Finland blog …
Finland!! In this Finland blog we describe how we rescued a Finnish guy in Norway! We went to a University rave in Vaasa! We stayed in the best inner city campsite … in Helsinki. And of course, we were eaten to death by the infamous Finnish flies and mosquitos!
Scandinavian equality?
You could say that Finland was a real mixed bag for us. The country is so very different in the north from the south. It may not be the case, but all of the wealth appears to be in the south around the coast, and the north appears quite run-down in places and quite old school Soviet bloc. Like Sweden there’s an enormous amount of forest and lakes – some of which is lovely, some of which is more like scrubland and the trees are really struggling to exist [the far north!]
The big cities like Vaasa and Helsinki have flourishing tourism and café culture and lovely squares and parks to sit around in, whereas the north you get ravaged by starving flies and mosquitos, and the accommodation saw better days 50 years ago! Seriously there are run down wooden shacks in the forests up there that would put some Hollywood teen slasher flicks to shame!
That’s not to say that the north has no charm, because it does, it’s just that it appears as if hardly anyone lives there and it has a feeling of having been abandoned. You can drive for hundreds of miles whilst hardly ever seeing anyone – where is everyone? There are over 5 million people – where are they all hiding?
The Finnish border
Also, if you’re coming from Norway, you definitely get the feeling that you’ve been spoilt by Norway’s splendour, and that Finland is a poor cousin. This is especially the case if you come in via the Storfjord to Kilpisjärvi road from northern Norway that runs along the Finnish / Swedish border – a deathly boring road! Even the border control guy advised me to avoid it!
And on border control people – why is it that Finland is the only country in Scandinavia where you’re always stopped – or rather where we’re always stopped! I know what it is of course – they take one look at our Golf GTI with its UK plates and you can see them thinking ‘now there’s something I don’t see every day!’ After all the job must be dreadfully boring, and then suddenly we turn up to brighten their day!
‘Where have you been? What places did you go to? Why were you there? Where are you from? Oh, I’ve heard of Leeds Utd – weren’t they just relegated?’ – that’s the truth – all border guards said this!!! I wanted to take photos – they said no!
So we went to Finland twice, as the roads to Norkapp were closed and inaccessible 🙁 We thought that we weren’t going to be able to go there, but the roads opened up again the following day, so we doubled back. Thanks goodness we did – awesome! On our return, we came via the Lakselv to Karasjok to Karigasniemi to Inari road, which has many more curves, more varied forest, hills and many great undulating roads – highly recommended if you’re up that way!
The infamous Finnish flies and mosquitos!
Finland is a very long country – you get used to driving for eight hours a day just to get to the south! Because of this you inevitably have to stop over in the north, probably in the forest, probably next to a lake. No-one about! 😉 Looks great … until you step out of the car! Then from out of literally nowhere a thousand biting flies will descend upon you, and no matter how much waving your arms about – once they’ve latched on – that’s it! They’re hanging on for dear life! Just amazing – or a nightmare – depending on how you see it – and how your body reacts to such bites!
The Arctic Circle – in Finland
So in Norway, we visited the Arctic Circle Centre, which was an experience in itself. In Finland they do it … rather differently! Bit more Disney style we felt! Also, apparently during the summer, Santa makes pizza and burgers – at least that’s what the sign said!
Vaasa, Finland
We stayed in many places, but it wasn’t until we arrived in Vaasa that we really started to enjoy the country. Vaasa is lovely – just a great place with loads of good feeling about it! Loads to do, loads to see, loads of life!
We thought we’d revisit the University – only to find that the ‘Big Day’ festival was just setting up – and that we were inside the festival without paying 🙂 DOM2 (Finnish DJs) were testing out the equipment and put on a mini rave for us – how did they know that we’re former cheesy quavers?! Great laugh! Big fish, little fish, cardboard box! I’ll say no more!
We stayed on an island on the outskirts of Vaasa centre – to be fair everything is on an island in Finland! The campsite had a bar that also put a party on – that went on longer that the ‘Big Day’ Festival! Bonkers Finnish middle aged men getting very drunk and loud – hilarious!
Finnish – Suomen kieli
And the Finnish language!!! I mean, what is that? The name of the country is Suomi, and they don’t even know where it comes from?! It’s such a bizarre language – it sounds like a cross between Russian, Italian and Hindi! I was told that Japanese is the closest language to it – eh!! Listening to people speak was just incredible – it was difficult to even figure out a sentence construction – where it starts and where it ends. I did work out that barking is bowow!
Helsinki
Helsinki too is a great city – really pretty. Apparently they copied it from St Petersburg in Russia?! Again, very relaxing place to stay, with loads to do. Though lots of wealth was being paraded about we noticed – plenty of supercars in the capital! Again, such a contrast from the north!
We stayed on a campsite in Helsinki that was just incredible. Loads of nationalities stayed there and although it was big, it was spotless and great value. If only every capital did that!!! That said, we were the only Brits (again) and almost everyone that noticed our car pointed at us – we smiled back! 🙂
Great car lovers in Finland btw! Just like the Norwegians! Lots of renovated American 50s, 60s and 70s cars! Some is top notch condition, just superb! Funny to see them cruising around the streets though – nice!
