Arctic Circle / Santa Claus Village

Only 200kms away from the Arctic Circle…it became absolutely necessary for me to make a visit and cross it, which I did when I visited Rovaniemi.

A very beautiful local bus…Santa’s Express takes you to Santa Claus Village which is just about 8kms from Rovaniemi. The Arctic Circle goes right through the village. And for all touristy purposes, it is nicely marked out so that you can take some pics!!!

Santa Claus Village…very Christmassy even at this time of the year! I actually thought it was December when I entered the place, with the ‘Jingle Bells’ playing in the background, Christmas trees all lit up and the snow which had not yet melted. It was nice to meet Santa Claus and his office was quite nicely done up. Only in all the excitement I lost my beautiful pink mitten :-(

Money making scheme there…you are not allowed to click snaps with Santa with your own cameras. They click the snap and you can buy it. I STILL cant believe i shelled out 25 euros for a snap!!! I’m just gonna blame it on Santa.

Apart from that nothing new to do there…the usual reindeer rides and snowmobiles but it is shopaholic’s paradise. Quaint little shops…one after the other selling all kinds of souvenirs! Even if you don’t want to buy, you feel like browsing because most of it is very traditional Lapland handicrafts. Very beautiful but quite expensive too.

Arktikum in Rovaniemi is supposed to be a museum cum science centre. Someone had raved about the movie that they play there on the Northern Lights. Since I missed seeing the Northern Lights on the night safari the previous night, I decided to go to Arktikum to at least enjoy them on screen. It is a nice place…though the movie could have been better. I have seen better snaps and movies on the net! 

I actually enjoyed the exhibition on the Lapland culture more, especially since I could relate a lot of stuff that I saw with what Irene had told me. They had a lot of stuffed animals that are found in Lapland…and when I saw the size of the moose I realised why Irene said that the man gets killed! They are HUGE!

There is a room where you can lie down and watch a simulation of the Northern Lights…very nice. I sat or rather lay through that twice!