7. June 15, 2024: Rovaniemi to Points Further North…. Inari

Saturday, June 15 2024. : Greetings from Inari (above the Arctic Circle)

Terveisiä pohjois-sumesta (Greetings from Northern Finland)

We left Rovaniemi at about noon. It was drizzling and about 58 degrees. My quick comments on Rovaniemi… much like I felt on the two or three other times we were there: sort of chintzy and touristy. Its proximity to the Arctic Circle (about 6 kilometers) and a decision made decades ago to become known as the year-round location for Santa Claus, and I suppose all the elves too (and the reindeer). So there is a whole village about 5 or 6 kilometers from the city totally devoted to Santa. You can have Santa’s salmon and take pictures with Santa and god knows what else. The city itself has grown but of all the Finnish cities I’ve been to over the years it’s the least attractive (and ofcourse being there when it was overcast and drizzling didn’t help). Still if you are going north it’s hard to avoid Rovaniemi. The airport is there, and although we were driving, we will be dropping off our rental car and flying from Rovaniemi on the 18th. So we will actually be back there again on the night of the 17th. There are a few things we actually want to see when we get back— most especially the new science museum.

When we lived in Finland, we had a Finnish friend named Seppo who was a traffic planner. He told us that the plan (layout) for Rovaniemi is so chaotic because Alvar Aalto did the master plan. His concept for the layout of the city was tied to reindeer horns. So no streets go straight or through and it is impossible to get from one place to another. Every time I’ve been here I laugh because it’s true. No grid! Aalto also designed many of the important civic buildings in town. Another thing to note is that northern Finland seems to have attracted many foreigners as workers. One salesperson I chatted with in a shop was from China; two workers in our hotel were Black; in tonight’s hotel the reception clerk is from Spain and our waiter is half-Greek/half-Finnish.

We headed north and drove about 200 miles. Once again, a wonderfully paved, pothole-free, billboard-free drive alongside and over untold numbers of crystal-clear lakes and rivers, always with forested woodlands on either side of the road. Green, lush, and fairly low. Finland’s trees never grow very tall because of the climate and up north trees are even shorter. We only ran into one lone reindeer (strolling along the road and minding his/her own business. The road is one lane in each direction with speed limits set at 100 kmh (60 mph). We shared the driving and stopped a few times to either admire the view or to get a snack or to take a 15-minute power nap or to stroll in one of the small towns along the way. We stopped for a simple lunch at some café where we had salmon soup that was fresh and quite good. It also came with what was described as a “pancake” but we would call it a crepe.. with cloudberries (lakkoja). Turns out the woman working at the café grew up very close to the café (which was 75 miles north of Rovaniemi) but had left and lived/worked in London for 35 years -– in banking!; she returned just 5 years ago to take care of her ailing father. She talked about the difficulty of adjusting back to Finnish life.. and especially the challenges of adjusting to life in very very rural northern Finland.

We stopped in a small town (Sodenkyla) that was having some kind of street fair— there was a big tent serving different Finnish dishes; high school kids were performing; and there were booths with different foods and stuff to buy (lots of candy). Interesting, this very small town of about 8,000 people has a bookstore! Actually, three are bookstores all over Finland. What is wrong with the US when we can barely keep independent bookstores alive? (Yes, I know, Americans don’t read!)

Then we continued our journey past scores more lakes. Indeed, there are 188,000 lakes in Finland that are at least 5 acres large; they don’t even count smaller lakes. And 10% of Finland is comprised of lakes, many with very small “islands” popping up all over the lakes. We finally arrived at Wilderness Hotel Juutua in Inari. It is quite lovely. Our room faces the river (Juutuajoki) which runs extremely fast although we can’t figure out why since there aren’t any real mountains in Finland. We think the water is coming from a very large lake (Paatera) and perhaps that lake is at a high elevation ?? We have our own in-room sauna, which is very nice, and the room and the hotel are both very tasteful and well appointed. Simple, lots of wood. And totally opposite our hotel in Rovaniemi which was filled with so many mirrors in the lobby I was getting dizzy and also got lost finding the elevator. The room was similarly decked out. Tonight’s hotel is like its setting… simple, tasteful, woodsy.

Tonight we had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant Aanar which turned out to be a great choice. Floor to ceiling glass with tables along the river edge. Wonderful menu and preparation was fantastic. First a tiny plate of reindeer tartare (compliments of the chef). We chose two starters to share: pickled whitefish with roe, marinated onions and fish cream; and smoked reindeer heart with lingonberry sauce, marinated mushrooms and reindeer bone marrow. Both dishes were great and presentation of each was a visual delight. We then shared two main dishes: arctic char (caught today in the Inari River) prepared with crispy skin but totally buttery fish underneath. It was served with potato puree and dill cream and some baby root veggies—another winner; and reindeer done sous vide with pine needles, mushroom puree, reindeer black pudding, and lingonberry red wine sauce… Oh I forgot to mention that the fish came with a literally paper thin, translucent, sculpted thing on the top.. It was really that thin and covered the whole dish. It was some kind of “potato chip”.. or the chef’s interpretation of a potato chip. This guy knows how to prepare food. We shared a dessert that had chocolate sorbet and some berry concoction. A good way to end the meal and head to our river view room to try out the sauna.

Tomorrow we will explore the area in a leisurely fashion and probably try one of the other nearby restaurants, although I think we will likely compare it with tonight’s meal and that’s just not fair. The Wilderness Hotel has a “sister hotel nearby. We may try their restaurant. It is supposed to be good but doesn’t compare to Aanar. There’s also a pub with burgers and pizza “if we want to step down a notch!” the reception person told us. We just might do that and hang out with some locals.

While I cannot possibly imagine living here, I can see the beauty of it all. And it’s so quiet.
More tomorrow when we don’t plan to drive much at all. Maybe we’ll see a few more reindeer. There are 200,000 of them here in Sami (Lapland). That’s more reindeer than people in all of Sami.

Fern