By Panenka www.panenka.org
Ilustration by Pep Boatella / @pepboatella

Panenka, the football magazine you can read, leads us through its passion for the soccer to other countries, this time to the Russia's capital, Moscow. They show us their ideal eleven for places related to sport king as for the most touristis ones.

SPORTING ELEVEN

1 PFC CSKA Moscow: The new stadium for PFC CSKA was due to open in 2010. It still hasn’t, nor does it have an official name.
2 CSKA Ice Palace: Home base of the CSKA Ice Hockey team and a sports venue with lots on offer.
3 Megasport Arena Pavilion: With capacity for 14,500 spectators, this is where CSKA basketball games are thrashed out.
4 Dynamo Park: A statue of Lev Yashin, the only Russian goalkeeper to win a Ballon d' Or, is next to the future Dynamo Stadium.
5 Krylatskoe: This is where Dynamo's five a side team plays their matches. The team is trained by the Spaniard Tino Pérez.
6 Monument to the 'stadium deaths': Homage to victims of the tragedy that occurred in the Luzniki Stadium during a UEFA Spartak-Haarlem game.
7 Luzhniki Stadium: Home of Spartak and Torpedo. This was the main stage for the 1980 Olympic Games and has hosted a UEFA final and Champions League matches.
8 The House of the Unions: This is where Kaspárov and Kárpov played out he mythical World Chess Championships in the 1980s.
9 Olimpiysky: This venue hosted basketball and boxing events during the 1980 Olympic Games, as well as numerous finals of the Davis Cup.
10 Otkrytie Arena: This is the stadium of Spartek and one of the venues where the World Cup will be played in 2018.
11 Eduard Streltsov Stadium: Torpedo's home ground. It bares the name of one of the team's greatest players, also known as the 'Russian Pelé.

TOURIST ELEVEN

A Cosmonauts Memorial Museum: The ‘Monument to the Conquerors of Space’ – dedicated to launch of the Sputnik – sits outside.
B Museum of Vodka: Moscow is a very cold city, and at any given moment you are going to want to warm up. With a lack of beer, vodka will do.
C Bolshoi Theatre/National Theatre of Russia: One of the largest and most significant opera and ballet theatres in the world.
D Kazan Cathedral: An orthodox church reconstructed in 1993 after being destroyed in 1936 and substituted with public baths.
E State History Museum: The museum has 39 galleries spread over two floors, together telling the history of Russia.
F Red Square: The true heart of Moscow. From here, all the city's main streets depart.
G Saint Basil's Cathedral: Ivan 'the Terrible' ordered the construction of this cathedral in the 16th century. It is UNESCO classified.
H The Kremlin: Seat of the Russian government. It has been recently walled and includes four cathedrals, four palaces and a military museum.
I Cathedral of Christ the Savoir: Built in the 19th century, this is the highest Orthodox Church in the world.
J Novodevichy Convent: This architecturally significant monument has been a World Heritage site since 2004.
K Kiyevskaya Metro Station: This station forms part of the circular line and is one of the most famous in the world for its spectacular architecture.

We’ll be there. If you want to come too, check out our flights here.

The Champions League Final will take place in Kiev on 26 May. It is the first time it will be held in the Ukraine and the second time it is hosted by an Eastern European country, after the 2008 final in Moscow.

Ukraine is not a touristy country and not many people know it well, so this event will give us the chance to learn a bit more about its history and discover the sights in the capital (there are quite a few!). We would like to propose a weekend break in Kiev, a city full of monuments, markets, churches, and, of course, football!

But, what and where is Lapland? This is a tough question. This territory, above the Artic circle is divided between Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. However, officially Lapland is where the Sami live. Generally, people refers to Lapland in Finland or Sweden, neither Norway or Russia refer to their territory under this name, and usually Lapland (or Laponian region) is the name used to the union of the Swedish and Finnish areas.

For the matter of this post, we should go to the north of Finland, in the Finnish Lapland. The capital is Rovaniemi, an iconic place in which the line of the Artic circle passes across. This is an area to start wild adventures, among thick forests and wooden houses (mökki) there is the highest mountain in the country, some of its fjords and one of the best places in Finland to see Northern lights and enjoy the amazing view of the sun at midnight.

This area is known for being Santa Claus hometown (Santa in Finnish is Joulupukki). The translation is quite confusing: “Joulu” means Christmas, all right, but “pukki” means, literally, deer or goat. Years ago, people was afraid of him and nobody knows when, eventually, he became the charming elder he is now. The tradition of Joulupukki is from the beginning of the 19th century, even most of the Finnish tradition was lost after the story of Santa Claus was Americanized.

Thousands of letters are sent to the postal code of this town with tones of Christmas whises. They are collected and arranged by Santa’s hard-working assistants, the elfs. Attention! The address is: Santa Claus, 96930 Polar Circle, Finland. When Santa Claus gets to people’s houses he asks "Onkos täällä kilttejä lapsia?" (There are well-behaved kids here?), and kids should answer a convincing yes to receive the gifts.

It’s not only Santa Claus who makes Rovaniemi one of the most visited places in Finland. Around his figure and Christmas traditions, Santa Claus village was built, about 8 kilometers northeast from Rovaniemi. This is a theme park to do some shopping, participate in gifts workshops or simply enjoy a great variety of activities.

You can also visit Joulukka, the place where elves prepare the trip for Santa Claus. You will find out how elves live, you’ll be able to help them bake ginger cookies with Christmas decoration and they will guide you to meet Santa Clause.

Do you want to see what is Santa Claus doing right now? Easy! Santa is so updated on new technologies and he has cameras streaming live his daily work. One camera is outside the office and the other is inside to watch how he gets ready for this special day.

A good option to go from Helsinki to Rovaniemi is taking the high-speed train, which takes only 10 hours. You’ll feel like the main character in the animation movie “Polar Express” who takes this train on Christmas Eve to meet Santa.

But, besides the visit to the land of Santa Clause, there are many other things to do while you are in Helsinki for your winter trip.

Even Finnish people use the sauna all the year, the contrast with the freezing cold outside is the best way to enjoy a hot sauna to get over the cold. Or, for those looking for unforgettable experiences, you should try avantouinti. What is that? There a clubs in Finland to practice ice swimming. They make a hole in the ice of a lake (the hole is called ‘avanto’) and they get in the freezing water after the sauna. They state it has beneficial effects for your health but be careful or you’ll get a cold.

The winter in Finland is the greatest time to take stunning nature photos. The snowy landscapes are unforgettable memories from your trip and the whole country is covered in white most of the winder. Take advantage to the opportunity of practicing winter sports too. Skiing or skating over iced lakes is such a unique experience.

Pictures by Tarja Ryhannen

A place well worth discovering! Check out our flights here.

Fancy a night at the opera? No, we're not talking about the film by the Marx Brothers – we mean the real opera. We would like to invite you to dress up to the nines and go on a tour of Europe's historic theatres, to enjoy important operas and contemporary dramas, and even pop concerts. Let's go back in time and take a look at the history of the most famous theatres in Europe. The curtain goes up...