This is our third attempt to travel through Scandinavia and we decided to leave the Unimog home for repairs and chose to travel with my old (more than 400.000km on the clock)Touareg.
We took a short cut from KIEL with the ferry STENALINES to Gothenburg. From there we drove diagonally through Sweden to Gävle for our first night.
In Gävle we visited the DALA horse. The Dala horse is originally from the province of Dalarna and is now available everywhere in Sweden. The Dala horse brings luck, strength, courage and happiness.
We drove from Gävle to Umea and then up the coast to HAPARANDA where we visited the most northern IKEA in the world. From there we drove into Finnland and straight to Rovanaemi. We had booked an AirBNB there and stayed in a pale pink decorated flat for 3 nights. We then did several tours to Santa Park and the Polar circle. lovely coffeeshops and even Santa´s post office.
In Ranua we visited a game park . I wanted to see (and did see)a moose close up. I got to see wolves in a pack, reindeer and marvelous birds including a HUGE owl dressed in snow white feathers. On the way to Ranua we could appreciate the famous beech forests of Finnland ,the icy roads, the crazy bus stops and we even found a little airport with airplanes covered in thick layers of snow. I photographed the lovely wooden houses in the middle of nowhere still and white.
From Rovanaemi we drove to Kautokeino in Norway. The town is north or the polar circle. As Norway does not belong to the EU there was a much more thorough border control than we are used to. It is interesting to note that the Citizens of Norway voted against joining the EU in 1994.Norway however is a member of NATO. Also Norway became independent of Sweden in 1905 and before that Norway was governed by Denmark for 600 years. The currency is the Norwegian Krone and the country is economically well off due to it´s oil fields since 1970. Another interesting point, Greenland belongs to Norway.
Kautokeino is the capital city of the SAMIs and 50% of all SAMIs live in Norway and primarily north of the polar circle. The rest of the SAMIs are divided equally between Sweden, Finnland , and Russia. The SAMIs were politically oppressed as recently as the 1950´s . One still notices racism against SAMIs now.
It was wonderful to experience a little of the SAMI culture with INGA and her cousin.
Alta has a wonderful Northen Lights cathedral which was completed in 2013.
We visited the cathedral and drove on the next day to Hammerfest.
In the hope of seeing the northern lights (aurora borealis) we stayed in Narvik for one night.
The northern lights were visible BUT only from a nearby mountain where you needed steel ice traction Cleats for your boots (and thick winter clothing) for the hike to the top. As we didn't have the right clothing nor the experience doing something like that, we gave it a miss.
However, the scenery in Narvik and the Lofoten islands was spectacular
Due to the snow storms in the mountains of Norway and the possibility of facing a blocked road due to snow and avalanches, we changed our route and instead of driving down Norway we crossed over to the flatland of Sweden and stayed in Kiruna for one night.
There we visited an ice hotel which was very impressive. We were told that the guests in the ice hotel don´t really sleep there but only take a cocktail in the ice hotel. They then sleep in the lovely wood chalets next door.
On our way to Oslo we decided to stop over in Storumann.
The largest completely wooden church is situated in Storuman.Take note of the icy road on the way to Storuman.In Storuman we were able to observe the preparations for the VASALOPPwhich is a cross country ski competition over a distance of 90 kilometers.It is run in memory of Gustav Wasa who fled from the danisch King in 1521and then fought to free Sweden from Denmark.
He became King of Sweden..The VASALOPP takes place every year and starts in Sälen, Dalarna.About 15.000 participants take part and run from Sälen to Mora. A week before the big event there are lots of small competitions for children and families.
We drove from Storuman and Vasa to Oslo and stayed the night there before catching the ferry to Kiel.
We visited the fantastic MUNCH Museum in Oslo.
