August 6 Crossing Into Sweden (Day 314)
We have an early morning bus to catch today on our convoluted bus and train journey across the border from Finland into Sweden at the top of the Gulf of Bothnia. The bus left from the Rovaniemi train station and traveled south to the town of Kemi, Finland where we waited for another bus that took us across the border.
At the Kemi bus station we found a small pizza parlor and ordered a pizza during our hour-long layover. It was delicious! A special ‘northern’ pizza with reindeer meat and mushrooms!
A quick half hour ride and we reached the bus station in Haparanda, Sweden! Right next to the northernmost IKEA store! A Swedish icon, and no we didn’t go inside to browse, or even to get some Swedish meatballs (my Mom loved them!).
Looking across the river, back towards Tornio, Finland. The bus station is next to the Torne river, the border between Finland and Sweden.
We waited at the station for a city bus that would take us across the small town of Haparanda to the train station.
And quite an impressive train station it is! Finished in 1917, and visited by Vladimir Lenin on his way back to Russia to spearhead the Russian revolution, it is the largest train station in all of Sweden. However, it was rarely used for passenger service! In fact passenger service between Finland and Sweden was completely closed from 1992 to 2021! Renovation is ongoing on this beautiful building.
Only 3 trains a week leave from this station, we were early for our train and had the whole station to ourselves, but were eventually joined by about a dozen more passengers for our trip to Lulea, Sweden.
The Swedish landscape seems rather flat here, traveling west along the broken coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. Wooded with many lakes and marshes, we kept a lookout for moose but never saw any.
Reflections of sightseeing through the train window!
We reached Lulea at about 4:30pm and found the local bus line for the 10 minute ride towards our Airbnb, with a short walk to the door!
The front looks like it could be an ice cream shop! The interior is very roomy and comfortable.