Holiday to Norway and Sweden 2016 Days 9, 10 &11

 

I don’t know how long this link will stay live for now the holiday is over, but it gives full details of the holiday from Ffestiniog Travel. click HERE

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Day 9 Narvik

At 9 am the bus was waiting to take us south to Narvik a journey that would take us 4 hours with a short break half way. The coach driver didn’t look old enough to drive a car let alone a bus, but he got us there safely in one piece.

Again most of the photos are taken through the coach window, there were some quite spectacular icicles down some of the rock faces, The road went round the edge of some very large lakes as well as quite high into the mountains. They are building a new suspension bridge across the mouth of the last inlet we went round that will shorten the journey by a few miles.

We spent the night at the Scandic Hotel Narvik and we struck really lucky with our room as it had a full size bath and never ending supply of piping hot water. The bedroom had interesting decor including a lamp that was suspended from the ceiling and the bright blue power cord hanging down to the floor. Above the head of the bed was a full width illuminated mural. Our room overlooked the town and ski run.

The hotel again had a bar on the top floor where we had a light lunch, this time overlooking the Iron ore unloading facility where it is transferred to boat for export. The ore comes by train from Sweden via a single track line. The ore facility is run by LKAB the Swedish mining company. Narvik has a deepwater harbour that is ice free and can handle approximately 16,000,000 tonnes of ore per year.

The engines that pull the ore trains are 16 axle double units at 30 tonnes per axle a full train is 8,600-tonne	The ore wagons are also double close coupled  units with opening floors to dump the ore in 5 seconds.

Day 10 Kiruna and The Ice Hotel 

We caught the train to Kiruna being taken from out hotel in one Minibus that had to make two journeys. At the station there is a preserved railway engine and a model of how the town was before the railway.

Our tickets said our seats were in carriage  53 so I was expecting a long train, wrong, just three carriages numbers 51, 52 and 53 with a buffet car in 52 not so well stocked at the NSB trains and only open when the guard wasn’t doing anything else. This railway line is very scenic travelling high in the mountains with spectacular views from the carriage windows.

In Kiruna  we stayed in an early 1900 hotel with the rooms on just 2 floors, the hotel is situated just across the road from the old railway station, unfortunately they built a new one about a mile away so it was another short coach ride. The old Railway Station Kiruna 

 

We weren’t at the hotel for long before the coach was waiting to take us to the Ice Hotel at Jukkasjärvi. I have seen this on the TV but in the flesh its something else.

The Ice Hotel complex stands next to the river and in the summer it all melts away. The hotel is made of snow blocks and is rebuilt every year. Each winter large blocks of ice, each weighing about 2 tons are cut from the river, these are stored in a large cold store for carving the following year. 

Gift shop, Hotel in the distance	Entrance Arch with gift shop, Hotel in the distance
Outside sculptures
Diana on the throne	- 8° C outside
	Ice Blocks for next year
sledge	Warm holiday chalets

 

When you enter the hotel you go into a large hall that even has ice chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. To the right there is a changing room where the overnight guests leave clothes and change into their night wear before heading to their nice warm bedrooms, well they were -3°C when we were there.    

Entrance Hall	No smoking sign
Ice columns supporting the roof	Ice chandelier
End ice wall to the main building
The theme for the season in opaque ice	Corridor to bedrooms, note the fire extinguisher sign

The Hotel Rooms run off 3 corridors that connect to the main large hall and don’t have any doors just a curtain, they also have absolutely no facilities, not even a coat hook. Every room is different and people are invited to submit their designs for a room each year and then come and create it. Even though there is nothing to burn, its all ice and snow, because its a hotel it has to have fire extinguishers. Two rooms do have doors, they also have saunas and full facilities, but we couldn’t see in them and they cost £800 per night.   

 

There is also a Church on the site which does weddings and christenings but not services of worship. While we were there a couple were getting married.

 

 

The ice Bar up to a couple of years ago was inside the hotel, it is now a separate building made from solid ice. Each year they inflate a large balloon and spray it with water until the ice is of the correct thickness. they then deflate the balloon and remove it to leave a large spherical building

Our guide showing the ice glasses, these are mass-produced on site and also sent to London.	The Champagne glasses having a stem are all hand made and you get two with each bottle of Champagne.

After our visit to the Ice Hotel we went for diner at the restaurant across the road and enjoyed a nice slice of reindeer.

It was then back to the hotel for the night

Day 11 Kiruna airport

The coach picked us up at 11 am to take us to Kiruna Airport to catch our flight to Stockholm where we changed planes for a flight to Heathrow so this is the last photo of the holiday.