Greek Salad - a blog from Greece!: Midnight Sun

Friday, 6 July 2012

The wedding in Saltoluokta, part 2: Midnight Sun

Swedish: Bröllopsresan, del 2: Midnattssol i Saltoluokta

The first part, if you missed it and like to read it: The wedding in Saltoluokta, part 1: Gällivare
(I most often write about things connected to Greece, as I live here, but I've been to Sweden for one week and at a very special wedding in Lapland which I would like to share with you!)

The beautiful mountain lake Langas...

In Gällivare we were then picked up by a bus filled with happy wedding guests coming from the airport in Kiruna. The road to Kebnats took about 1½ hour and was very beautiful. On several occasions the bus had to slow down and almost stop due to reindeers blocking the road!

Here we have arrived to the wharf at Kebnats and are boarding M/S Langas.

After a boat trip of 15 minutes we arrived at Mountain station Saltoluokta, which this year celebrates 100 years! Old timbered walls, lit candles, warming fire always burning in the fireplace, magnificent view of lake Langas and mountain peaks..., moreover there with good friends - what more could anybody possibly ask for?!

When we had installed ourselves in the cozy rooms with folded blackout curtains laying on the tables(many people can not sleep when it's light outside all night long...)we were invited for a three-course gourmet dinner!

After dinner we had a brief midnight sun walk up on the mountain.

Cute small flowers and interesting mosses on the mountain.

Birgitta, Åsa (- the future bride!) and me - a reunited gang of best friends!

Tiny little flower with five white petals, yellow stamens and a light green pistil. I don't know the name of this small beauty..., anyone?

Here it has been a moose! We saw plenty of moose droppings, no moose in sight though.

Quite a lot of snow still at some places. These pictures were all taken in the middle of the night!

Mountain Birch, newly sprung...at least at this exact altitude.

After getting up 5 o'clock in the morning, travelling from Umeå to Saltoluokta (520 km), drinking good wine together with great food and walking on the mountain we slept pretty good...! I don't think we would have needed to hang up the blackout curtains, to protect us from the lovely midnight sun...

To be continued...

Maybe you like to read:
Midnight sun by Ume river
The wedding in Saltoluokta, part 1: Gällivare (Gellivare)
The wedding in Saltoluokta, part 3: Mountain hike
My photoblog, "Greece in my Heart": Mountain lake Langas, Saltoluokta

Around Saltoluokta

Friday, 22 June 2012

Midnight sun by Ume river in Sweden

Read this post in Swedish: Midnattssol vid Umeälven

Hi there! I've been in Sweden for one week and it has been wonderful! The reason for my visit was a wedding in Saltoluokta which a very dear friend invited me to. What a feast! I'll tell you more about it another day.

Very late one night in my hometown, Umeå, my brother and I took a walk down to the Ume river. It was almost midnight and it was light outside. It is truly wonderful with these bright nights in the north of Sweden.

This house is one of my favourite houses! It's so beautiful and has a great view over the river. This house is a typical "Västerbottensgård" - "West Bothnia house".

These old style houses are almost always painted in this traditional red colour, "Falu red". The colour comes from the copper mine at Falun, Sweden, and it's very good in preserving wood.

It was June, 13th and graduation day, so many young people were out celebrating.

I really miss the Swedish graduation days. Beautiful summer songs and declamations...All fine dressed school children and parents who kind of watch on the sly on the grades...