Aug 8, 2024
Space, Silence and Sibelius
A Finnish idyll with Kudu
- Finland is a Nordic country, not Scandinavian – Finns were never Vikings, though these travellers often passed through;
- Finland is the European country with the lowest population density at 18 people per square kilometre compared to the U.K.’s 279 people.;
- It is the second most forested country in Europe just behind its Scandic neighbour Sweden;
- Speaking of which, for 600 years Finland was part of the Swedish Empire until 1809 when it became a Grand Duchy of Russia with the Tsar as its Grand Duke;
- During World War Two, the Finns fought against the Russians on their own; then with Germany and lastly, with the Russians against their former German allies;
- Finland ‘shares’ the longest border (830 miles) in Europe with Russia which may explain why the country joined NATO earlier this year.
- Finland has over 187,000 lakes though water only comprises 10% of the total area.
We are just back from another successful tour of Finland and these thoughts arise mostly from the last 8 years when, Covid interruptus, Tereza and I managed the trip. Each year is different and we learn something new as we travel, sometimes the same roads. That learning comes both from the country and from Kudu guests.
Our group found:
‘surprisingly great food’ (with perhaps too much pike perch);
‘I thought the weather would be as we arrived: 15˚C and overcast’ but the sun shone from day two onwards;
architecture which varies from hotel obscene to art nouveau extraordinaire to modernistic exuberance;
concerts, both traditional and tango; and operas showcasing fine voices in an unique castle setting.
Good hotels are hard to find in such a large country so we focus on facilities not beauty – no apologies but the brutalism of our first hotel was hopefully leavened by a venison dinner in a reconstructed Karelian country house with a waitress celebrating her 10th anniversary and whom we kept on bumping into as we moved around – somewhat more than coincidental in a country this large.
Kuhmo put on its fine chamber performances with our favourite baritone, Thomas Florio starting the day with Bernstein’s cuisine quartet (find this on You Tube) and our day ending with Piazzolla tango music that almost had the Finnish audience dancing (almost!). The day included an introduction to the great epic which is the Kalevala, a cycle of oral tales, perhaps embellished by its collator Elias Lönnrot, which, in true Arthurian style, traces heroes of the north and deeds of Derring do with some weird ones thrown in.
The next day found us enjoying mushroom soup for lunch with the ingredients gathered from the forests and transformed by a French chef before ascending to the highest point in Southern Finland (c. 1000 ft.) for views which inspired painters and poets. A 4 kilometre (all walks are optional) served to sharpen appetites for good food, fine wines and the above mentioned vistas stretching out in front of our dining room table.
Savonlinna was our next stop with two nights in a fine hotel with rooms overlooking Lake Saimaa, Finland’s largest and home to the unique Saimaa ringed seal which, marooned during an Ice Age, has developed its own DNA and characteristics.
A ‘wow’ dinner preceded Nabucco in the covered courtyard of the five hundred year old Olaf’s Castle which featured a wide range of excellent voices, though the Star Trek costumes and the Hebrew Slaves reinvented as eco-warriors did confuse matters and Kudus somewhat.
Don Giovanni on the following evening, with Savonlinna’s finest food selection as an introduction, presented Mozart’s popular opera in a more traditional setting. While this was greatly enjoyable, I do detect the last minute composing on the night before its premiere in the Estates Theatre of Prague.
The next day presented an opportunity to sample the smaller cities of Finland as we enjoyed lunch in Lappeenranta, a fortress town a mere 19 miles from the Russian border and passed through Hamina the site of a biennial Military Tattoo and the cadet school where the nation’s hero, Marshall Mannerheim was nearly expelled for exiting through a window.
Our home for the night was a Manor House on the Gulf of Finland where Romanovs languished after the Revolution and Finland’s premier artiest drew inspiration over the period of thirty years in his private studio, now a museum.
Sibelius trumpeted our approach to Ainola his home for over fifty years where Kudus enjoyed a guided tour of this small wooden home where the great national composer perhaps finally mellowed as his creative juices ebbed away; he wrote seven symphonies but for 25 years produced very little and is said to have burnt his 8th in the green oven on the house. A visit to his once controversial memorial is our introduction to Helsinki before settling into our quietly situated hotel before a guided tour and a last night blow out in one of the capital’s finest restaurants.
A brisk last day walk for those not minded to indulge in retail therapy provided further opportunities to appreciate the green spaces and wonderful buildings, both old and new, before we parted ways with some staying on and some travelling on.
Finland has space everywhere with even its capital giving room to breathe and Sibelius has spread his music across the world but silence: that doesn’t sound like a Kudu tour. In John Sykes’ memoir Direction North: A View of Finland he says: “You have to get used to silence in Finland. It is a major part of social communication”. He is right. To stand on a lake in a forest and marvel at the long day’s light needs no words: silence is the only possible tribute. The Finns cherish their space and their silence – so do we and so will you.
The next Kudu Finland tour is scheduled for 18th - 25th July 2025 and will feature
Puccini’s TURANDOT
Kokkonen’s THE LAST TEMPTATIONS
