New Year, new guest post. Courtesy of Jenny who I met in Dublin a post about Lapland has been published just this morning. This is sort of summary and good advices. If you have ever thought about going there you should read it first. Watching the pictures and reading it made me think that I miss Lapland quite badly. So, hopefully I’ll be able to organize a trip this year. Keep your fingers crossed please and visit Jenny’s blog Hikercise.  

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If you are familiar with the origins of this blog and my plans for next couple of months discussed under ‘Travel Tips‘ section, or explicitly in one of the first posts ‘Getting Ready‘ you know about my idea to learn another language. As I already know English and Italian, had been studying Chinese and Japanese, I thought it shouldn’t be THAT difficult. The language I picked up might surprised you and I bet that the first thought after reading the heading was: “Why on earth anybody would like to learn Swedish if it’s spoken only in Sweden?” There is a short story behind. As always. Couple of years ago I went to Sweden for the first time in my life.This was not a trivial city walk around Stockholm. I started from Swedish Lapland. And fell in love with this beautiful country the moment I got off the train in Kiruna. I spend unforgettable time walking along the King’s Trail mountain huts. All huts are run by the Swedish Tourist Organization and in order to pay less for each night spent in the huts I become member of this association. Being member of STF entitled me to receive their official journal titled: Turist. And so every year I was receiving all journals published and guess what: even if it was sent to my Italian address it was all written in Swedish! It simply drove me crazy! I mean, the photos were great but I wanted to understand what it says. After couple of years I thought I simply need to learn Swedish. One way or another, I visit this country regularly so there is no waste. While thinking about the way how to learn Swedish I also met one person who was fascinated with this language and it pushed forward my thinking about it from ‘perhaps-I-could-study-the-language’ towards ‘yes-I-can’. BUT I didn’t want to get engaged in any serious or formal language course. Mostly because of my travels and high absence rate. So I thought I will do it totally STRESS FREE. So… Here is what I did First, I borrowed a self-study book to make sure that Swedish is not difficult. I browsed it, listened to the tape, read some dialogues and although Swedish might sound complicated I liked the sound of it. Simply the melody of this language is lovely. Second, I browsed Internet searching for BASIC 100 WORDS in Swedish. It’s simple to find. Third, I completed a basic online course on babbel.com and… …and that’s the best part: I got an e-book of my favorite Swedish tales Emil i Lönneberga and started to listen to it all day long: when jogging, cooking, ironing and when traveling, of course. Now this is experiment and I will keep you posted on the progress I made. My target for this September is to be able to run a short conversation about the weather and general stuff. Before I go to Lapland this year I’ll be able to say hello, ask for somebody’s name, where does he/she come from, and which part of the King’s Trail she/he walked. Keep your fingers crossed!  

