Gällivare
Northern Lights in Real Time | Aurora Borealis
Gällivare
Gällivare is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town was founded in the 17th century. Together with nearby towns Malmberget and Koskullskulle it forms a conurbation with some 15,000 inhabitants….
On a warm Friday evening in summer, you get off the Inland Railway in the mining town Gällivare. Dundret, the mountain in town, still looks inviting in the lingering sunlight. You’ve given yourself 36 hours to do something exciting in a place you’ve never visited before. The only thing you’ve done in preparation is booked accommodation. But what are you doing in Gällivare, now that you’re here?
Evening: The Inland Railway stops at the beautiful railway station, a classic wooden building in Gällivare. Right across the road from the railway station is the Grand Hotel Lapland, and a bit further up the road, in the residential area, is Gällivare Bed & Breakfast. A few blocks into town, across the road from the ice and event arena Isborgen, there’s Scandic Hotel. You’ve booked accommodation and a late dinner at Grand Hotel this evening. You check in and then enjoy a dinner in peace and quiet.
Then, before turning in for the evening, you take a walk through town.
Across the railway line and the Vassara River, past the very peculiar castle Fjällnäs slott. Then back past the open-air museum where there’s an ancient windmill preserved – as if you don’t have enough Don Quixote projects already – before you pass Kunskapshuset, a building with award-winning and exciting architecture, and then your bed calls.