When parked for the night along the water in Helsinki, a very drunk Norwegian couple from Tromso, Norway stopped by the van to talk. They had driven the 1200kms here in two days. I had not thought of seeing northern Scandinavia but changed my mind then. My original thought was to take the train from Turku and see northern Finland, Sweden and Norway but train costs were prohibitive, so I decided to drive. So from Tampere, Finland I turned north to see the following regions in order:
Finland – Northern Ostrobothnia and Eastern (Oulu)
Finland – Lapland (Rovaniemi, Ivalo)
Sweden – Norrland Lapland (Luleå)
Norway – Nord-Norge (Tromso, Narvik, Kirkenes)
Norway – Lofoten and Vesterålen
Norway – Trøndelag (Trondheim)
Sweden – Norrland East and Jämtland (Umeå, Östersund)
Sweden – Svealand (Stockholm, Örebro, Karlstad)
Sweden – Gotland (Visby)
I had already been to southern Norway and Sweden prior to my accident in September 2018, so this would complete seeing all the Nomad Mania regions in northern Europe. The plan was not to bother much with all the sights in the series, but only add to my regions. I hoped to finish it all in 10 days or less.
Finland – Lapland (Rovaniemi, Ivalo) July 20-21, 2019
Day 10 (continued)
KEMI (pop20,000)
Located on Bothnian Bay at the mouth of the Kemjoki River. It was founded in 1869 by Tsar Alexander II as a deep water port. During WW II, in October1944, the Germans took 132 Finns hostage in Kemi and 130 in Rovaniemi and threatened to kill them unless the Finnish army released the German POWs captured in the Battle of Tornio. Finland refused and the hostages were released.
Kemi Ice Hotel (Snow Castle 365). This is reconstructed every year starting in 1996, initially in the inner harbor but now in a park, to a different design. At 13-20,000 m2, 20m high walls and a longest wall of 1000m, it claims to be the largest snow castle in the world. It has varying configurations with a chapel, reataurant and hotel being the recurring elements. Snow Castle 365 is a large white building on the harbor with a spa, ice cream store and restaurant.
Both these museums are in the complex Kulttuurikeskus.
Kemi Art Museum. I has temporary exhibits that change regularly throughout the year featuring local artists. The present one features the 150-year history of Kemi with a retrospective of the better know of the artists. Free
Kemi History Museum. Exhibits the history of kemi and the influence of the river and sea starting with early archaeology to the official opening of the town in 1869, the forest and paper industries, churches, labour movements, and the Lapland War. Free
ROVANIEMI (pop 63,000)
It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland’s northernmost province, Lapland. It is situated about 6kms south of the Arctic Circle and is at the confluence of the river Kemijoki and its tributary, the Ounasjoki. Rovaniemi is a unilingual Finnish-speaking municipality and uncommonly for larger Finnish towns, it is also known by its Finnish name and spelling in the Swedish language.
History. Periodic clearance of new land for agriculture and the practice of slash-and-burn cultivation began around 750–530 BC. Artifacts found in the area suggest that an increasing number of travellers from Karelia in the east, Häme in the south and the Arctic Ocean coast in the north must have come there from 500 AD onwards. The Sami are considered to be Lapland’s most indigenous existing population.
It is first mentioned by name in official documents in 1453, existing effectively as a set of small villages whose inhabitants earned their living mainly in agriculture and animal husbandry—with fishing and hunting the most important offshoots.
The exploitation of Lapland’s natural resources in the 1800s boosted Rovaniemi’s growth. Extensive logging sites and gold fever attracted thousands of people to Lapland. As the mining of natural resources was increased, Rovaniemi became the business centre of the province of Lapland.
Second World War. During the Second World War, Finland signed the Moscow Armistice and found itself involved in the Lapland War with its former German ally. Retreating German forces utilised scorched earth tactics, and though initially German General Lothar Rendulic ordered only the public buildings in Rovaniemi to be destroyed, on 13 October 1944 the German army received orders to destroy all the buildings in Rovaniemi, only excluding hospitals and houses where inhabitants were present. While the German rear guard was going about the destruction, an ammunition train in Rovaniemi station exploded and set fire to the wooden houses of the town. The German troops suffered many casualties, mainly from glass splinters. A Finnish commando unit claimed to have blown up the ammunition train and may well have been the primary cause of the town’s ruin. 90% of all the buildings in Rovaniemi were destroyed. There is a German cemetery 19 km from Rovaniemi where soldiers killed fighting in Lapland during the war are buried.
