Esto Trip Part 2 - The Sauna
I left Tallinn on Thursday, March 24th for Saaremaa. Saaremaa is a large island off of the west coast of mainland Estonia. Kuressaare is the main city and my destination. I was going to take the bus which would have taken 4 hours including a 1/2 hour ferry ride for about $20 CDN but at the last minute I heard that flying would only cost me $49 CDN return and the flight was just over 1/2 hour. Needless to say I flew. What a price!
The first night in Kuressaare I had a "real" sauna. Now I am going to tell you what a "real" sauna is. Sauna's originally came form either Estonia or Finland. The Finns and Estonians are very closely related. Sauna's were invented as bath houses. They usually are made up of two rooms. The sauna itself and the outer room. The outer rooms can be quite elaborate with seating and bar fridges etc. or very simple. The outer room is used for changing and relaxing. There is a stove, often a wood stove, that heats the sauna and rocks. The opening to feed the fire is in the outer room but most of the stove is in the sauna. Rocks on top of the stove become very hot. Often there is a small boiler attached to the wood stove to heat water for washing. There are also basins, wooden buckets and vihks in the sauna as well as a barrel of cool water. A vihk is a small bunch of young birch branches tied and dried with their leaves still on.
The sauna was and is also a social event. Often family's sauna together or you sauna with your friends. It is not uncommon to be invited over for a sauna. It is a social even for two main reasons. It is a very relaxing thing to do and also it gives you time to talk when you can't do anything else.
When you enter the sauna you first of all pour water on the rocks to create steam. You continue to put water on the rocks if the sauna becomes cool. Then you find a spot to sit or lay. There are usually two shelves in the sauna to sit on. It is much warmer to sit on the upper shelf. It is nice to have a friend to sauna with because at this point you have time to converse and enjoy the steam. The steam makes you sweat and your skin should start to exfoliate. At this point it's a good idea to take the vihk, I described to you, and put it in a basin of cool water to wet it. Then, you need to slap it on the hot rocks. This softens it. Then you slap, or have your friend slap your body all over with it. This brings the blood to the surface of the skin and continues the exfoliating process. It does not hurt at all. It actually feels good like a massage. When you are finished with the vihk, you wash as normal using the basins etc. You don't have to worry about spilling water in the sauna as it is all wet anyway. You or your friend can pour water all over you to rinse your body of soap etc. and finish your bath.
It is common while you are still lying on the shelf to take a break and retreat to the outer room for a drink and to cool down a bit. This is so you don't dehydrate but it is also part of the social event. Once, when I was at my cousins in Finland with a friend, the three of us took a sauna. It was a very old stone sauna left over from Viking times and did not have an outer room. After we had sat in the heat for some time, my cousin invited us onto a cement patio that was built outside on the front of the sauna. It was a very nice summer evening. There were candles lit and she had cool drinks for us but I have to say it was weird sitting out there naked. All I could think of was what if someone would drive up the driveway about then. I guess I'm still a bit of a Canadian prude. We sat and chatted for a while and then went back and continued our sauna.
The sauna was one of the highlights of my trip. Where I had been staying in Tallinn did not have a shower. I kept washed, of course but I had to sponge bath in the "Wash" room (no toilet in there, just a sink). When I got in the sauna in Kuressaare, I was like a bird in a birdbath. Water was flying everywhere. It felt ooohhhhh so good!
The final thing I'll tell about taking a sauna is how you feel afterward. You feel so relaxed and so limp. This is not the time to go to work. This is the time to relax! It feels so very good.
Esto stories to continue...
The first night in Kuressaare I had a "real" sauna. Now I am going to tell you what a "real" sauna is. Sauna's originally came form either Estonia or Finland. The Finns and Estonians are very closely related. Sauna's were invented as bath houses. They usually are made up of two rooms. The sauna itself and the outer room. The outer rooms can be quite elaborate with seating and bar fridges etc. or very simple. The outer room is used for changing and relaxing. There is a stove, often a wood stove, that heats the sauna and rocks. The opening to feed the fire is in the outer room but most of the stove is in the sauna. Rocks on top of the stove become very hot. Often there is a small boiler attached to the wood stove to heat water for washing. There are also basins, wooden buckets and vihks in the sauna as well as a barrel of cool water. A vihk is a small bunch of young birch branches tied and dried with their leaves still on.
The sauna was and is also a social event. Often family's sauna together or you sauna with your friends. It is not uncommon to be invited over for a sauna. It is a social even for two main reasons. It is a very relaxing thing to do and also it gives you time to talk when you can't do anything else.
When you enter the sauna you first of all pour water on the rocks to create steam. You continue to put water on the rocks if the sauna becomes cool. Then you find a spot to sit or lay. There are usually two shelves in the sauna to sit on. It is much warmer to sit on the upper shelf. It is nice to have a friend to sauna with because at this point you have time to converse and enjoy the steam. The steam makes you sweat and your skin should start to exfoliate. At this point it's a good idea to take the vihk, I described to you, and put it in a basin of cool water to wet it. Then, you need to slap it on the hot rocks. This softens it. Then you slap, or have your friend slap your body all over with it. This brings the blood to the surface of the skin and continues the exfoliating process. It does not hurt at all. It actually feels good like a massage. When you are finished with the vihk, you wash as normal using the basins etc. You don't have to worry about spilling water in the sauna as it is all wet anyway. You or your friend can pour water all over you to rinse your body of soap etc. and finish your bath.
It is common while you are still lying on the shelf to take a break and retreat to the outer room for a drink and to cool down a bit. This is so you don't dehydrate but it is also part of the social event. Once, when I was at my cousins in Finland with a friend, the three of us took a sauna. It was a very old stone sauna left over from Viking times and did not have an outer room. After we had sat in the heat for some time, my cousin invited us onto a cement patio that was built outside on the front of the sauna. It was a very nice summer evening. There were candles lit and she had cool drinks for us but I have to say it was weird sitting out there naked. All I could think of was what if someone would drive up the driveway about then. I guess I'm still a bit of a Canadian prude. We sat and chatted for a while and then went back and continued our sauna.
The sauna was one of the highlights of my trip. Where I had been staying in Tallinn did not have a shower. I kept washed, of course but I had to sponge bath in the "Wash" room (no toilet in there, just a sink). When I got in the sauna in Kuressaare, I was like a bird in a birdbath. Water was flying everywhere. It felt ooohhhhh so good!
The final thing I'll tell about taking a sauna is how you feel afterward. You feel so relaxed and so limp. This is not the time to go to work. This is the time to relax! It feels so very good.
Esto stories to continue...
posted by Cristi Wheaton @ 3:15 AM
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