17 October to 27 October 2023

We arrived in Kirkeness, Finland were we departed a very rocky boat. We only stayed in Kirkeness long enough to organise our transport down through Finland, looking at a mixture of transfer, bus and train. So of we went to our first stop on our way down to Ivalo. Lovely scenery on trip with lots of snow. Finished at Hotel Ivalo. Large hotel, medium price but included a sauna, jacuzzi and pool. Did not follow Finnish Sauna etiquette which is in the nude. Did not know. Luckily had it to myself. Saw minor northern lights outside our hotel window, which overlooked just forest and lake. Lots of snow and ice.

Then we were off again to our next stop, Rovaniemi. -5 temps when we went out to catch the bus. Bus trip went through mostly forested dense snow scenery. Several times along the trip the bus had to slow down for Elk on the road. They made me think of the road issues with kangaroos in Australia. At Rovaniemi we had to hang around 2 hours for the public bus to our accommodation, which turned out to be a big van. So the bus system here uses the vehicle that fits the destination. Our accommodation was the Arctic Snow Hotel and Glass Igloos, quite a way outside town. Here we are sleeping in glass roofed igloos with the hope of seeing the northern lights in comfort. My aurora trackers and weather apps said our chances were good here over the next couple of nights.

The first night did not produce any lights, except for a brief burst while we were having dinner which caused everybody to run outside and clicking photos with their flashes on, Aarrggh. We had not booked or planned anything for today. We asked if their were any hiking trails but were told there is only the road that runs along the lake. The lady said she saw reindeer along that road the day before. We decided that was our plan. We headed off and found it a nice walk with the snow covered forest and nearly frozen lake providing endless views. We followed a few side roads down to the lake, I stood on it and did not fall in, and saw many barking dogs and cute snow covered roof houses with ladders leading up the sides. No reindeer though. It ended up getting late, especially since we forgot to order dinner, and we needed to turn around, but decided to aim for a part where the road met the lake. We turned a corner and were blown away by a whole herd of reindeer. Many photos were taken. We got to the lake and found a lady with her friendly dog eating snow. On our way back the reindeer had moved across the road and then started walking back as we were approaching them. At one point one reindeer came on to the road were we were and just watched us going past. Once we had past he went back into the field. We got the impression he was the leader and protecting the herd. The snow at one spot looked like cauliflower and was really light.

That night was intense, the lights started late but brief. Then we were woken at 2am to see a show of lights for about half an hour. At 4am we were woken by the aurora alarm again and then saw Aurora’s for over the next 2 hours continuously. They would be all types, going bright in specific spots and then lighting up across the whole sky, to coming down in waves and shimmering like ribbons. It was exquisite. Photos do not do them justice as I only had my mobile phone. We got very little sleep. Not a problem though as the next day was a travel day to the town of Rovaniemi.

Next day we went to the official home of Santa Claus. We got a picture with the big guy, visited his home, stood on the border of the Arctic Circle, and played with his huskies. The guy was very friendly and struck up a great conversation. The place is about 30 minutes out from the town of Rovaniemi. It was super cold, in the -5+ category. Luckily our apartment has its own sauna and that did a good job of warming us up.

Following day we decided to go for one of our exploratory walks. At first we tried to walk to Koivusaari but with a few false starts trying to find the bridge and then endless road we decided to turn back and go to Koskipuisto Park on the other side of the smaller bridge. Not much to see, mainly just snow and ice. Not much scenery or stand out buildings. Did see a squirrel with a huge nut run across our path and up a tree.

The next day was a bus then a train to Helsinki. Due to the weather our main activity on the first day was a Sauna at Loyly Sauna. This is a sauna built right on the ocean so that you can overheat and then cool down by plunging into the Baltic Sea. The 2 hours went surprisingly fast. They had saunas inside, a smoke sauna in a building outside and a sauna that was right on the edge with a large window giving views of the ocean. Just outside of this one were steps leading down to the sea. It was good fun.

We spent the next day on the island of Sveaborg to visit the UNESCO listed heritage site of the Suomenlinna fortress, with its colourful history of being owned by Sweden, and then Russia and then Finland. Great day wandering the complex seeing great landscaped grassy mounds covering connections and guard quarters, tunnels and big guns pointing out to sea and magnificent views. We wandered afterwards to check out and time how to get to the Viking ferry.

On our last day we went on a free walking tour in Helsinki (Iranian guide Hoda). It was very informative in history and culture but there did not seem to be a lot interesting to see except churches and libraries. It was enjoyable nonetheless though I did nearly freeze and lost feeling in my toes in the zero degree temps. Afterwards I was desperate to warm up so we went to the 4D theatre on the pier and watched a film on Finland. It used 3D glasses and moving seats plus air, water and snow to provide a fuller experience as you zoomed around Finland.