North Europe is unlikely to be one of the most popular summer destanations charming those sick from lying on some Ibiza beach and sunbathing in the softening rays of Spanish sun. North Europe attracts those eager for adventures, unbelievable landscapes and challenging nature. And so being sick from the traditional city-sightseeing or beach-lying I decided to accept the Scandinavic challenge and headed for Finland's Lakeland and then to Medieval Svealand in the very heart of Sweden.
Challenge #1: to rent a car, to head for Lakeland, to get lost and to find your way home - ACCEPTED.
Finland, Helsinki. The car was rented right after the phrase: Well, Nastya, what about going to some of the Finnish well-known lakes? And so, a red Seat Ibiza, a driving licence, an ensurance, a camera and a headway to the north-east. Easyness with which I accepted the suggestion was astonishing: being sick from the city, the unendless flows of cars-people-banknotes I was just waiting for the chance to flee. And here it came.
The rental was expensive (180 euros/day) but the impressions I got from the trip were worthless and the game WAS worth the candle. I felt that the city didn't want me in its digesting system and so it threw me away on a motorway to Tampere. Driving at a speed of 120 km/h I felt comfortable and finally free from some discontent and awkwardness chasing me in the city. It was like getting wild from a cage, you know. 60 km long the motorway and then a turn to the right: Lahti, a defence tower on the border of Lakeland, was waiting for me to come and smiled friendly blinking with its windows. Though I did not stay there for too long and after refueling moved forward to the nature.
The motorway ended and the country road stroked slowly the black tyres of our Seat producing some kind of a road lullaby. The hearing was resting being totally penetrated with the Finnish road symphony and so did I. Down the rain came freshening the hot hood of our red-coloured vehicle, bringing the wished coolness into the lungs covered with city dust. After the rain the fog came whirling slowly in the low places. And so we made a coffee-stop in a tiny village of 2,5 houses.
After refilling coffeine supply in my stomach I moved on to taste the greatest dessert to wait for me in this trip - the first great lakes of the forbidden Lakeland territory. I have seen so many lakes in Russia: charming, threatening, hypnotizing with their beauty. What I saw in Finland was something quite new for me, something attracting and cold at a time. The leady surface of the first lake to meet me was covered with rain drop circles breaking the motionless mirror of the sky. Grey, tense and warning. Beautiful in its severity.
The weather in Finland is changing extremely fast and the next lake was waiting for me with a calm and soft happy mother smile. Then I realized that I got lost. The navigation was crying out that the connection with GPS was lost and showed sternly that I was still in Lahti though I knew that I definitely was not.
No traditional paper map, a dying smartphone and a farm near the giant lake lost somewhere in the heart of Finland. What on Earth can be more challenging? Luckily enough I remembered in a rough in what direction I needed to move to get to the motorway and after a 30-minute driving I found myself on a road leading to Kouvola, a small town with a charming name.
There our adventures ended. Standing on a coast in a town park I felt so renewed and full of positive emotions, with fresh air in my lungs. I couldn't even imagine that soul purification will continue in Sweden. Still, it did.
Challenge #2: to visit a town from the 10th century, to see the stones cast by giants and to eat blueberries in a thick forest - ACCEPTED
In Sweden I was met by a friend of mine who introduced me to the Steemit community, a cryptocurrency lover and a weightlifter. And again: What about going to a medieval castle on the coast of Sweden's third largest lake? And so we sat in a car heading for the south-west.
Destination One: Skokloster. A castle, a medieval church and an unbelievable virgin forest. Stones resting on the ground seem to be left here by giants who threw those grey mossy stones at each other. Unpicked blueberries are waiting for someone to enjoy their being so fresh and juicy. A forgotten boat covered with rust is swinging slowly on the low waves created by some living boats passing by.
His majesty Forest is in good mood today meeting his new guests. But you can easily feel with every cell of your body what powerful and cruel this ancient forest can be. It's like dating with a viking, you know.
I must say that I've experienced quite much during last week, I saw the beautiful buildings in Helsinki, was almost left for the train in Turku. That was the experience worth mentioning. This is the experience worth commemorating here on Steemit.
Dedicated to all those with a city burnout. I am not with you any more.
Anastasia
#travel #scandinavia #nature #burnout #life