cup, the most important reindeer racing competition in Lapland.

We had arranged the trip so as not to miss this eccentric event and, with luck, we booked accommodation in one of the many cabins at Lake & Snow Inari Park, which, as usual, was on the pine cone.

Tapani is the head of the family who manages that business and others that involve trips and fishing driven by snowmobiles or boats, depending on the time of year.

He is also our host and makes a point of explaining to us the privilege we had in getting a place there. “Most of our cabins are booked well in advance for the race weekend.

In fact, many of them are taken these days for the next 25 years and the families that rent them would never forgive me if I forgot about them. For us it's a very good deal but less simple than it sounds.”

It doesn't cost us to believe. Tapani drives a voluminous, flashy white Audi, with automatic shifts that tell us they're already adapted to ice and thaw.

Thermometer, Finnish Sauna

Thermometer records the winter temperature at the Kilopaa Feel Center.

Thus, it seems to prove the prosperity guaranteed by your company. We are also aware that most of the participants and spectators who rent you cabins during the competition are reindeer breeders and/or come from a rural Finland not as polite and courteous as the one in Helsinki and other southern cities.

The Inescapable Finnish Sauna Habit

Tapani goes on to explain: “Some guests arrive with bad habits. They park their cars and leave the heating and anti-freeze systems on all night, instead of just two or three hours before they leave, as they're supposed to.

Management, Finnish Sauna

Sign indicating the sauna cabin in a hotel in Saariselka

Last year, around this time, we had -30º of minimum. In addition to the cars, everyone was in the saunas at the same time and caused the main fuse in the park to blow. They froze until the company brigade rescued us. In addition to the energy cost, we had to pay 500 euros just for the intervention.

But what can you do? No one can do without a sauna here and the ones we have in these houses are electrical and the worst.”

Not All Saunas Are Good Saunas

It didn't take long for us to realize how much the Finns are angry with bad heating systems, which dry as much as they heat the wooden cabins and the bodies.

These are the ones that the most affordable hotel chains install in guest rooms out of respect for the principle that a Finnish stay without a sauna is inconceivable.

It is said in Finland that you can build a sauna without a house, but never a house without a sauna.

Icy Cabin, Finnish Sauna

Nook of the building that houses the Kilopaa Fell Center smoke sauna.

There are sauna cabins in the National Parliament, the deepest in the world, at 1400m, on the premises of the Pyhäsalmy zinc and silver mine and wherever Finnish UN peacekeepers travel, which has led to the Eritrea, for example, has also had its own.

From Cold to Cold: Inari trip to Saariselka

In the meantime, we move from Inari to the Saariselka area and join a pre-arranged snowshoe hike up and down the white hills of Urho K. Kekkonen National Park.

The 9km reveals rewarding scenarios but wears us out more than expected. Fortunately, we have a light and refreshing lunch waiting at the resort of Kiilopää. And then, the honor of recovering the punished bodies in an old woman savusauna, or smoke sauna.

On departure, Finnish Sauna

Smoke sauna user leaves the cabin with one of the plates used as a seat

We tour the Fell Center Kiilopää among cross-country skiers and other sportsmen and nature lovers who enjoy the frigid but sunny weekend and come across the picturesque building that houses the changing rooms.

We go through a tunnel and, in the background, we see the white landscape again, dotted with some more resistant vegetation. We enter the changing rooms, warmed by a fireplace with a soft fire and full of winter clothes, and go outside in a bathing suit.

Then, we grab the boards that serve as a seat and push through the old dusky wooden door that separates the excruciating cold from the warmth.

Wooden Seats, Finnish Sauna

Seat boards and fire-retardant equipment in the Kilopaa Fell Center smoke sauna hut.

The Cozy Welcome of the Lapland Sauna

Light enters ahead of us. It reveals the blackened but spacious cabin, filled with a dense fog that shelters dozens of Finns in a lively chatter on a retracted mezzanine.

Confronted with the sold-out capacity, we hesitated on the ground floor. But, after the initial surprise at the visit of the outsiders, the group tightens up and urges us to go upstairs. Only one woman dares to sketch short sentences in English. As such, we do not force dialogues that could become uncomfortable.

full cabin

Group of Finns enjoy the heat of the loumlyly, the steam produced by the water poured over the heated stones.