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Lapland is a truly unique place. For many reasons. For me my first visit in Lapland was totally overwhelming and since then I visit Lapland at least once a year. There is a short funny story about the whole idea. A story that is known by all my friends too well (sorry guys, it looks like there are more than 200 people following this blog so let’s made it public. Besides, even if it was told hundred times, I still LIKE IT!). So, on a plane to the US I read an article that was advertising an ‘interesting alternative to spend your holiday’. This article had amazing photos of wildlife in autumn colors and a story about an owner of a reindeer herd. The idea was simple: you could get your own reindeer on a leash to make a 5-day walk. Everything was brilliantly organized. A group of 10 people and 10 reindeer were suppose to depart every week from a defined location. The idea seamed to me just PERFECT! I even snatched the page with this article (yes, I really did it!). After months of not thinking about this the day to decide about annual holiday finally had arrived. And I miraculously found this snatched page in my notebook. Gosh! I really, really wanted to take part in this crazy trip. Until I got known the other participants. No offence, but the group departing in a suitable date was made of 8 German 50+ man. The moment I thought about snoring was a turning point. I just knew I would regret it forever. BUT quitting this particular activity didn’t mean I had to resign from my first visit to Lapland. I had a quick look in Internet and found amazing websites on something called The King’s Trail (in Swedish: Kungsleden). THIS WAS IT! From the first moment I saw the pictures made on this trail I knew I have to go there. And I did. The track has about 440 km, it starts in the north in Abisko and ends in Hemavan in the south (or vice versa, depending where you start). It is managed by the Swedish Tourist Organization and every couple of kilometers there is a mountain hut (lodge might be a proper word). Along my way through Sweden I was using an excellent travel guide written by James Proctor and published by Bradt. You won’t find a better guidebook on Lapland. Why I loved Lapland so much? Because this is a rare combination of safety and wilderness.  The track in swampy places is equipped in wooden footbridge to keep you away from water. At the same time you meet wild living animals and listen to the real silence. I totally admire Swedish organization and perseverance: I have never expected so far to the north such a well kept track! The huts’ interior is excellent to keep you warm when it’s cold outside. It is also very cozy and user friendly even if simple and mainly wooden made. This is a model balance between human and nature. Just as it should be. After my first trip to Lapland words ‘silence’, ‘infinity’, ‘wilderness’ and ‘peace’ got totally new meaning. It crushed many of my previous beliefs. I would even say this was one of this journeys which ‘unmade me’, just as Nicolas Bouvier said. Lapland was included to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1996. And now you can listen to the story on Amateur Traveller, episode #456 here:  

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I have never thought that one day I will cross a polar circle. It’s not that I have always loved sun and beach and I have never spent my holiday in a cold place. It was just SO far away! If you think about the Earth and they way the continents are placed you will see that European Nordic countries are really far to the North. While spending one of my summer holiday in Scandinavia I thought it might be a good idea to visit Narvik. I have considered it a mythical place full of happy people, beautiful landscape and good looking houses. Now, the truth is that Narvik and paradise are quite distant in terms of my expectations but let’s start with the train trip. You can go to Narvik by car but I thought this would be trivial (unless I would meet a moose or a reindeer crossing the road). Instead, I decided to take the train. If you are fascinated with trains you probably know that the railway route between Kiruna in Sweden and Narvik in Norway is one of the highest train route in Europe. It takes about three hours to arrive to the final station. The route is truly spectacular, especially with nice weather. Looking out of the window brings you a real delight: you see mountains, lakes, forest, Swedish and Norwegian typical wooden houses and sometimes even wild animals. What is really special about this trip is that you experience a unique mix: you may touch the wilderness without loosing sense of security. While you are sitting in the coach- clean and cozy- and listen to the regular noise made by the train last wild land in Europe is passing before your eyes. The further you go the more beautiful it becomes. When you cross the Norwegian border you will see a real fjord. The train tracks seams to be suspended over the water and this view allows you to get wonderfully lost in pure beauty. But getting to the point, Narvik was disappointing. It’s just an ordinary town with ordinary wooden houses and quite average people walking by. During my short stay in this town there was a beautiful weather so I can’t imagine how ugly it is with the mist or rain. One of the few nice things in this place is view from the highest parts of the city. If you are determined enough you could climb to the small parking in front of the local power station. From there you can see how big the fjord and how small the town are. One of the most disappointing things was a failed promise found in a touristic folder. It said that if you visit the water power station at certain time (I don’t remember whether it was noon or 13:00) you could see an artificial geyser. It should be a side effect of high pressure of water which normally generates electricity. Unfortunately when we climbed the hill running like fools to be there on time no geyser was seen. And my the final “cherry on a cake” was a lousy coffee in the local cafe. Now, I really love good cafe but let’s make it clear: the only real cafe is drank in Italy, is prepared of 60 coffee beans and is delicious. The rest of the world instead of drinking cafe try to sell you a coffee: brown watery liquid with this terrible flavor  So let me say this straight: I drank the worst coffee ever in Narvik. And worse for me: it was also the most expensive coffee EVER!    

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