woods – rene bauer photography

Long way up north. The weather wasn’t really welcoming, but this way I just cruised across Finland from south up to Rovaniemi.

The Arktikum in Rovaniemi is a museum which explains life and culture on the arctic circle in a interesting and wonderful way. One shouldn’t miss it when up here.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Santa Claus Village just bit north of the town. It’s a tourist trap, no question about that. Next to restaurants, hotel and souvenir shop, there’s also to meet Santa Claus himself. ‚Free Entrance!‘ a sign told me. I found it ridiculous to queue up for a photo with the white bearded, old man in red dress. So I skipped the line and went straight to the souvenir shop, located just after the room where Santa Claus awaited his visitors. There, the young cashier explained me, I wouldn’t be allowed to make a selfie with him anyway, but could buy a photo from the shop, starting prices from €30.

I stepped out from Santa Claus house, passed the famous Santa Claus Post Office and just stepped over the line of the Arctic Circle. Finally i made it to the ‚real north‘!

And with this i made it definitely also to Lapland, the land of reindeers. Along the way i spotted some of these majestic, but shy animals. Still mid-summer, the long daylight allowed me to drive till late, stopping for observing some reindeers and to cook a midnight meal before finally get some rest.

November 25, 2023November 19, 2023 by Rene Bauer Categories: animal, culture, europe, landscape, nature, reportage, roadtrip, tinatortuga, travelTags: arctic, arcticcircle, arktikum, culture, europe, finland, forest, lake, landscape, landscapephotography, lapland, museum, nature, northerneurope, overland, people, reindeer, renebauerphotography, reportage, rovaniemi, santaclaus, santaclausvillage, tinatortuga, Travel, wilderness, wildlife, wildlifephotography, woods Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

It’s a short ferry ride from Tallinn to Helsinki. Just after i was experiences the vast land of Finland with its endless forests. Also the dusk seemed already endless, but i found a quite spot next to an idyllic lake for a short sleep.

Next day i stood under the mighty pillars of the ski jump of Lahti. To my surprise it was possible to get up to the top. The view over the lakes and forests was stunning.

My first real stop was in Kangasniemi, a small town surrounded by even more forests and lakes. I planned a few quite days resting on the campsite here. The arrival of roughly ninety (!) students from Helsinki on their holiday seemed to threaten my plans. After all, they behaved surprisingly calm, I even got into some nice chats sometimes. I decided to like Finland 😉