The fact of finding out where we are from raises comments and expressions that we limit ourselves to observing with curiosity, or if the Finnish dialect were not one of the most impenetrable in Europe.

The novelty quickly wears off and the locals return to their natural conviviality, which they warm up with frequent jokes and with the huge spoonfuls of water they send over the ton of red-hot black stones to renew the löyly, as they call the sauna steam that massages them, stimulates and enhances.

According to Finnish wisdom, it is thirty minutes after leaving a sauna that the human body is more beautiful. We decided to stay for about an hour with various breaks.

Buoy, Finnish Sauna

Buoy ready for any emergency on the avanto.

From Heat to Arctic Ice, From Arctic Ice to Heat

We endure a long first period until another matriarch insists that we do things properly and calls us to cool down: “Come on, come on ! River water!”.

We follow her and a convoy of confident bathers who traverse a boardwalk to the vicinity of the Kiilopuro River, all frozen and covered in snow like the surrounding scenery, except for the forward a small area that park employees keep open with the help of the current.

Saunas in avanto, Finnish sauna

Two ladies leave the avanto (open hole in a frozen lake or river) after another post-sauna dip.

Later, we had fun when we found out that there is an Association in Finland that Avantouinti promotes these invigorating baths and that it is up to her and other entities as well – such as the Finnish Sauna Society and the Finnish Skiing Association (Suomen Latu) to maintain the holes in functional rivers and lakes.

Anesthetic Dive in a Lapland Avanto

We watch the first ladies in their fifties dive fearlessly into the water at 0 degrees to which their husbands are immediately joined. His baths last less than 20 seconds, which doesn't even leave us time for hesitation. Our turn comes and we have to comply with the dignity of the visitor.

We descended the stairs and entered without thinking. The body heat is immediately canceled out by the almost negative temperature and we feel the river pricking us as if it were made of needles. We take one more dip to confirm we're still alive and rush to the rescue of the towels. Afterwards, we return to the interior of the sauna, where we start the process over.

Both inside and outside the cabin, Finns drink cold beers that refresh them less sharply than the river. In Finnish and Latvian cultures it is even acceptable to pour some beer into the water and pour it over the glowing stones to release the aroma of the fermented beans.

Beer hour, Finnish sauna

Couple drinks beer after a period inside the sauna.

But this habit divides the population and, since there are dozens of users present, the group follows the normal procedure and simply tip over can after can.

As they assure in those parts, if it's something that a sauna accompanied by a cold beer doesn't solve then it's more likely not to have a cure.

El Tatio, Chile

El Tatio Geysers - Between the Ice and the Heat of the Atacama

Surrounded by supreme volcanoes, the geothermal field of El Tatio, in the Atacama Desert it appears as a Dantesque mirage of sulfur and steam at an icy 4200 m altitude. Its geysers and fumaroles attract hordes of travelers.
Kemi, Finland

It is No "Love Boat". Icebreaker since 1961

Built to maintain waterways through the most extreme arctic winter, the icebreaker Sampo” fulfilled its mission between Finland and Sweden for 30 years. In 1988, he reformed and dedicated himself to shorter trips that allow passengers to float in a newly opened channel in the Gulf of Bothnia, in clothes that, more than special, seem spacey.
Lapland, Finland

In Search of the Fire Fox

Unique to the heights of the Earth are the northern or southern auroras, light phenomena generated by solar explosions. You Sami natives from Lapland they believed it to be a fiery fox that spread sparkles in the sky. Whatever they are, not even the nearly 30 degrees below zero that were felt in the far north of Finland could deter us from admiring them.
Hailuoto Island, Finland

Fishing for Truly Fresh Fish

Sheltered from unwanted social pressures, the islanders of Hailuoto they know how to sustain themselves. Under the icy sea of ​​Bothnia they capture precious ingredients for the restaurants of Oulu, in mainland Finland.
Rovaniemi, Finland

From the Finnish Lapland to the Arctic. A Visit to the Land of Santa

Fed up with waiting for the bearded old man to descend down the chimney, we reverse the story. We took advantage of a trip to Finnish Lapland and passed through its furtive home.
Kuusamo ao PN Oulanka, Finland

Under the Arctic's Icy Spell

We are at 66º North and at the gates of Lapland. In these parts, the white landscape belongs to everyone and to no one like the snow-covered trees, the atrocious cold and the endless night.
Inari, Finland

