Inlandsbanan - Kiruna and Gällivare

We now begin my 6 day journey on the Inlandsbanan (which turned out not to be nearly as touristy and annoying as I was expecting. It was actually pretty cool). But due to the fact that I was camping most of the time, and in tiny, tiny towns, my computer access was limited. To avoid getting way behind in blogging I kept a journey (the old fashioned way, in a notebook and everything!). So these next couple posts are going to be a little different. It will be my journal entries combined with pictures. We'll see how it goes....


View Inlandsbanan in a larger map


August 18th, 14:00 

Success! I made it out of Abisko, have a ticket onto Gällivare, and a reservation on the Inlandsbanan all the way down to Mora. I even went ahead and bought a ticket from Mora to Stockholm. I'm not taking any chances again. I'm now in Kiruna, killing 5 hours until my train to Gällivare.

The train ticket I worked so hard to get

The Kiruna station

August 18th, 15:30 

There's not a whole lot going on in Kiruna. Oh, except for the fact that the entire town is about to collapse into the mines that they've been digging under it for decades. Kiruna is home to the largest iron ore deposit in the WORLD, and in the 50's they switched from surface mining to digging out underneath the town. A few years again it became clear (they didn't say how) that the remaining bedrock wasn't enough to support the town. So they're relocating the town a few miles north. It's supposed to be finished by 2013 (I guess they don't know about 2012. Seems kind of pointless if you ask me). But as Lonely Planet puts it: The populous seems unfazed.

But that's about the only thing going on in Kiruna. It's kind of exciting though. Sort of like being in a town right before it becomes the bottom of a lake.

Everything looks peaceful enough... 

But hidden behind every corner lies... 

The mines!

And I guess they are proud of it

Here's a look at some of the things about to collapse down into the mine:

The city hall. This building was voted Sweden's Most Beautiful Public Building in 1964.

The Kiruna Church. Interesting facts about this building: It is Sweden's second largest wooden church, and was voted Sweden's Favorite Building in 2001 (these people like to vote on their buildings). 

The weird pagoda style annex of the church

Sled parking?

You can choose between lemon water or cucumber water! 

Apparently, Kiruna is also trying to become Europe's main spaceport for personal space flight and "space tourism."  I think the first step should probably be to build your city on solid ground. 

Moving on to Gällivare....

The deceivingly cute train station

Looks like a nice place, right?

Town center

But wait a second, what is this? Weeds? In Sweden?! 

August 18th, 20:00

I'm sitting in a restaurant in Gällivare. I didn't necessarily intend to be here. There isn't a whole lot going on in Gällivare, except people cruising around in their "tricked out" cars (yes, really in Sweden. This town is owned by the iron ore company (KLAM) and I guess mining towns are pretty much the same everywhere). I got here around 6:30, found a place that I will set up my tent, and then realized I had a good 4 hours before I could go to sleep. According to Lonely Planet, The Grande Hotel Lapland had a cozy pup underneath it, and I figured I'd get a beer to pass the time. But it turned out to be way more of a busy, slightly upscale restaurant than a pub. And once I had sat down I felt kind of bad just ordering a beer. And the waiter was so nice and I figured I NEVER eat out at restaurants, and what better time to do it than when you're traveling in another country, so I shouldn't feel bad about it. I ordered the cheapest (half an appetizer) and the most Scandinavian thing on the menu: crayfish tails in a mayonnaise/dill sauce on toast. It's really good. I also ordered Carlsberg (a Danish beer which is kind of the Sierra Nevada of Scandinavia (not that it tastes anything like it, but in that it's a better quality, widely available beer. Maybe more like Yaungling actually....), and a Fisherman's shot, which is possibly the only good thing about Scandinavia alcohol. It tastes like eucalyptus cough drops, clears your sinuses, and makes you feel warm and healthy.

The atmosphere is in the general style of a dark-wood interior pub with booths and a bar. But they are playing music that sounds like someone's cell phone ring tone. And the people at the table next to me are eating hamburgers with a knife and fork. Oh, Europeans....

The service here is amazing! Even though it's packed, I only have to slightly glance in the direction of the waiter for him to come over and see what I need. Maybe he thinks I'm a critic or a travel writer since I'm alone, foreign, taking pictures of my food, and typing on a computer while I eat. He even "accidentally" brought me a 50 cl beer, when I had only ordered a 33 cl (no extra charge)! Or maybe Swedes are just really nice people and don't need an extra incentive to give good service. They don't even work for tips!

This was a huge crane that this old Swedish guy was really excited about and wanted me to take a picture of. He said that it was brought in from Finland. 

And this is what it was building. Excitement.

Wild snapdragons!!! 

The bridge to the "other side of the tracks" 

The Grand Hotel 

My restaurant meal 

And there she is: The Inlandsbanan