Modern day. Because of the unspoiled nature of the area and numerous recreational opportunities, tourism is an important industry in Rovaniemi. The city has a number of hotels and restaurants located both in the centre and on the outskirts of the town, hosting over 481,000 visitors in 2013.
Since Rovaniemi is the capital of the Province of Lapland, many government institutions have their offices there. About 10,000 of the inhabitants are students. Rovaniemi is home to not only the University of Lapland but also the Lapland University of Applied Sciences which comprises institutes of information and traditional technology, business, health and social care, culinary studies, forestry, rural studies and sports. Local newspapers include the Lapin Kansa, Uusi Rovaniemi and Lappilainen.
Rovaniemi’s most prominent landmarks include the Jätkänkynttilä bridge with its eternal flame over the Kemijoki river, the Arktikum House which rises out of the bank of the Ounasjoki river, the Rovaniemi Town Hall, the Lappia House which serves as a theatre, concert hall and congress centre, and the library. The last three mentioned buildings are by the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.
Rovaniemi is considered by Finns to be the official home town of Santa Claus, and is home to the Santa Claus Village at the Arctic Circle and Santa Park, which is located 8 km north of the centre. The Arktikum is a very comprehensive museum of Finland’s and the world’s Arctic regions.
Directly across the river from the town is the Ounasvaara ski centre. The top of the Ounasvaara hill bears the site of some of the earliest known human settlements in the area.
A phenomenon also attracting numerous tourists is the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. In Finnish Lapland the number of auroral displays can be as high as 200 a year whereas in southern Finland the number is usually fewer than 20.
Arktikum Science Museum. In a spectacular building with a very long glass roof, this has exhibits on the Arctic, Laplander culture, the indigenous Inuit, an art museum and more. €13, 9 reduced
Forestry Museum of Lapland. This open-air museum has many log buildings with loggers housing and its progression from the 30s though to the 50s, store, management building, toilets, stable, horsemen’s cabin end equipment shed. €6, 4 reduced
Korundi (Culture House Korundi). This center has a 340-seat concert hall. The Lapland Chamber Music Orchestra is the most common performer but there are also other orchestras plus pop music. It is a lovely space with what looks like great acoustics. Also in the building is the art museum.
Rovaniemi Art Museum. A contemporary art museum on 2 floors, this was better than average but still!! The best was Watermill and two recreated sets built on a cone of dirt. €9, 6 reduced
Santa Park Arctic World. This is a theme park dug into a rock cliff with several attractions (only for little kids): Elves Craft Fair, Santa’s office, Post Office, Ice Gallery Play Area, Mrs. Gingerbread’s Bakery, Elf School, Undercrossing the Arctic Circle and Elf Workshop.
Santa Claus Village. Located right on the Arctic Circle (66°20”20’ N), this is a hotel complex (rooms €109-139 in bungalows and a motel), 2 restaurants, a coffee shop, souvenir shop and a chance to meet Santa Clause himself. It offers several tours: summer husky sledding, moose farm, fat bike ride, hiking, reindeer farm and husky park, amethyst mine and Lappish traditional evening.
Listed as a “Market” in NM, the souvenir shop sells all things Santa Claus, Christmas, reindeer and Arctic Circle. Free
I was up at 4am to start the long drive to Tromso Norway.
Day 11
Struve Geodetic Arc
The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through ten countries and over 2,820 km, which yielded the first accurate measurement of a meridian.
The chain was established and used by the German-born Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve in the years 1816 to 1855 to establish the exact size and shape of the earth. At that time, the chain passed merely through two countries: Union of Sweden-Norway and the Russian Empire. The Arc’s first point is located in Tartu Observatory in Estonia, where Struve conducted much of his research.
In 2005, the chain was inscribed on the World Heritage List as a memorable ensemble of the chain made up of 34 commemorative plaques or built obelisks out of the original 265 main station points which are marked by drilled holes in rock, iron crosses, cairns and others.
Measurement of the triangulation chain comprises 258 main triangles and 265 geodetic vertices. The northernmost point is located near Hammerfest in Norway and the southernmost point near the Black Sea in Ukraine. This inscription is located in ten countries, the most of any UNESCO World Heritage.
