Pello in Finland

26 January 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

Arctic circle in Juoksenki © panoramio.com - dr.eros/cc-by-3.0

Arctic circle in Juoksenki © panoramio.com – dr.eros/cc-by-3.0

Pello (formerly Turtola) is a municipality of Finland. It is located approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the Arctic Circle in the western part of the province of Lapland, and is part of the Lapland region. The municipality is on the national border with Sweden, by the Tornionjoki river. The municipality has a population of 3,260 (30 September 2023) and covers an area of 1,864.66 square kilometres (719.95 sq mi) of which 126.12 km² (48.70 sq mi) is water. The population density is 1.88 inhabitants per square kilometre (4.9/sq mi).   read more…

Severomorsk in Russia

1 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Northern Fleet © flickr.com - Сергей Шинкарюк/cc-by-2.0

Northern Fleet © flickr.com – Сергей Шинкарюк/cc-by-2.0

Severomorsk, known as Vayenga until April 18, 1951, is a closed town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. Severomorsk is the main administrative base of the Russian Northern Fleet. The town is located on the coast of the Barents Sea along the Kola Bay 25 kilometers (16 mi) northeast of Murmansk, the administrative centre of the oblast, to which it is connected by railway and a motorway. The town of Polyarny is in the immediate vicinity on the opposite side of Kola Bay.   read more…

Theme Week Lapland

22 August 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  11 minutes

Pallastunturi hills in Pallas-Yllästunturin National Park © Petr Vodička/cc-by-sa-4.0

Pallastunturi hills in Pallas-Yllästunturin National Park © Petr Vodička/cc-by-sa-4.0

Lapland is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia, Norrbotten County in Sweden, Troms and Finnmark County in Norway, and Murmansk Oblast and the Republic of Karelia in Russia. Topography varies from vast mires and forests of the South to fells in the North. The Arctic circle crosses Lapland, so polar phenomena such as the midnight sun and polar night can be seen in Lapland.   read more…

Abisko in Sweden

22 April 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Living, Working, Building Reading Time:  6 minutes

Abisko Östra © Helleborus

Abisko Östra © Helleborus

Abisko is a village in Sápmi (Lapland), in northern Sweden, roughly 250 km within the Arctic Circle, and near Abisko National Park, located 4 km west of the village. It has 130 inhabitants. Abisko is home to the Abisko Scientific Research Station, an important centre for research into Arctic ecology and climate change. The research station hosts the Climate Impacts Research Centre, Umeå University, where research, education and outreach on aquatic and terrestrial ecology are undertaken.   read more…

Theme Week Russia – Murmansk on the Arctic Circle

16 January 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

K-322 Cachalot, a Russian Northern Fleet AKULA class nuclear-powered attack submarine underway on the surface © US Navy

K-322 Cachalot, a Russian Northern Fleet AKULA class nuclear-powered attack submarine underway on the surface
© US Navy

Murmansk is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, an inlet of the Barents Sea, a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, close to the Russia’s borders with Norway and Finland. Despite its extreme northern location above the Arctic Circle, Murmansk tends to be nearly the same as any other Russian city of its size, featuring highway and railway access to the rest of Europe, a railway station, and the northernmost trolleybus system on Earth.   read more…

Bodø, north of the Arctic Circle

17 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  8 minutes

Landegode Lighthouse © Janter/cc-by-sa-3.0

Landegode Lighthouse © Janter/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bodø is a town and a municipality, the largest urban area and city in Nordland county, and the second-largest in North Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten and it is the capital of Nordland county. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø. Other villages in Bodø include Misvær, Skjerstad, Saltstraumen, Løding, Løpsmarka, Kjerringøy, Sørvær, and Fenes. The town lies just north of the Arctic Circle where the midnight sun is visible from 2 June to 10 July. Due to atmospheric refraction, there is no true polar night in Bodø, but because of the mountains south of Bodø, the sun is not visible from the city from early December to early January. Average number of sunhours in Bodø is highest in June with 221 hours.   read more…

Rovaniemi, second home of Santa Claus at the Arctic Circle

14 December 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Santa's Post Office © Cédric Puisney/cc-by-2.5

Santa’s Post Office © Cédric Puisney/cc-by-2.5

Rovaniemi is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland‘s northernmost province, Lapland. It is situated about 5 kilometres (3 miles) south of the Arctic Circle and is between the hills of Ounasvaara and Korkalovaara, at the confluence of the river Kemijoki and its tributary, the Ounasjoki. The city and the surrounding Rovaniemen maalaiskunta (Rural municipality of Rovaniemi) were consolidated into a single entity on January 1, 2006. The new municipality has an area of 8,016.72 square kilometres (3,095.27 sq mi) and an approximate population of 61,000, which makes it the larges city in Europa by space, with only 7.2 inhabitants per squarekilometer.   read more…

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