We ventured to the Arctic Circle today! We have been to the Arctic Circle in Canada, and above it, twice, both times on the Dempster Highway in the Yukon that crosses into the Northwest Territory. It is a 450 mile trip on a gravel road into the wilderness, across the tundra, with several ferry crossings over wild glacial rivers! Only a few indigenous villages are along the road with limited services. Comparing that to our trip today is comparing a wilderness safari to a walk in the park! Santa Claus Village (the official site where you can ‘cross’ the Arctic Circle) is practically a suburb of Rovaniemi. This part of the Arctic Circle is definitely NOT the tundra! We caught a comfortable tour bus at the train station and rode for about 20 minutes on a paved road through wooded suburban neighborhoods to the complex of buildings and large paved courtyard that constitutes Santa Claus’ Hometown!

The red towers across the pavilion mark the ‘official Arctic Circle crossing’!

Across!

At the edge of the plaza is the Roosevelt Cottage, built in 1950 for a visit by Eleanor Roosevelt, Chairman of the UN Commission on Human Rights. Rovaniemi had been virtually destroyed by German occupation during WWII and Roosevelt was instrumental in getting aid distributed to devastated communities such as Rovaniemi. At the time it was the only structure at the Arctic Circle crossing and it became a tourist destination over the years.

At the Village Post Office you can mail postcards from the Arctic Circle, and even letters from Santa Claus, to be delivered at Christmas!

The northern latitudes of Finland, Sweden and Norway, as well as Arctic areas of Russia are also known as Lapland, the home of the Sami people. Walking around the ‘Village’, we came upon some cultural architecture, buildings synonymous with the Sami culture, the indigenous people of the Scandinavian/Russian Arctic. A short Youtube video about the Sami is Here. The Sami were nomadic hunter-gatherers who herded wild reindeer who now live more modern lives. Their connection with the land, reindeer herding and arctic lifestyle are still very important parts of their lives and they have organized to fight for their rights as indigenous people, having experienced the same discrimination, forced assimilation and loss of territory as other indigenous peoples around the world.

Mosquito shelters were built mainly for the semi-wild reindeer that the Sami herd.

This shelter had a smokey fire burning, there were several others around the Village, perhaps to ward off the mosquitos!

The reindeer herders cabins would be built along the routes which the Sami used.

The tipi (which the Sami name ‘tapi’) is a temporary shelter used while they were on the move. Most Sami have always lived in more permanent housing. Food cache buildings were built on stilts or tree trunks to protect and store food.

We caught the bus back into town and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and then an evening stroll around the lake.

On the Road Again, actually On the Rails Again! This time further north in Finland to the town of Rovaniemi, the official Hometown of Santa Claus! And his Reindeer! We caught a morning train for the 5 hour ride to just below the Arctic Circle.

We left from the quaint train station in Kokkola, restored and still used.

We arrived in Rovaniemi at about 3pm and walked the 20 minutes to our Airbnb. This apartment is very near a lake with a backdoor opening onto the path around the lake.

You might notice the metal rack (with the blue arrow pointing to it). We’ve seen these behind almost every apartment building and are stumped as to their use! A weird clothes line? A ski rack? A weird bike rack? More on this later!

After we unpacked we walked to the grocery store and the liquor store. In Finland all beer, wine and spirits are sold in state run liquor stores that have limited open hours! Luckily the stores were in the same shopping center!

Walking along the lakeshore, past these fragrant flowers was a wonderful start and finish to our shopping foray.

A bonus in this apartment, and a staple in many Finnish households (even one bedroom apartments!) is a sauna! Accurately pronounced “Sow-naa”!A wonderful way to relax in the steamy heat, then a cold shower, and the best night’s sleep in a long time!

On our walks we found the bike shop that rents bikes.

The wooden bikes were a bit heavy looking!

The weather prediction for today is great, so we picked up a couple of bikes and went riding!

Over the river…

…and through the woods!

To the ‘beach’. The trail through the woods ends at a peninsula most of which is a bird sanctuary.

Walking around we found this sign, and using Google translate we got a taste of the dry Finnish humor! The sign says “ski slope”!

We found a boardwalk and rode out over marshy grounds to the bird observation tower.

We rode around to the small holiday village of Elba and found a restaurant overlooking Kaustar bay.

Taking the road back to Kokkola we saw several older houses that suggest this area has been a vacation spot for many years!We had a wonderful ride with not too many mosquitoes, we even found raspberries along the road to taste!

Between rain showers we took walks around town.

Town Hall. A brief history of Kokkola which was “..at one point the largest town in Finland, thanks to the tar and shipbuilding trade..” can be found at A Step Back into Finnish History.

Another wooden building we passed several times on our walks to the store.

Other aspects of the Kokkola economy were fishing and hunting seals.

Roundabout art!

The weather has changed along with our latitude! It is cooler and we have a few days of rain predicted! A relief from the heat we were experiencing in southern and central Europe! We relaxed and took occasional walks. We discovered the ‘old town’ of Kokkola, a neighborhood called Neristan composing of about a dozen blocks of wooden houses from the 1800’s.

The houses are very orderly, built in a grid pattern.

The higher the rock foundation the more wealthy the home owner supposedly was. This building appears to have been a school for a long time.

From these pictures the school has been active since at least 1907!

Doors to the houses were not always on the street, narrow driveways between houses revealed courtyards, secret gardens and porches where I assume the door would be.

This courtyard has a picturesque old log shed.