Palvajarvi, Finland 2017: 2017 arrival in Finland

Monday 10 July 2017

2017 arrival in Finland

Waking this morning close to Helsinki airport, it struck me how often we have arrived to similar brilliant weather. The sun was splitting the trees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky as we left Helsinki close to 8.20am and headed to our first stop to collect Anna's parents from Lahti train station.

Lovely countryside and sun as we headed north this morning.

Typical landscapes in the land of 188,000 lakes!

It's great to be back here again!

Olivia at close by Leppavesi diving boards.

In front of the cottage this afternoon.

A smooth drive brought us to our favourite place in Finland by lunch time, having stopped off for things at the supermarket close by first. And after that, it was simply time to enjoy the afternoon, as it was sunny, warm and everyone was keen to get into the sauna and the lake!
Writing this around nine hours later, we've finally come inside, having enjoyed a super first day here again! Endless sauna session and swims, as well as a trip to the nearby lake of Leppavesi to let Sandy and Olivia leap off the high diving boards and Keith to have a dip in the lake there too, followed by more of the same back here. It's great to be back!

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2017 will be the 11th anniversary of our first trip to Finland in 2006, when we first ventured to, and fell in love with this wonderfully beautiful and tranquil Nordic country.

This will be our 11th summer visit to this hidden gem of a country in the far north of Europe.

We fell in love with Finland in 2006 when we stayed at Santalahti Holiday Resort in the southern town of Kotka. We were back in 2008, flying to Helsinki, then staying in both Kotka and Varkaus, around 300 kms north east of the capital city. This gave us our first taste of the lakeland areas inland, and we loved swimming in the beautiful warm lakes!
In 2010 we returned by car from Scotland in a heatwave to the areas close to Juva and Puumala, renting our first cottages by lakes that were incredibly warm to swim in. After such fantastic weather in 2010, we had high hopes of the same in 2011, and incredibly, we were again very lucky to have a real heatwave! We stayed in two cottages close to Juva again, and fell further in love with the tranquil solitude you experience in this spectacular lakeland area.
By 2012, we wanted to try some new areas and cottages, so we planned a 24 day holiday, staying for a week in three different cottages as well as staying in a beautiful Helsinki aparthotel for 3 nights. It was lovely to discover the eastern town of Parikkala, as well as the western town of Ruovesi, and in between, we stayed for a week in what has become our firm favourite cottage of all our trips, close to Jyväskylä. We loved our stay on Lake Palvajarvi so much in 2012, that we returned to the same cottage again in 2013 and 2014 for two weeks, as well as in 2015. In 2016, we were back for our 5th year at what was definitely a real home-from-home! And so now 2017 is our 6th year in a row at this lovely property!

Heating a Smoke Sauna

We've usually spent our time in wood-burning saunas while in Finland, but there is a different type of sauna that requires many hours of preparation, but which provides the "Rolls Royce" of sauna experiences once it's ready! Yes, the Smoke Sauna - and this short film describes the process for heating one! This year, after 10 years of wood-burning and electric saunas, we are going to try a Smoke Sauna for the first time, at the beautiful Taulu Manor which is only a short drive from our cottage.