Funded in 1649, the city of Lappeenranta is beside one of the biggest and most beautiful lakes in Europe, and worldwide also. The lake Saimaa, the biggest in Finland, and the fifth in Europe, is a complex system of channels, little lakes, rivers, and islands in the south-east of Finland. The water of the lake is so clean that the people usually drink its water directly.
Surrounded by a beautiful forest, explosion of green during the summer, the Saimaa lake is a popular touristic destination. Most of the tourists come from another cities of Finland, and another Nordic countries, but also from the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, that is as close as Helsinki, the Finland’s capital.
It is easy to realize, why Lappeenranta and its lake is a very popular destination. With its 4.400 km² of surface, Saimaa lake is bigger than the Mallorca and Ibiza islands together. The quiet water acts as a wonderful mirror for all the colors that the Finnish summer sky shows around the day, and the light night. Usual details of this place on the Earth are the trees smell in the pure air, the berries that hang in the plants during the summer like fancy red earrings, the eternal radiance in the infinite sky over the green horizon during the twilight, and the sound of the pines’ leaves moving with the wind.
We, all the FCP 2018, travelled to this amazing part in the north of Europe with high expectance. But Lappeenranta managed to surprise us anyway. Our journey into the wild of the Saimaa lake started at a little dock in a very quiet corner of the lake. There, several canoes and kayaks were waiting for us. We took our little ships and went without doubts to see with our own eyes how does the biggest lake in Finland look like. The omnipotent silence of the water caressing the kayaks and our oars campaigned us for an hour, until we finally landed with our personal ships in the island of Muukonsaari.
In Muukonsaari we tried the famous Finnish sauna in the light summer night, in the middle of the forest, just for then to swim in the dark nocturnal lake and leave all the warmness of sauna there.
Other typical activities to do in the island and all around the forests of the lake, specially in the summer stage, are hiking, picking natural wild tasty berries, photographing the natural flora and fauna, fishing, and of course swimming.
Agree that Saimaa is a fantastic place. No doubt at all. God bless Etelä-Karjala!