Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Provinces: Norrbotten, Lappland
Municipalities: Pajala, Kiruna
Sunday 28th of June
00.01 It's midnight in Pajala. We are in our room (or rather apartment) at the Bed & Breakfast part of Hotel Lapland and the sun is still shining out there.
00.47 The time has come for us to do something that the sun will not do, crawl into the beds and rest.
08.43 A calm and quiet morning in our apartment will soon change to a little more hustle and bustle. There are some things to be done and taken care of before the trip north continues. We have just learned that Pajala was Sweden's coldest place during the night. It was only +6°C.
09.41 We have a really good time here in Pajala. Even though we're not real hotel guests, we got to eat hotel breakfast. We just came back from that meal. There we had to pick for ourselves of various goodies. In the local meänkieli language, breakfast is called aamunen.
10.26 Now we have warmed water and poured it into our thermoses. Christer has been in contact with our upcoming host, Magnus Söderfalk. Magnus couldn't be there himself but we will use his cottage in the village Suijavaara, today's final destination. Plans regarding purchases have been made. Soon we are ready to depart. Magnus has, among other things, informed about a natural spring adorned with an animal's head. The water of the spring is supposed to be really tasty. The question is how are we going to find it?
11.19 We went to the small store ICA Malmen and bought what we need regarding future meals with associated drinks. We need a lunch along the trip as well as dinner and breakfast for the stay in Suijavaara. Before we depart, we'll check the amount of air in the tires. This will be done at OK/Q8 service station.
11.28 There was rather too much air than too little in the tires. Good to know as we are about to travel for several kilometres.
11.41 We are on our way once more. We hope for another interesting day and journey. We also hope that any surprises will be of a predominantly positive nature.
11.57 There is road works along road 395. The asphalt is missing and the speed is low. We move slowly forward on a bumpy road.
14.35 At Merasjoki nature rest stop just before Muodoslompolo we have stopped our vehicle. Here we will now cook our sausages and eat them together with bread.
20.05 We're back in the house. We're about to start dinner.
Monday 29th of June
Tärendö River.
The Charlotte Kalla statue in Tärendö.
Charlotte Kalla´s career so far.
A coffee stop in the wilderness. Lots of sun and lots of insects.
Merasjoki rest area near Muodoslompolo.
Peter is preparing lunch in Merasjoki.
We found the natural spring!
Peter is checking the internet connection.
We can use this house one night.
Christer by the Suijajärvi lake.
We have help preparing the dinner.
A nice spot by the lake.
The sauna is being prepared.
Peter is admiring nature.
Beautiful in the land of the midnight sun.
08.15 A new week has begun. We woke up after our second night in the land of the midnight sun. It was really nice with the sauna last evening. Sleep has also been good even if the sun wanted to shine into our bedroom even at night.
09.17 Our breakfast here in the kitchen was simple, mostly beverages, but we will survive until the next meal. We do not want to have too much dishes just before cleaning and departure. Today we will first travel to the north and then start the long journey south through Sweden. 09.45 Now we are back in the car and are on the move again. There have been some one-night stops on this trip up until now. This is currently taking a break this evening. Next time we'll stay two nights in the same place. 10.00 We are currently at a parking along road 99. Christer is learning about the upcoming destination is made and where we should park. We're still in the car. We're not going out. Out there, the insects rule. 10.29 Christer looks at the remains of a fish. Mosquitoes bite us way too much. Right here they feel extra aggressive. We're down by the Muonio River in Karesuando. Sweden's northernmost church is located just next to us. On the opposite side of the river is Finland. This is definitely a new north record for us in a travel journal context. The coordinates are 68°26'27"N and 22°28'50"W. In northern Sami language, the village is called Gárasavvon or Gáresavvon. In meänkieli it is called Karesuanto. On the Finnish side lies the sister community of Karesuvanto. Karesuando is Sweden's northernmost locality and it has 283 inhabitants. 10.59 Now that we purchased what is needed for today's lunch at the small shop Handlar'n here in Karesuando we will carry on south on our third European road this time, E45. Theoretically, there is a bit of country road that can take us further north to the village of Maunu but we are basically as far north as it is possible to get by car in Sweden.
We are heading to Karesuando.
Karesuando with surroundings.
The bridge to Finland.
Karesuando church is Sweden's northernmost church building.
Not much traffic on E45.
12.09 We are about to have today's first coffee stop a bit south of Nedre Soppero. With us, of course, are the insects. At first we thought they lost us but after a while they came with full force.
