Estonians love their saunas. If they have the space, most Estonians will have a sauna installed in their home, and its not uncommon to be invited to join them in the sauna when visiting friends or family. This is exactly what happened when Kristi and I visited a couple of her old friends during our stay in Estonia over the Christmas period. After some chatting the women disappeared for an hour or so, while I continued conversation about sport and other manly things with the guy. Then it was our turn.

The sauna itself was pretty much the same as you find in most gyms in the UK. A wooden interior with a two tiered bench and a wood burning stove with stones on top where water is poured to produce steam. There is however one main difference, the heat. On average saunas in the UK will reach 80 to 85 degrees centigrade. In Estonia they consider anything less than 95 degrees to be just a slightly warmer room and not worth taking their jumpers off for.

As we sat, the guy continued to pour on the water as the temperature passed 90 degrees. He mentioned he usually preferred about 105 degrees, but to my relief he decided to go easy on me. This was in fact the second time I had been in an Estonian’s home sauna, but that was with Kristi, and we hadn’t gone much over 85.

After some lengthy self cooking we ran outside into the cold night air and jumped into the freezing waters of their garden pool, then rushed back for the next stage of the ‘torture’. With promises of how good I was going to feel in the morning and water soaked birch branches in hand, he proceeded to beat me as I lay, struggling to overcome the heat. I was determined to see this through, after all, no pain no gain. I must say though, despite promises of how good the after effects would be, I didn’t notice any difference when I got to sleep or woke the following morning. Oh well, at least I can say I’ve experienced it.