Driving to Kiruna & the first reindeer we saw

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We picked up our rented car after arriving at the Rovaniemi airport. There we spent the first night. I remember that when I woke up in the middle of the night, I looked outside to see if it really doesn't get dark at night in the summer in Northern Scandinavia. Indeed, the sky was as clear as during the day in Belgium, very strange feeling...

Rovaniemi is the capital of Lapland, just south of the Artic Circle. It is also the official hometown of Santa Claus. You can even pay him a visit!

After a good night sleep, we took the "artic road" to Kiruna. After driving awhile, we saw "something" at the side of the road. Unbelievable, it was the first reindeer we saw. We stopped immediately and took some pictures. What an excitement. At that moment, we did not knew that the following days we would see hundreds of them ;-)

Just 15 km east of Kiruna, in the village of Jukkasjärvi, every October the famous ice-hotel is built. You can visit a small exibition about how the hotel is constructed and see some ice-sculptures. Quasi everything only consist of ice, even the glasses in the reproduction of the pub...

The Kiruna chirch is one of Sweden's largest wooden building. It is built in the style of a Sámi hut.

Kiruna itself is an industrial town, known for it iron-ore mine. In World War 2 there was a huge battle for the control of the iron suply.

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