A Winter Fantasy Land
Winter is Coming…a phrase given much currency through our obsession with the television sensation Game of Thrones.
In my case winter had well and truly arrived when I landed in Helsinki, Finland at the start of the new year - 2025. Helsinki is a vibrant city, where neo classical architecture meets modernist splendour. Snow covered streets, snowy Christmas trees glittering with lights and crowds in brightly coloured hats and coats made a picture postcard scene from a quaint old tale.
The city is charming, the people are congenial and the food…well that’s a whole blog post on its own. Suffice it to say I began my quest for the perfect cinnamon bun here…
Brrr!
Ivalo in the deep north of Finland, in Lapland, was my next destination. -26°, clear, cold and exhilarating. Stepping off the plane was like a slap in the face or a stinging electric shock.
The Aurora Village, our destination was “Narnia in Finland”. Had I just stepped out of the Wardrobe? The fairytale cabins are like miniature dwellings for fauns. With their snow capped roofs, and yellow lamp glow, I expected Mr Tumnus to appear at any moment. I was sure I was inhabiting his house!
Winter is perpetual under the reign of the White Queen in the Narnia tale. The vast white landscape in Ivalo makes it easy to believe that she reigns in Lapland.
Back to reality and some exhilarating if somewhat challenging activities for this timid writer!
A trip across a frozen lake in a snowmobile, and a sleigh ride, with a team of huskies navigating through a winter forest at dusk, made for thrilling if not heart stopping experiences. I was lucky to be in the safe hands of a very competent driver, as skilled at handling huskies as she is in her specialist medical day job!
These are effective ways to navigate the snow. But reindeer sleighs are my favourite and I fell in love with those gentle beasts who so patiently pulled our sleighs led by their Sami handler.
Heading north, the destination was Kirkenes at the top of Finland, just a few kilometres from the Russian border. Beware the White Walkers…
The Snow Motel with its frozen rooms and ice bar is bizarre. I slept in another fairy tale cabin, a warm and cosy retreat looking as if it had been carved out of a huge tree. Snow, snow and more snow. It seemed possible that with one wrong step you could disappear under a vast “doona “ of snow!
The most elegant mode of travel is the coastal ship. Boarding the Havila Castor was a little like stepping back into the 19th century, travelling in luxury at a very leisurely pace. Five days sailing from Kirkenes south to Bergen, stopping regularly at sea ports to load and unload cargo. Sailing through wide seas and narrow channels, passing towering craggy snowy fjords, and quant historical towns like Tromso and Trondheim, to destination Bergen, journey’s end.
I’m fascinated with this city. Readers may know of my love of the Shetland Islands and their Norse history. The journey from Bergen to Shetland by sea has been made over the generations. The Vikings would have struck out from many parts of the Norwegian coastline to form settlements in the northern part of the UK.
Bergen was a brief interlude before my journey to slightly warmer climes in the UK. Encircled by mountains and Bryggen, the old wharf of Bergen, once a centre of the Hanseatic Leagues’s trading empire, the city is quaint. It is also home to Godt Brodt, a fabulous bakery making excellent cinnamon and cardamom buns. The quest for the perfect cinnamon bun continues…
Here I should mention that one of the reasons for my travel to the world of the north above the Arctic Circle was to seek the truly wonderful Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis. From Ivalo to Kirkenes to our travel south on the ship, we scanned the skies. My fellow travellers took some amazing photos.
My efforts were hit and miss, but I did manage to capture one or two moments of celestial beauty. As indeed did our Northern Lights guide. These sightings and the hours of standing in the minus degrees temperatures in the snow will stay with me for a long time!
Finland, Norway and the Northern Lights are now a beautiful if slightly distant memory, as I travel south eastern England on a cathedral tour and enjoy the wonders of London, one of the most amazing cities in the world.
And this Australian will soon be home in an Australian summer. About time too!
