By train to the Northern Lights - From Abisko to Helsinki

First an addendum to the previous blog. I have already received the pictures from the Northern Lights tour in Abisko and would like to show them here. All photos come from our tour guide S. Rundquist.

The last leg of my journey took me from Sweden to Finland. I had already booked a return flight from Helsinki to Berlin in advance and therefore had to leave by October 24th at the latest. be in Finland's capital. Since my original plan to take the night train from Kolari to Helsinki didn't work out, I had to travel from Abisko to Luleå and from there across the border into Finland. A little more complicated and I lost a day because of it, but I was in Luleå once and crossed the Swedish-Finnish border on foot. But more about that later.

I didn't arrive in Luleå until the evening, but my hotel was close to the train station so I didn't have to walk far. There is nothing to tell about Luleå. A nice little Swedish town. But I was only there for about 24 hours.

The night was good, the breakfast at the hotel was better than expected and the café where I stayed until my train to Haparanda was really nice.

At around 4:35 p.m. sharp we took the train to Haparanda, a town on the border with Finland directly on the Baltic Sea. From there I had to go to Tornio, which is basically the neighboring town, just on the Finnish side. It's almost 5 kilometers from the train station in Haparanda to the train station in Tornio, which I definitely didn't want to walk with luggage and in sub-zero temperatures. And I had to stay there for almost 4 hours until my night train to Helsinki was supposed to leave - or so I thought. At the train station in Luleå I met Markus, a Swede who now lives outside Helsinki with his wife and who was also on his way to Helsinki. We chatted on the train ride and he told me that there are hardly any taxis in Haparanda. My plan was to take a taxi to a restaurant, waste some time there and then drive from there to the train station in Tornio. He also told me that we have a time difference in Finland. One hour plus. That means only a 3 hour stay. Good to know. It was deserted at the train station in Haparanda and the buses only ran until the afternoon. Well, it was Sunday. Markus said that it could be done on foot and I had no other choice. Luckily he was kind enough to carry some of my luggage. A quick stop at a Swedish shopping center because Markus still had to buy his children some candy. And then we crossed the border on foot, including taking photos at the border marker.

Markus accompanied me to the restaurant in Tornio where I wanted to stay. By then we had walked about 3 kilometers. From there I took a taxi that the restaurant kindly organized for me. There were actually only 3 taxis in the entire area that evening - that's what the taxi driver told me on the way. Unfortunately, Markus had booked another train and started from another town 20 kilometers east of Tornio, but at almost the same time. It's a shame because I really liked him. When I arrived at the train station in Tornio, I had to smile and laugh at the same time, because there was nothing there except a half-dark track. I had already found out in advance that there wasn't much there, but I certainly didn't expect so much nothing. A pretty surreal situation because I was standing there alone, in the dark, in the middle of nowhere. If the train hadn't come for some reason, I would definitely have been lost. At least frozen. It was -7 degrees. Two people got out of a parked car that I had already noticed and I was happy to see other people. The woman had to take the same train and was obviously surprised by the lack of anything. The train came on time and people actually got off there. I had my own sleeping compartment that was very clean and even quite comfortable and so the twelve and a half hours went by very quickly, even though I slept rather poorly. In return, I got breakfast in the morning that I had already booked in advance.

I arrived in Helsinki at 10.45 a.m. and found my hotel near the train station quite quickly. I still had a whole day to explore Helsinki, but no plan. I thought about taking a city tour, but apparently the season for that was over. So I walked around a bit, looked in one or two shops, bought something and ended up at the harbor.

At the harbor there was a small market with souvenir stalls for tourists, but also a few snack tents. There I had a very tasty lunch - for quite a bit of money. As I headed out of the tent, I spotted a ferry with people getting off. I remembered that Markus had told me something about many small islands off Helsinki that are supposed to be worth seeing. So I spontaneously decided to go along, even though I didn't really know where the trip was going. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that the ferry is included for holders of a valid Helsinki public ticket. I had previously bought a 24-hour ticket - perfect. I love spontaneous things like that. And as it turns out, that was exactly the right decision.

The trip only took about 10 minutes and ended on Suomenlinna, basically a district of Helsinki that consists of four interconnected islands. It was super quiet and relaxed there, exactly what I needed that day. There was far too much hustle and bustle in the city, I wasn't used to it and I don't particularly like it either.

I walked around a bit and found that there is a sea fort built in 1748 on part of the island. It served as a military base in several wars and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I was hoping to see some waterfowl, but apart from mallards and a few seagulls there was nothing in sight. But the fortress and the whole island were super interesting. There was even a supermarket and a few restaurants and cafes and there seemed to be a few people living there. The architecture was from different eras and styles and that made me feel a bit like I was in another world.

Towards the early evening I took a ferry back and went to the hotel almost without detours. My head was really buzzing and I had to get out very early the next day. My flight left at 10 a.m. the next morning and I was a little sad that the trip was already over. I will definitely do another tour of Scandinavia, but in the summer. And maybe with a tent. In any case, I really like Scandinavia and the people and I noticed that even more when I came back to Germany.

Thank you very much for accompanying me on my journey to the Northern Lights.

❤