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Hard, Wild World. All save the Finns can understand the others' variant dialects of the same basic lan guage. Most of all, they are united by centuries of wresting sustenance from rocky, grudging soil and hostile seas, in latitudes far north of any other ancient civilized society.* Norway, whose fjord-slashed, mountainous land is only 3% arable, has thrived largely on cheap, limitless hydroelectric power and its 14 million-ton merchant fleet, the world's most modern. Even in summer, most of Scandinavia is a hard, wild world of trees and water, the elements that drew the first settlers northward 10,000 years ago. Finland's 60,000 lakes take up more territory than all its farms. Since forests cover 71% of Finland—highest proportion in Europe—it has had to build a strong, well-rounded industrial base, helped, paradoxically, by Russia's ruthless insistence on huge postwar reparations. Denmark, fearful that it may lose markets for its bacon and dairy products, is also vigorously pressing industrialization.
Reindeer Tongue. The whole vast region, laced with glaciers and rushing rivers, reaches from Russia west to the Atlantic, from the bustling Baltic coast to snow-capped mountains high in the Arctic Circle, where the sun does not sink below the horizon for many summer weeks. The area, including 160,000 islands, is five times the size of Great Britain (pop. 52 million), but it has only 20 million inhabitants.
Nearly half that many Americans have Scandinavian blood. Yet, surprisingly, it has only been in the past few years that the U.S. tourist has discovered these rugged, lonely lands. As accessible as any of southern Europe's overpriced, overcrowded resorts, the Nordic nations have some of the Continent's newest and best-designed hotels. Many Scandinavian restaurants are world-famed, and even out-of-the-way farming and fishing villages often boast good inns specializing in robust local dishes, such as gravlaks, Norway's salted, spiced salmon; fresh cloudberries, a Finnish favorite; or Lapland reindeer tongue. Department stores bulge with elegant objects that would cost twice as much in the U.S. Almost any city boasts a tax-supported opera house and theater; at Tampere in Finland, one theater jutting across a lake has dispensed with a revolving stage, has a revolving auditorium instead.
No Sauna Aloft. Express trains, which kill 2,000 reindeer annually, are fast and comfortable. SAS, jointly owned by Sweden, Denmark and Norway, is one of the world's best-run airlines, introduced direct Chicago-Scandinavia jet service this spring. (On SAS flights to Finland, a leaflet apologizes for the fact that there is no room for a sauna.) Scandinavians are honest, hospitable, and most of them understand English. One of their most useful tourist services is the summer camp that specializes in taking children for a few days while parents gad about on their own.