Saturday 30 June 2012

The wedding in Saltoluokta, part 1: Gällivare

Swedish: Bröllopet i Saltoluokta, del 1: Gällivare

The ones of you following my blog knows I've been in Sweden for one week and at a very special wedding in Saltoluokta(very north, not far from Kebnekaise, the highest mountain of Sweden). I want to tell you about this wonderful experience, and it has to become a story in stages!

Most wedding guests came by plane from Malmö and Stockholm to Kiruna, and then continued with a rented bus to the wharf of Kebnats.

Birgitta and her husband Christer (both classmates from High School) and I traveled by train from Umeå to Gällivare, a town famous for its mining.

It was so fun! The trip took 7 hours, but the time just disappeared. We chatted about this and that and outside the beautiful northern Sweden were speeding by.

My mom had sent "fika" (this is a great Swedish word that doesn't exist in English, not in Greek either - maybe in no other language?! It means something to drink with something small to eat like a sandwich or something sweet. Nice word, isn't it?) - coffee, sandwiches and cinnamon rolls... (Then I also have to tell you that my dad, who is 84, drove us to the railway station!)

Me and my beloved friend Birgitta! We grew up on the same street in Umeå, but didn't get to know each other until we got in the same class in High school - weird!


Here we have arrived at Gällivare and we're looking for a place to have lunch. It was indeed a little chilly...

The church of Gällivare. As mining grew the town grew out of its old church and 1882 this beautiful wooden church was inaugurated.



I don't know if this building to the right is a school or a museum or maybe both.

"Spruthuset" - "The spray house" was built around 1900 as a fire station, today it's a fire museum.


A nice small town. Gällivare together with Malmberget and Koskullskulle has 15.000 inhabitants.



We had a good lunch and then walked back to the railway station. Behind it you see the mountain "Dundret" ("The thunder"), where World Cup races are held in both downhill and cross-country skiing.

Just after we were picked up by the hired bus arriving from Kiruna and we were driven to Kebnats...
To be continued!
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Related posts:
Midnight sun by Ume river
The wedding in Saltoluokta, part 2: Midnight Sun
The wedding in Saltoluokta, part 3: Mountain hike
My photoblog, "Greece in my Heart": Mountain lake Langas, Saltoluokta


Visit Gällivare Lapland at facebook
Tourism in Gällivare with restaurants & night life, events like The raft festival in Tjautjasjaur and World Cup races, attractions like Kåkstan (old business street) and Fjällnäs castle (summer house for a mine owner once upon a time!), experiences like Northern light, dog sled and mine tours...
Map Gällivare
Dundret with snow fun for all ages and conferences with the greatest view.

Mior about Gällivare at Miors blog (from a visit in September 2009).

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