Fishing and Fun on the Baltic

Posted by Patti Keillor

This morning the Rotarians from the Vehmaa club picked us up and took us to a quaint cabin on the Archipelagos to fish for herring. Our hosts today included Perti, Katarina, Jari, Merja and Jarkko, the club president.

We climbed aboard the "SS Minow" (jk) and headed out for a three hour tour! The weather was perfect and and we all sat on the boat deck and enjoyed the sun and baltic breeze. The Vehmaa Club, no doubt, had thought of everything. They even had an accordian player who serenaded us the entire boat ride. Our boat ride lead to a fyke, which is basically a floating dock with a net system out in the middle of the ocean especially designed to catch herring. There was a man out on the fyke who gathered up two buckets of herring. We took our haul back to the cabin and gutted and fried it up outside. The boat driver changed out of his skipper hat and into his chef hat to cook up the herring for us. The Finns generally eat the entire fish. We all enjoyed the meat of the fish, it was very good.

After our boat outting we headed over to Perti's restaurant which was also a bed and breakfast. The building was converted into a restaurant from an old cow house. The food was excellent. Perti's restaurant is where the Rotary meetings are held and there were several Rotary flags from Minnesota!

We all headed over to Merja and Jari's for some coffee and dessert. Much to our surprise we got a private tour of their home. Merja had inherited the home and the land from her father which had been passed down for many generations. The orginal home was built 700 years ago!! And these portions of the home are still quite in tack. Jari and Merja actually host medieval dinners for tourists in a traditional medieval eating area. The rest of the home was built throughout many more eras including the main portions in the 1600 and 1700's. Not to mention it was arranged like a museum with thousands of antiques, everything in a well-thought out spot. We learned that Merja is actually a decendant of Charlemagne. The house is something the couple actually lives in everyday during the summer and would be a dream come true for antique lovers. Their property also includes an out-house room where kings have actually sat to do their business.

Jari and Merja hosted us in an eating hall for dessert and coffee. We then headed back to the guest house, but Jari had one most surprise up his sleeve, a drive to the top of a rock quarry! It was an amazing site. Vehmaa is know for its red granite.

On the ride home our wonderful, fun hosts serenaded us once again, this time in song. The Finns truly understand romance!