13.06 It is now seventy kilometres left to the municipality's main town. We just fed the car with new fuel at OKQ8 in Vittangi. On the radio there is talk about corona, corona and corona. Almost every feature of the radio show P4 Extra has somehow to do with the virus and pandemic. 13.25 It is sunny and now actually quite free from insects. Have we left the most insect-proof areas? We are at Trafikverket's rest area Suptallen (schnapps pine). A suptall is an old rest place. There it happened that people had some schnapps. The pine was usually on its own or had a special appearance. It also applies to this pine. All the branches are gathered at the top of the tree. This particular pine stands by E45 halfway between Vittangi and Svappavaara. 13.55 A new stop has been made. This time it's for lunch. Once more, sausages are prepared and served with bread. We have travelled a short distance west of the Suptallen. 14.30 Satisfied and happy we drive on the E45. Unfortunately, the nice weather that has followed us since the start of the trip seems to be coming to an end. Both the weather forecast and the sky signal that bad weather is on the way. 14.42 Now is the time for a new European road. In Svappavaara we turned north and now we are along the road E10, heading towards Kiruna. However, it will be a stop along the way. Here in Svappavaara we have seen LKAB's mining facilities. An iron ore mine was in operation here between 1964 and 1983. In recent years, the business has started again. 15.17 There is a slight wind blowing and a boat engine is heard from the Torne River. A dog is barking in the distance and we can hear some engine noise. We sit at a playground near the parish building in Jukkasjärvi. We sit here to have a cup of coffee but unfortunately it just started raining.
The rest area Suptallen.
Yet another hot dog lunch in northern Sweden.
Jukkasjärvi church.
This is what it looks like inside Jukkasjärvi church.
Hotell Kebne, Kiruna.
Not a lot of people on Lars Jansson Street.
15.32 We decided to have coffee first and then go inside of Jukkasjärvi church. However, I skipped the plans and went into the church before. It is a beautiful church with a beautiful and original altarpiece. It is cut from wood and painted in bright colours. Now we sit in the playground under a ramp for the slide and drink our coffee. Why here? Well, it's raining even more now. It's the first rain of the trip. We hope it drowns the mosquitoes.
15.45 The rain continues and it's boring. We've relocated inside the car. Something else that Jukkasjärvi is famous for is their ice hotel. It has been built up since the 1990s and since 2017 there are also year-round, all thanks to cooling technology. However, we are not going to stay there. On the way here to church we passed it but we don't think it feels like a destination for a summer trip. 16.33 We escaped the rain and went west towards Kiruna. Once there Christer with the assistance of our friend in Google Maps took us to Hotell Kebne (https://www.hotellkebne.com). The city is being rebuilt here and there. Some roads are closed. It is not quite easy to find the right one. After a little fuss, we got into room 103. 16.52 We take it easy in our room. It's good to finally be there. Kiruna is located between the two mountains Luossavaara and Kiirunavaara, both with large iron ore deposits. The city was founded in 1900 and Hjalmar Lundbohm is regarded as its founder. He was the manager of the mining company LKAB. Previously, the town had been called Luossavaara, after Mount Luossavárri (Mount Salmon), but when the inhabitants wanted a name that was easy to write and pronounce, the long name was difficult for the multilingual population. The Finnish name of Gironvárri was chosen and shortened to "Kiruna", Gironvárri means ptarmigan mountain. Kiruna currently has 16,661 inhabitants. Hey, it is the same amount reading it backwards. 17.18 Imagine that just a trip, sitting in a car, can make us so tired and. Or is it the rain that fell earlier that extinguished our sparks? 18.27 It is quite nice to just lie stretched out in a hotel bed and just relax, but we should well figure out about the upcoming dinner. From the outside, a muffled, monotonous sound is heard. We think it's coming from the mine.
Christer is trying suovas this dinner.
Kiruna church.
A beautiful rainbow in Kiruna.
View towards the surrounding mountains.
Hotell Kebne with the mining hill Kiirunavaara in the background.
A divine light above Kiruna.
18.43 We have left our hotel room to get acquainted with our new home city. It is noticeable that it has become a change in weather. Gone are the sun and the heat. Much cooler air is on the way. No rain is falling right now but there may probably be rain again at any time. It is, to say the least, quiet in the town, not many people in motion.
19.11 Our first Kiruna dinner will be at the pizzeria LaGuna. Here you can order the pizza Lapland with souvas (thin sliced smoked reindeer meat), onions, mushrooms and lingonberry jam. For sure an interesting mix but nothing for us. Christer will, however, test souvas without pizza. 20.52 We enjoyed our meals and then went shopping at the supermarket COOP Lappgatan. We took a detour on the way home. First we met some tourists who got lost. They first wanted our help but doubted our competence since we were not from Kiruna. On the walk towards the hotel we then saw different celestial phenomenas, first a beautiful rainbow and then the sun that radiated beautifully through the clouds. Something else we got to see was the city's beautiful church. It should be moved like so much else in this city. The time has come to have an evening snack in the room. 22.26 The weather is bad for our plans for an excursion during tomorrow. It should be between 5 and 10 degrees and rain, not the weather we hoped for. We had planned to make a car trip up towards Abisko and Torneträsk. I think it's better we stay here in Kiruna instead. We'll make decisions in the morning.
