Sauna

We went to Kuopio largely just to visit the worlds biggest smoke sauna. The sauna is in an old log cabin on the edge of a lake and is only operated once a week (twice in summer), due to the lengthy process involved in preparing the sauna.

An enormous fire is laid in a brick enclosure 24 hours before the sauna opens and rocks are placed on the fire. Before opening time the roof is opened to let the smoke out and some water is thrown on the rocks to begin the steaming. During the session it appears that only the more elderly and experienced patrons are trusted to throw further water on to keep the humidity seriously high.

Finns are also very keen to point out that sauna is not pronounced Saw-na but more like Sow-nah. We found this out when the bus driver taking us to the Sow-na initially scowled at us and then lightened up when we corrected our pronunciation. When we were getting off the bus he suggested that we should have at least 2 dips in the lake followed by 5 beers. Well, we managed 2 dips in the lake and 1 beer. Amusingly the changing rooms contained a beer pump that you could buy tokens for and pour your own. Si would've taken a photo but was a little concerned about pulling the camera out when surrounded by a bunch of naked men.

The culture of the sauna is very relaxed and when Si asked a local how long do people stay in for, and how many times do they go in and out, the reponse was simply "if you are too hot go outside, when you are too cold come back in, there are no rules, listen to your body".

Following the sauna we went for a slap-up buffet meal and were entertained by an accordion player and fiddler, and the singing and dancing locals who got right into it all.