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| Kiruna City |
Kiruna is in Sweden, way up north from Stockholm. It took us about a thousand kilometers to drive there, that was 18 hours of leisurely driving. It lies near Treriksröset, where the cairn that separates Finland, Norway, and Sweden, is found. It is also one of the best places to see The Midnight Sun during summer and The Northern Lights during winter.
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| Kiruna Airport |
Kiruna Airport
One can take the long and leisurely drive up there (like we insanely did), or one can take the plane and arrive at the Kiruna Airport. It was about a 10-minute drive to Jukkasjärvi, where we stayed. A plane from Stockholm to Kiruna takes about 1.5 hour.
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| Wooden Waiting Sheds in front of The Kiruna Airport |
The minute you step out of the airport, one would already be graced by the usual weather in Kiruna, as well as with the wooden waiting sheds and a sign that says "Home of the Original Ice Hotel".
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| Kiruna Church |
The Kiruna Church (Kiruna Kyrkan)
The Kiruna Church is known to be the largest wooden building in Sweden. The facade is a small version of a house with an entrance in the middle, and the middle to the back part is like a bigger version of that house. It can seat about 800 attendees during a mass.
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| The Kiruna Church Belfry |
The entrance is a long and slightly narrow driveway uphill where you will immediately be taken to the parking lot in front of the church. There were not any clear lines to follow as the ground was covered with snow. The Kiruna Church seems to be enclosed in a variety of Birch and Rowan trees, making you feel much closer to nature even if the church is situated near the town center. The belfry is found in front of the church, a bit of distance from the entrance, and this was built before the church and inaugurated Good Friday of 1907.
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| Two Men Taking Pictures with One Seated on a Sled |
Just before leaving the church, I saw a couple of guys taking pictures with a sled one of them brought up the church. This is actually their means of transportation if the snow gets too thick. Later that day, we saw three kids going to the grocery. The eldest one pushing the youngest on a sled just like the one above. The third kid, which seems to be the middle sibling was right behind using skis and staffs.
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| Kiruna Mine: Owned and Operated by LKAB |
World's Largest Iron Ore Mine
Much of the reindeer herding community's financial source comes from the reindeer. They live mostly in the snowy countryside of this Arctic Cirlce. In Kiruna, I assume that most of its inhabitants are those who were born there, or moved there because of the iron ore mine. The Kiruna Mine, owned and operated by LKAB (Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB), is the city's driving force for financial stability.
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| Kiruna Mine: Owned and Operated by LKAB |
There is a tour you can take if you are interested, but children below 6 years old are not allowed so we skipped it for the meantime. Currently, the entire town is being moved due to subsidence. Even historical structures such as the Kiruna Church will be dismantled and reassembled in a new location to preserve the community's heritage.
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| A Gigantic Sled on top of a Building in Kiruna (Björkis) |
Café Oscar
At the heart of Kiruna is a cluster of buildings separated by parking lots and walkways. They have no big malls, but low buildings that house the different establishments such as groceries, utility stores, coffee shops, and the like. We decided to check Café Oscar, and it was a cozy place in the midst of the early winter cold.
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| Café Oscar |
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| Café Oscar: Handmade Truffle Chocolates |
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| Café Oscar: Cakes |
Kiruna has such a charm to it, it's like no other place I have visited. Sure, one can bask in the heat of the sun in the Mediterranean, swim in beautiful beaches in Asia, or visit the wildlife in other places of the world. In Kiruna, what you come here for is the weather. It is so far up north that what I truly wanted to experience was the northern wilderness, northern wildlife, and the cold (freezing temperatures to at least -14°C), as well as the Northern Lights. Arctic life in this region truly has a world of its own.
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| Image from the Website of Esrange Space Center |
Esrange Space Center
The Esrange Space Center is operated by the Swedish Space Corporation. It is located further up north, about an hour's travel from Kiruna. The Esrange Space Center has a visitor center where it showcases the activities and work they do there. It is mostly a research center that launches probes and weather balloons. We would actually be interested to come visit next time, there was just not enough time when we were in Kiruna. Most of the schedule went to trying to catch The Northern Lights.
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| Esrange Space Center operated by The Swedish Space Corporation (Image from https://www.sscspace.com/ssc-worldwide/esrange-space-center/) |
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