The Guardians of Boreal Europe

Long discriminated against by Scandinavian, Finnish and Russian settlers, the Sami people regain their autonomy and pride themselves on their nationality.
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, Alligator
Safari
Iberá Wetlands, Argentina

The Pantanal of the Pampas

On the world map, south of the famous brazilian wetland, a little-known flooded region appears, but almost as vast and rich in biodiversity. the Guarani expression Y bera defines it as “shining waters”. The adjective fits more than its strong luminance.
Prayer flags in Ghyaru, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 4th – Upper Banana to Ngawal, Nepal

From Nightmare to Dazzle

Unbeknownst to us, we are faced with an ascent that leads us to despair. We pulled our strength as far as possible and reached Ghyaru where we felt closer than ever to the Annapurnas. The rest of the way to Ngawal felt like a kind of extension of the reward.
Visitors in Jameos del Água, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain
Architecture & Design
Lanzarote, Canary Islands

To César Manrique what is César Manrique's

By itself, Lanzarote would always be a Canaria by itself, but it is almost impossible to explore it without discovering the restless and activist genius of one of its prodigal sons. César Manrique passed away nearly thirty years ago. The prolific work he left shines on the lava of the volcanic island that saw him born.
Totems, Botko Village, Malekula, Vanuatu
Adventure
Malekula, Vanuatu

Meat and Bone Cannibalism

Until the early XNUMXth century, man-eaters still feasted on the Vanuatu archipelago. In the village of Botko we find out why European settlers were so afraid of the island of Malekula.
shadow of success
Ceremonies and Festivities
Champoton, Mexico

Rodeo Under Sombreros

Champoton, in Campeche, hosts a fair honored by the Virgén de La Concepción. O rodeo Mexican under local sombreros reveals the elegance and skill of the region's cowboys.
Sirocco, Arabia, Helsinki
Cities
Helsinki, Finland

The Design that Came from the Cold

With much of the territory above the Arctic Circle, Finns respond to the climate with efficient solutions and an obsession with art, aesthetics and modernism inspired by neighboring Scandinavia.
young saleswoman, nation, bread, uzbekistan
Meal
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
Women with long hair from Huang Luo, Guangxi, China
Culture
Longsheng, China

Huang Luo: the Chinese Village of the Longest Hairs

In a multi-ethnic region covered with terraced rice paddies, the women of Huang Luo have surrendered to the same hairy obsession. They let the longest hair in the world grow, years on end, to an average length of 170 to 200 cm. Oddly enough, to keep them beautiful and shiny, they only use water and rice.
combat arbiter, cockfighting, philippines
Sport
Philippines

When Only Cock Fights Wake Up the Philippines

Banned in much of the First World, cockfighting thrives in the Philippines where they move millions of people and pesos. Despite its eternal problems, it is the sabong that most stimulates the nation.
Mount Lamjung Kailas Himal, Nepal, altitude sickness, mountain prevent treat, travel
Traveling
Annapurna Circuit: 2nd - Chame to Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
Tulum, Mayan Ruins of the Riviera Maya, Mexico
Ethnic
Overall, Mexico

The Most Caribbean of the Mayan Ruins

Built by the sea as an exceptional outpost decisive for the prosperity of the Mayan nation, Tulum was one of its last cities to succumb to Hispanic occupation. At the end of the XNUMXth century, its inhabitants abandoned it to time and to an impeccable coastline of the Yucatan peninsula.
Rainbow in the Grand Canyon, an example of prodigious photographic light
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 1)

And Light was made on Earth. Know how to use it.

The theme of light in photography is inexhaustible. In this article, we give you some basic notions about your behavior, to start with, just and only in terms of geolocation, the time of day and the time of year.
Trycicles, Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Filipinos
History
Bacolod, Philippines

Sweet Philippines

Bacolod is the capital of Negros, the island at the center of Philippine sugar cane production. Traveling through the Far East and between history and contemporaneity, we savor the fascinating heart of the most Latin of Asia.
Santo Antão, Cape Verde, Porto Novo to Ribeira Grande, Morro do Tubarão
Islands
Santo Antão, Cape Verde

