Next 3 days it was going to rain in the whole Norrland region, and therefore Flemming and I decided to use these days for driving through the Swedish Lapland, and to cross the Arctic Circle.
We headed for Haparanda, a small town right on the border with Finland. Half of the town lies in Sweden, and the other half – in Finland. Haparanda is the easternmost point of Sweden.
We had planned to make a stop in Luleå, and to make a trip to Gammelstad – a UNESCO Heritage site. Luleå is a well-known city in Sweden, and around 50,000 people live there. It has a large steel industry, the seventh biggest harbour for shipping goods, and is a center of extensive research. Luleå University of Technology is one of Sweden’s three technology universities, and the northernmost university in Sweden. The IT industry is quite strong; about 2,000 people work within IT in Luleå.
Facebook established the new European computer center in Luleå as its first investment outside of the US. Luleå was chosen because of natural cooling due to the climate, reliable electrical networks, cheap electricity, and clean energy. It is the largest computer center in Europe, with 84,000 m2 which is comparable to 11 football fields!
The establishment of Facebook in Luleå has also led to rise in establishing of other companies. The positive effect has also been noticeable at the university where the applications rate has risen with 18 percent. Luleå Science Park has also had an increase with 25 percent of new established companies.
Our tour of Luleå was relatively quick – it was raining and damn cold. We settled for a coffee break in one of the cafes:
From Luleå (blue circle on the photo below), we continued to Gammelstad (red circle), an old Church Town:
We were met by the majestic Nederluleå Church, the largest medieval church in Norrland (and Norrland covers 60% of all Sweden!):
The church was inaugurated in the 15th century, and was built of 40 different types of rock. It is very well preserved, and the details were simply stunning, like wooden doors with the engraved dates from the construction time.
The altarpiece is from 1520, and is one of the finest in Sweden:
The ceiling and walls were decorated with beautiful frescos:
On the walls, there were several – I don’t know what they are called – things, commemorating special events. They were richly decorated, had names and dates on them, and some text. I’ve never seen anything like that before. All of them were from the beginning of 1700’s. On of them to the left of the pulpit:
The church village has 424 wooden buildings, and it is the largest and best-preserved one in Sweden.
Church villages, uniquely found in northern Scandinavia, grew in the north due to large parish areas and difficult geographical and weather conditions – factors that made it quite a trip for churchgoers to actually get to church. Therefore villages were built around the big churches where people could sleep overnight, meet other parishioners, and stay for weekly masses and church celebrations.
Personally, I liked the church village in Öjebyn more – it wasn’t that polished, and looked more authentic to me.
Meanwhile, the skies were turning dark again, and we continued to Haparanda, our final destination that day. Somewhere on the road, the rain hit, and it was rather dramatic:
In Haparanda, the sun was shining, and we quickly found our River Motell – that was just by the river, as promised, overlooking Finland:
It was a very nice place, extremely clean, and with service-minded staff. Keeping in mind it was a hostel, our room was quite nice and stylish:
And the view was an eye-pleasing:
Flemming and I booked an hour in the sauna, and The Aviator (my mascot) went with us. He loves sauna!
It was a good day, rich in cultural experiences. And we looked forward to see more the following day.
