Gone Fishing in Finland

Blue Abaya has been MIA while enjoying a nice relaxing break midst the Finnish summer. Every year we visit my home country Finland, where my family speeds most of the time at a so called ‘summerhouse’, typical for Finns to retreat to during the very short-lived Finnish summer. Normally these summer places are humble and simply equipped with just the essentials, luxuries are left for the city life.

The most important thing is being close to nature, which is very important to Finns. Days go by mostly doing outdoor activities like swimming, cycling, hiking in the nearby forests picking wild berries, sailing, visiting nearby islands, playing on the beach or just fishing…

I love my little country so much I thought I’d take the chance to share a piece of what my Finland looks like. If you’re not that familiar with Finland as a country, check out 10 things I miss from Finland, and you will understand why we want to visit every summer!

The beauty of Finland’s nature is truly at its best during summers, when we have the luxury to enjoy almost 24h of sunlight in some regions. The famous ‘Midnight Sun’ creates spectacular sunsets all summer long. You can see those and more photos from our previous summer vacations in Finland here!

In this Blue Abaya post you can find 10 Amazing Innovations and Inventions that come from Finland, one of them being the famous efficiency of the Finnish Education system. If you’re interested in learning more about the secret behind Finland’s school success, go here: “What Saudis Could Learn from Finnish Schools”. 

So does a Saudi guy enjoy being in Finland and how does he cope with living in such ‘simple’ conditions at the summer cabin, almost like a Finnish bedouin? It could be described as a parallel universe compared to the dry, harsh deserts and life’s little luxuries in the ‘Magic Kingdom’? Find out here.

We’ve been lucky this summer, the weather has been super amazing all over Finland. The temperature has been closer to +30 than the average +18C of a typical Finnish summer. Finns are known to be hardy and we don’t get bothered by cold weather during the summer, in fact it’s not uncommon at all to see people enjoying swimming and sauna in just +10. Check out here what Finnish cows do when temperatures hit +5c!

Speaking about sauna, a Finnish tradition and a part of our heritage which we take great pride in, I’m so glad to see how much our children love sauna and swimming.  These little Finnish-Saudi people would surely swim and bathe in sauna all day long if they could have it their way! The sauna we have at our summer place was built in the 19th century and has been in use by my family ever since!

Did you know that Finnish people used to give birth in saunas? The labouring women used to get relief from the heat and warmth of the sauna steam and warm water was always available there. For more Finnish sauna traditions read this post “Saudi son-in-law’s Guide to Surviving Sauna“.

Something we all look forward to every summer is devouring some Finnish delights. Our favourites are mom’s blueberry pies, Karelian pies, rye bread, fresh berries (forest strawberries, blueberries, raspberries all grow in the wild at the summer house), fresh fish from our own nets, baby potatoes, salad from the garden and of course ice cream! This summer I taught my kids and nieces how to make Finnish sweet cardamon bread ‘pulla’. We made all sorts of different shapes of pulla and had a blast. Happy memories to remember for years to come. Recipe for this delicious treat can be found here!

How has your summer vacation been? Did you stay in your home country or you travelled somewhere? My husband and I were super lucky this year we got our first chance since having the kids for a getaway trip just the to of us! My family took care of the kiddos while we visited the stunning Croatia.