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July 10: The traditional Finnish summer life

Went into town; Patrick and I lunched at the market on kalakukko (lit. ``fish-rooster''), a Karelian⁹ speciality consisting of lots of small, whitebait-like fish (muikut) baked into a loaf of dark bread. Looks a little odd in cross-section, and tastes something like a sardine sandwich. It's one of those things that you have to try once, but preferably not more than once.

In the afternoon we took a guided tour around Olavinlinna castle, which had a long and complicated history before finally being abandoned by the Russians in the early 20th century. Went for a pizza¹⁰ before returning to the country for swimming, sauna and a midnight rowing outing. Great weather, not a breath of wind on the lake, gorgeous surroundings and warm water. Too bad we had to move on.

Footnotes

... Karelian⁹

Karelia: South-eastern region of Finland bordering on Russia. In fact, much of it is now part of Russia.

... pizza¹⁰

A very nice pizza, at that. A much better choice for a national food than kalakukko, in my opinion.