Finnish Lapland – Days Four and Five

We had about a 2 1/2 hour drive on the morning of day four from our hotel in Levi, Finland, down to the town of Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland which sits just below the Arctic Circle (which apparently moves a little continuously).  We stopped along the way for coffee and donuts, but the real goal was to get to our outdoor activities for the next 2-3 hours.  We had a choice of floating in an insulated wet-suit in the waters of a frozen lake, ice-fishing, or snow-shoeing, followed by lunch.  All the activities were around the same lake, so we really could do all three, but I opted for the float exclusively.  We pulled off most of our outerwear, but kept on our long underwear, pants, and three layers on top (I had long underwear, a sweater, and a fleece).

We used their woolen socks and glove inserts, but no shoes, and a baclava around our heads, then donned either red or yellow suits and waddled down to the water, where the staff had cut a decent sized hole through the ice to create a little float pond for us (which was slightly below freezing in temp); they had a small little propeller at the far end of the hole to keep the water moving so as to prevent re-freezing.  We went down a little ladder and . . . you just float.  No effort required. You move by flapping your arms a little.  About nine folks gave it a whirl, some stayed in 15 minutes, others about 35 minutes. I’d asked our guide how long the longest float had been that he knew of; 55 minutes he said, so I set it as a goal to last more than an hour, which I did along with one woman. I could feel the cold in my hands and feet mostly, though my feet stayed pretty warm, and I had to pull my fingers into a fist and flex them around to keep them warm enough.

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, you could see the tops of trees that surrounded the lake. I was hoping for a peaceful, blissful, quiet float as the others left, but – unfortunately – that wasn’t to happen; there was too much other noise nearby. After staying in for a bit more than an hour, I’d enjoyed myself and had enough.

While I didn’t have time for ice-fishing or snow-shoeing, the next best thing was . . . lunch! The staff had set-up a large teepee – called a “lavvu” or “lavvo” in the local culture – into which we could all fit along with a chef, two servers, and a roaring wood-burning fire on which lunch had been prepared. It was just about the best meal we ended-up eating the whole trip: homemade potato soup with grilled fresh salmon added to it, sausages, bread, and warm berry juice. After an hour float I needed to be warmed from the inside, and this definitely did the trick!

Finland has laid claim to being the home of Santa Clause – which has its upsides and downsides (see this article in The NY Times from April 2025), and when you’re in Rovaniemi apparently one of the “must visits” is Santa’s village. Yeah, we went. Fun for some folks but what I liked most was the “Santa Village cam” that you could see yourself on while you stand on or near the Arctic Circle. You can buy tchotchke, mail a letter, and have your picture taken with him which you can purchase for $40. There’s a restaurant nearby named “Santa’s,” and I couldn’t help but wonder if they served reindeer there.

But dinner that night was at an igloo restaurant. Wicked cool (LOL). It gets rebuilt every year and has several large rooms since it specializes in groups, it has a separate bar and lounge, and when we arrived we were served iced (Finlandia) vodka in shot-glasses made out of ice. Slippery suckers! And, yup Santa was there so we could have our pictures taken and get copies of them for no charge. I showed him a picture I had of me and Santa from 1966, telling him we’d met before!

After dinner we headed out to a frozen lake for more Northern Lights – not as good as the prior evening, but – hey – it’s the Northern Lights!

Day five info is after the pics below.

A mellow fifth day compared to the prior few days. We had a later start and went to visit a local family – grandfather, father, father’s sister, and the father’s son – who have a working farm (though the father is a consultant who also has an apartment in Rovaniemi). The land has been in the family since the 1700’s but the Germans forced the family to evacuate and destroyed all the buildings. They were raised in a culture of “make it yourself” and “kill only to eat”. We learned about how many of the tools in the toolshed were handmade, the furniture was handmade, the main house had been built by the grandfather and his father, and how they hunted and fished – both back in the day and today. Great dynamic among the three generations, and a lunch of reindeer stew on mashed potatoes with homemade lingonberry jam.

The skis in the picture below were handmade, probably about 60 years ago. The grandfather, when he was a little boy, had to ski about 12 miles each way to go to school. 

We visited a local artist afterwards, whose gallery showed off work by herself and some of her friends. For dinner, I went into town to a local joint; I’d asked our guide for a recommendation that would allow me to be a bit adventuresome with some local food; the place was rustic, and I’d say about half of the guests were locals. As for the Northern Lights – well, nothing rated a picture to be posted here.