Porto Novo to Ribeira Grande the Seaside Way

Once settled in Porto Novo, Santo Antão, we soon notice two routes to the second largest village on the island. Once surrendered to the monumental up-and-down of Estrada da Corda, the volcanic and Atlantic drama of the coastal alternative dazzles us.
Geothermal, Iceland Heat, Ice Land, Geothermal, Blue Lagoon
Winter White
Iceland

The Geothermal Coziness of the Ice Island

Most visitors value Iceland's volcanic scenery for its beauty. Icelanders also draw from them heat and energy crucial to the life they lead to the Arctic gates.
On the Crime and Punishment trail, St. Petersburg, Russia, Vladimirskaya
Literature
Saint Petersburg, Russia

On the Trail of "Crime and Punishment"

In St. Petersburg, we cannot resist investigating the inspiration for the base characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's most famous novel: his own pities and the miseries of certain fellow citizens.
Moorea aerial view
Nature
Moorea, French Polynesia

The Polynesian Sister Any Island Would Like to Have

A mere 17km from Tahiti, Moorea does not have a single city and is home to a tenth of its inhabitants. Tahitians have long watched the sun go down and transform the island next door into a misty silhouette, only to return to its exuberant colors and shapes hours later. For those who visit these remote parts of the Pacific, getting to know Moorea is a double privilege.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Monteverde, Costa Rica, Quakers, Bosque Nuboso Biological Reserve, hikers
Natural Parks
Monteverde, Costa Rica

The Ecological Refuge the Quakers Bequeathed the World

Disillusioned with the US military propensity, a group of 44 Quakers migrated to Costa Rica, the nation that had abolished the army. Farmers, cattle raisers, became conservationists. They made possible one of the most revered natural strongholds in Central America.
Matukituki River, New Zealand
UNESCO World Heritage
Wanaka, New Zealand

The Antipodes Great Outdoors

If New Zealand is known for its tranquility and intimacy with Nature, Wanaka exceeds any imagination. Located in an idyllic setting between the homonymous lake and the mystic Mount Aspiring, it became a place of worship. Many kiwis aspire to change their lives there.
In elevator kimono, Osaka, Japan
Characters
Osaka, Japan

In the Company of Mayu

Japanese nightlife is a multi-faceted, multi-billion business. In Osaka, an enigmatic couchsurfing hostess welcomes us, somewhere between the geisha and the luxury escort.
Soufrière and Pitons, Saint Luci
Beaches
Soufriere, Saint Lucia

The Great Pyramids of the Antilles

Perched above a lush coastline, the twin peaks Pitons are the hallmark of Saint Lucia. They have become so iconic that they have a place in the highest notes of East Caribbean Dollars. Right next door, residents of the former capital Soufrière know how precious their sight is.
Police intervention, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
Religion
Jaffa, Israel

Unorthodox protests

A building in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, threatened to desecrate what ultra-Orthodox Jews thought were remnants of their ancestors. And even the revelation that they were pagan tombs did not deter them from the contestation.
white pass yukon train, Skagway, Gold Route, Alaska, USA
On Rails
Skagway, Alaska

A Klondike's Gold Fever Variant

The last great American gold rush is long over. These days, hundreds of cruise ships each summer pour thousands of well-heeled visitors into the shop-lined streets of Skagway.
Tokyo, Japan catteries, customers and sphynx cat
Society
Tokyo, Japan

Disposable Purrs

Tokyo is the largest of the metropolises but, in its tiny apartments, there is no place for pets. Japanese entrepreneurs detected the gap and launched "catteries" in which the feline affections are paid by the hour.
Fruit sellers, Swarm, Mozambique
Daily life
Enxame Mozambique

Mozambican Fashion Service Area

It is repeated at almost all stops in towns of Mozambique worthy of appearing on maps. The machimbombo (bus) stops and is surrounded by a crowd of eager "businessmen". The products offered can be universal such as water or biscuits or typical of the area. In this region, a few kilometers from Nampula, fruit sales suceeded, in each and every case, quite intense.
Amboseli National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, Normatior Hill
Wildlife
Amboseli National Park, Kenya

A Gift from the Kilimanjaro

The first European to venture into these Masai haunts was stunned by what he found. And even today, large herds of elephants and other herbivores roam the pastures irrigated by the snow of Africa's biggest mountain.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
PT EN ES FR DE IT