Abisko - a winter wonderland

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On our last day, we decided to drive the 90 minutes even further north to explore the town of Abisko, one of the best places to see the Northern lights. I will warn you - it was gorgeous. My photos do not do it justice.

We left around 9:30 am so we were driving throughout the peak of daylight. Essentially, it is a beautiful blur between sunrise and sunset, incredible colors the whole time. The ride itself was easy and beautiful (despite a bit of GPS confusion in the city of Kiruna and stopping for me to view the expansive mine operations in the distance). We stopped a couple of times for photos, including when we saw the large Lake Tometrask, more mountainous country, trains over bridges, and the snow covered landscape. We also stopped at the area of the "gap", a gap between the mountains that we think was the same location depicted in the tourist information board at the Kiruna train station.

Soon, we arrived at the Abisko Tourist Station, though the visitors' center was closed. So, we picked one of the short easy hikes to walk in the fairytale Frozen-esque landscape. We thought it would be easy. After crossing an interesting tourist bridge, there was a down hill section which was coated in ice. Some people clung precariously to the sides of the sidewalk, while the kids and I slid down on our butts - too fun! And when we got to the bottom, it was even more lovely - the red museum building (closed) covered in snow, the sidewalk to nowhere with icy trees on either side... just beautiful.

Continuing on, there is a tunnel crossing under the main highway, which is decorated in murals and speakers broadcasting local folk songs - interesting! Again, very slick with ice at either end, so we took our time, but when we emerged on the other side, we came up a nice river, most of which was iced over, but enough was flowing so you could hear a waterfall below. What you could see was this beautiful aquamarine colored water with white ice and snow on the sides, and of course the ever-present sunrise/sunset colors in the background. I took a lot of photos, but still wish I had taken more!

We continued walking up, going under the bridges, slowly making our way up a fairly steep but short slope with ice. Then we took some photos from the bridge of the river and the sunrise / sunset. We decided to keep going and took the trail up the next slope; while not as steep, it was longer and in places covered in quite a bit of ice. It was slow going to make sure no one fell. We came down at the end of the trail to a place further up the river and made our way back down the trail. My sister yelled up that this would be a good place for photos, so we carefully picked / slid our way downslope and all got together for a group photo as well as many others.

After taking our many, many photos, we continued on, basically planning on a loop. We came upon a bench overlooking the river below and it looked like the bench had been blocked off, so we bypassed it and continued down the trail. At one point, we had to basically walk over a slippery area that was clearly a mini waterfall frozen over, but it started to get slick and somewhat dangerous at this point and about half the group feared going further. My brother in law walked a bit ahead and said the trail was blocked off, so we worried that we had to turn back, but thought it would be safer. However, we were starting to lose daylight and still had to catch our train later... So, I said, to have him continue past the barricade; I thought maybe the bench was supposed to be the first barricade while he was probably at the second, since we were so close to where we had started. He said it did seem to be fine once past the barricade so we decided to keep on, going very slowly and watching the kids. But yes, it did seem to be the right choice and once past the barricade it was actually pretty easy (plus a couple were waiting for us to pass).

A bit of an adventure but oh so beautiful. Seriously, I cannot do justice with my meager photos!

After we got back to the tourist center area, we went to the restaurant at the hotel area which had a buffet - it was not too expensive, good homey food, and great views of the lake below. We stayed for a bit to warm up (a couple of people had very cold toes) before heading back to Kiruna.

Departure

We got back to our cabins with just about 3 hours before trains departed, so it was a bit of a scramble. Plus, at this point, it was snowing heavily! I packed up all my stuff quickly and took one of my nephews with me to return things to the camp: cross country skis / poles, bedding, and trash, while everyone else continued to pack. I got back and started to load up the cars, including getting the kids sorted while my sisters and husbands finished the cleaning and checking of the cabins. Soon, we were off, stopping by Kiruna city center for some snacks and wine to take on the overnight train. Then stopping to fill up the cars with diesel in the freezing cold. We drove to the station. I took the older kids with a bunch of luggage to get into our cabins (we had about 15 minutes to spare at this point), while the rest stayed behind to finish the car close out - the agency, Sixt, were already there and waiting to quickly handover. We got on the train with plenty of time to spare. This time, all six kids stayed in one cabin while we adults chatted in our own. But we all pretty much passed out pretty early, exhausted from our adventures.



*** I will say the vast majority of people in Kiruna were super duper friendly! (The only exception being the receptionist at the Icehotel). The Camp Alta staff were friendly all around. The Stejk Street food were hilarious and fun. The buffet staff at the hotel in Abisko were nice. The rental car agency reps were kind and efficient. Our first lunch was at a small pizzeria in a shopping center called Berta's - they were so friendly and helpful, and the pizza was surprisingly yum! ***

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Comments

[HamptonInn]

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