Arc Measurement has been defined as a method of determining the size and shape of the earth by measuring the length of the arc of triangulation and the astronomical coordinates of the ends of the arc. An arc of a meridian is a line that runs in the true North-South direction. The chain of triangulation points more or less stretches down the 26° line of longitude.
Theoretically the degree of latitude is a constant and would have the same value at the equator as at the pole. But already Isaac Newton believed that the Earth wa slightly flattened at the poles. The question of the shape and size of the Earth inspired the astronomer Struve to come up with his famous Meridian Arc measurement.
One in Finland is Torneå (currently Alatornion kirkko) in Tornio (65°49′48″N 24°09′26″E). The station point is located in the bell tower of Alatornio church, originally called Tornea. The carvings made at the time of the measurements are still visible on the walls of the bell chamber in the church tower. The top of the bell tower is about 40m above sea level making it a natural place for triangulation. There was good visibility from the tower to the next points on Perävaara hill in Haparanda and Kaakamavaara hill in Tornio.
Google Maps showed this direction to be in the middle of the Gulf of Bothnia but it is in a park in Tornio right on the Swedish border at the church.
I crossed into Sweden Norrland Lapland (Luleå) on July 21, 2019. I foolishly did not fill up with diesel in Finland (where diesel is much cheaper than gas) and instead filled up in Sweden just across the border (where diesel is much more expensive than gas).
Mileage driven in Finland to date: 2465kms
GO TO Sweden Norrland Lapland (Luleå)
After driving through Sweden – Norrland Lapland (Luleå) for 595kms, I crossed back into Finland at Karesuvanto (Finland – Lapland (Rovaniemi, Ivalo). During the 595kms drive through Sweden, I had to stop twice for naps. Sweden is very considerate with its radar cameras by warning you in advance a few hundred meters before them.
The E8 (622kms from Tromso, Norway to Tornio, Finland) follows the Sweden/Finland border for 117kms to the Finland/Norway border. This is the NM “XL” series Lapland northwest panhandle (Enontekiö)
I stopped in Kilpisjärvi, the last town in Finland to fill up with cheap Finnish gas (if you can call €1.45 cheap gas). I then crossed into Norway. This is the only Schengen border where customs stops you. They asked where I was going (Norway!), where I was coming from (Finland!) and what my travel plans were, but surprisingly didn’t ask for my passport. They asked how much tobacco and alcohol I had.
The low forested “mountains” had many snow patches.
GO TO Norway – Nord-Norge (Tromso, Narvik, Kirkenes)
NOMAD MANIA Finland – Lapland (Rovaniemi, Ivalo)
World Heritage Sites: Struve Geodetic Arc
Sights:
Lapland Tundra
Saariselkä
Borders:
Finland (sea border/port)
Finland-Norway
Finland-Russia
Finland-Sweden
XL:
Inakari (Kataja)
Lapland northeast extreme (Utsjoki)
Lapland northwest panhandle (Enontekiö)
Pello
Airports:
Ivalo (IVL)
Kittilä (KTT)
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars
Levi Cable Car – Levi Ski Resort (in the village of Sirkka – €8)
Routes in Finnish Lapland (Kemijärvi, Kolari)
Roads, Road Bridges and Tunnels: Sami Bridge (Finland-Norway border)
World of Nature:
Lemmenjoki (Sight)
Pallas-Yllästunturi
Urho Kekkonen NP
Festivals: Midnight Sun Film Festival
Zoos: Ranua Wildlife Zoo
Ski Resorts:
Suomu Ski Resort
Ylläs Ski Resort
European Cities
ROVANIEMI World Cities and Popular Towns
Airports: Rovaniemi (RVN)
Museums:
Arktikum Science Museum
Forestry Museum of Lapland
Korundi (Culture House Korundi)
Rovaniemi Art Museum
Theme Parks: Santa Park Arctic World
Markets: Santa Claus Village (Sight)
INARI
Tentative WHS: The Holy place of worship of Ukonsaari by the Sami people at Inari (01/10/1990) ?Pielpajarvi Wilderness Church
Museums: Siida museum of Sami culture and northern nature
Religious Temples: Pielpajarvi Wilderness Church
KEMI
Sights: Kemi Ice Hotel
Museums:
Kemi Art Museum
Kemi History Museum