Tuesday 30th of June
08.11 This is not what we planned and hoped for. On our excursion day to the mountains it is overcast, windy and only a few degrees above zero. It remains to be seen what and how we are doing with this day.
09.22 There is no good news as is come to the weather. The temperature fluctuates between three and four plus degrees. It feels like November. At least we've had a good breakfast here at Hotel Kebne. In Northern Sami, breakfast is called iđitbiebmu. The planning of the day is still ongoing. I think we should be able to fill the day with something sensible. 10.48 It feels as if it is curtains over everything today. Its curtains over the sky, curtains over views and curtains over the plans we made. Can't it at least stop raining? Then we would be able to go out for a little walk. 11.01 Mother Nature may show the middle finger to us but we intend to pinch, bite it. The trip to the mountain views will hopefully be taken tomorrow morning instead. Today we plan see more of Kiruna, as soon as it stops raining. 11.45 Are we ready? Doubtful! Are we motivated? At best! Anyway, let's go out for a walk. We are getting tired of our hotel room. There are some things we want to find out as well as also do. 12.19 After finding a possible car route from the hotel tomorrow, we are now at Café Safari (https://www.cafesafari.se) for coffee and cinnamon bun and Danish pastry with strawberries. It's a really nice café. It's not just us who want to have coffee this rainy day so it's a bit tough to keep Covid19 distance in the line and in here between the tables. On the way here we saw a monument to the famous mining 12 in Kiruna. It is a trade union that went on its own way and broke the cooperation with the Social Democrats in the early 1990s. It did not have 12 members. It got its name because they were department 12 of the Swedish Mining Industry Workers Association.
Welcome to Kiruna!
Rain and cold temperatures the last day in June.
Monument remembering the trade union Gruvtolvan.
Café Safari, Kiruna.
A moose on the roof.
13.20 We left Café Safari to make room for guests waiting for available tables and continued our walk in Kiruna city centre. During it we've seen different houses and even a squirrel. Now we are at home in our hotel room again for planning the rest of the day. Parts of the city are being moved due to increased mining activity. You don't get a real sense of where the city centre really is in this city. In addition, it consists almost only of uphill slopes and downhill slopes.
14.02 Now we roughly know what the rest of the day will look like for us. It's good with some structure and plans. Otherwise, a whole day has passed without anything happening or being done. Now we also know that there is a pause in the rain out there. That's good, too. 15.05 The newspapers inform about where the Swedes may travel this summer. We on the other hand, will rise from the beds to eat a late lunch. 15.18 Now we are on really classic ground, Empes Snack Bar (https://www.empes.se). This snack bar dates back to the 1940s and Ernfrid "Empe" Fastberg. The room, the interior yes everything breathes American 1950´s. 15.56 That was really good, a great surprise. We mostly went there for the cultural and nostalgic experience but the food was also good. Now we're home again to warm us up a little. It's rough and cold today. We don't have clothes for November weather. 18.29 Soon it is time to leave the room to buy things that may be needed, both tomorrow during the car ride and in the future. 19.17 The plan was to buy baguettes at the grocery store ICA Nära Östlunds. However, there were no such. Instead, it will again be sausage and bread for lunch tomorrow.
Summer, the best day of the year.
Wildlife in Kiruna.
LKAB mining facility at Kiirunavaara.
The tiny Empes will be our lunch place today.
American theme inside Empes.
20.04 No one of us wants to go out in the cold again. But we have to go out if we want to get some food. When you think about the meat we are going to order, there is a certain desire to the world outside the hotel anyway.
20.29 We are far from alone here at the Bishops Arms (http://www.bishopsarms.com) pub on Föreningsgatan. Just now we ordered a Czech beer each. To these there will be one entrecote per person as well as various side orders. It's a tradition we have to test how Bishops Arms succeeds with its entrecote in different cities. So far the best has been in Sundsvall. 21.41 There was good meat and great beer. However, the accessories could have been better. I'm not a big fan of baked potatoes. Now let's start round off our time here at the pub and pay for what we've eaten and drunk. 22.05 The news speculates whether irregularities in migration policy can lead to a government crisis. Who knows? 23.48 Our full day here may not be as we first thought but it was quite nice anyway. We had time to see more of Kiruna. It's not every day we're passing by here. Now we hope for a little better weather tomorrow, in any case a day without rain.
Bishops Arms, Kiruna.
Peter is having a delicious entrecote.
You can see 54 photos from June 28 in this photoalbum.
You can see 46 photos from June 29 in this photoalbum.
You can see 25 photos from June 30 in this photoalbum.