Total distance: 2093 km
Jyväskylä - Lepänjuuri - Vaajasalmi - Kuopio - Savonlinna
We had planned to pause for 2 days in Jyväskylä, but it became 3 days at the end. After only 2 days break we knew that it wasn't enough to relax from the last few days before. We were still too tired to continue to Kuopio. Actually we didn't do much in Jyväskylä. The city itself wasn't so interesting. Most of the time we were either sitting on the porch in shade or in a café downtown. We did visit the Natural History Museum of Finland in Jyväskylä which was rather a disappointment. The film 'Twilight - Eclipse' (this vampire thingy) that we watched on a rainy day was better. One highlight during these days was the semi-final between Germany and Spain. Schlaaaaaaaand lost, Spain was definitely better. Another highlight was that the camping site had free saunas for its visitors and as we were in Finland we considered it a must to go sweating at least once. As far as I am concerned, it was my first time in a sauna. When I entered the sauna, a breathless man came out and nearly fainted. He had too much I guessed. I hesitated. That wasn't a good sign. It was impossible to breathe inside, the hot steam was burning in my nose. The thermometer showed 100°C. I didn't believe it. After 3 rounds of sauna I must say that I have never felt cleaner before. Later in Kuopio we had the chance to visit the world's biggest smoke sauna, but we didn't feel like sweating. It was already too hot outside (36°C) and we preferred taking a swim in the cool lake instead.
From Jyväskylä we sent a first parcel back home. It contained a saddle (Sarah bought her new Brooks saddle in Stockholm), two books and Swedish maps.
It took us three days to get to Kuopio. If you ask us to summarize the three days in a few words, we would mention heat, dirt roads, lakes and forest. On our way to Kuopio the temperature climbed to astonishing 36°C. That has been the top temperature so far. The hot weather was one 'enemy', the other one was the road condition. There are so many hilly dirt and washboard roads. Even national roads can be dirt roads. If we could, we avoided the dirt roads that were luckily marked on the bicycle map that we had bought in Jyväskylä. We had been lost too many times. Therefore we felt the need for a good map. In this region, the Lakeland, you are spoiled with many lakes and forest, it's simply incredible (Finland's territory: 69% forest, 10% water). The Aland Islands were impressive. The Finnish Lakeland can easily keep up with. It's even more lonely in the Lakeland than on the sometimes crowded Aland Islands. Pure nature! Fantastic!
On our way to Kuopio we had the chance to listen to Finnish music. In the little village Lepänjuun we stayed at a camping site that organised a summer concert that very evening. This festival takes place twice per summer and we were lucky to be there and to pitch our tent next to the live band. Unfortunately the audience and dancers were elder people and so was the music. It wasn't too bad though. As an alternative the village organised a second concert for the younger people. We went there, listened to Finnish Hard Rock and were surrounded by teenagers. That wasn't our thing either. So we went for ice cream at the beach instead.
In Konnevesi, a small town, we cycled out of the forest and were suddenly on a festival. We were strolling around, when I decided to get some grilled food. The grill-master prepared a plate with grilled potatoes, eggs, onions, tomatoes, salmon and a Finnish specialty called muikko (small lake fish). He bet that I would love the salmon and the muikko (from Lapland), and he was so right. We talked a bit about our travel and when he heard that we would go so far, he came back with a second plate with muikko. You need more food, he said. Cool guy! His grill partner, a former member of the Olympic rowing team, told us about the festivals in the region. During summer many towns in the Lakeland organise festivals and lumberjack games. One more indicator that Finns love their short summer.
As we were running out of time in Finland, we decided to take the ferry from Kuopio to Savonlinna (it saved us from three days of cycling). The ferry MS Puijo (79 € per person + 10 € for a bicycle) passed hundreds of big and little islands during 10 hours on its way to Savonlinna. It's supposed to be Finland's most beautiful ferry ride. We do agree but unfortunately the same scenery gets boring after a while.
Savonlinna. After reading Lonely Planet you expect a lot of Savonlinna but we found the city rather boring. It doesn't have any pedestrian zone, the main route goes right through the 'city center'. However the walk along the harbour is quite nice. Savonlinna is famous for its castle. We had the choice between a guided tour in English with some more people or a guided tour in German with only two of us. We chose the German option. The guide told us some interesting facts, for example about the military's rule in the past that no left-hander was accepted. The narrow stairs of the turrets were built clock-wise. So when the enemy was coming upstairs, he had to use his left hand to hold the sword. When we came out of the castle at 6 pm, a queue with people in suits and dresses was growing and growing in front of the castle. Savonlinna is also famous for its opera festival inside the castle and Carmen was on the agenda on that day.
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