Barkov has 'legendary' chicken wings, saunas on must-do list for Finland

Aleksander Barkov will return to his native Finland with the Florida Panthers for the NHL Global Series against the Winnipeg Jets at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki on Nov. 1-2.

If he gets the chance he might take some of his teammates out for a special local meal.
Chicken wings.
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Barkov said SiipiWeikot, which has four locations in Finland, including Helsinki and Tampere, Barkov's hometown, has the best wings he's ever tried.
"The chicken wings there are small so you can eat a lot of them," Barkov said. "The sauce is great. The way they make them is unbelievable. … I go to different places, I don't see much differences because all the chicken is good. But this is probably the most legendary place.
"All they have is chicken wings, and maybe some salad, but nobody gets salad in a chicken wing place."
Barkov said there's a number of different sauces and options, but he's partial to wings with hot sauce, buffalo fries, and some carrots, celery, cucumber and bleu cheese.
Chicken wings aren't the only taste of home Barkov would recommend for anyone making a trip to Helsinki. There are the famed saunas, including a new place on the Gulf of Finland called Loyly (Finnish for steam).

"They opened a year or two ago, a really nice big sauna on the sea," he said. "It has some restaurants and you can jump in the sea."
Or they can take a boat across the gulf from one of the many Helsinki ports. There's a ferry to a private island enclave off the coast, which features only saunas and hot tubs, called Sauna Island. There also are bigger ships that make longer trips to Stockholm, Sweden, and Tallinn, Estonia.
Fans of dry-land exploration will have no shortage of fun things to do in Helsinki.
"They have lots of good museums and churches, a lot of nice buildings too," Barkov said. "When you jump out of a taxi you can walk around the whole city and see everything. … Lot of good restaurants and places to see. Downtown is nice. Have a lot of shopping centers over there. Just a lot of places to see and eat, sit down or walk around. It's a cool place. If it's not raining it's really beautiful outside."
Barkov said what he'd really like to do with anyone traveling to Finland would be take them about 125 miles north to Tampere.
His favorite spot is Sarkanniemi, an amusement park. Among the highlights are an aquarium, a planetarium, a children's zoo, an art museum and Nasinneula, a 551-foot tall observation tower that has a revolving restaurant at the top. It's modeled after the Space Needle in Seattle.
There also would be a stop at the local SiipiWeikot for some wings.
"I haven't found one place that's better," Barkov said.