Abisko: Part 2 - Day 2: Frozen beach, Dinner in STF Abisko

Day 2
Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 2.

31/1 Day 2: Main building of STF Abisko -> walk to a frozen beach

Must-Incur Costs

None

Optional Costs
None

The Story

31012020 Afternoon: After settling our stuffs in the cottage, we cooked pasta for lunch. Then, we went to the main building of STF Abisko to listen to a 15-minutes' welcome speech, but not before I did a snow angel on the way there! Well, the cottage is not far from the main building. It is about 2 minutes' walk. 

The staff gave an introduction of Abisko in English, as there were many tourists in Abisko. It is interesting to note that he is wearing a t-shirt. We were informed that Abisko is the second best place in the world to catch the Northern Lights, as it is surrounded by mountains and is the least cloudy. The best place is somewhere in Canada. He told us on two areas where one can have the best sight of Northern Lights without going too far. One is in an open area which is behind the train station (takes about 10 minutes to walk there), and the other one is about 1km walk to the frozen lake. For us, we went to the one behind the train station twice but had no luck there. I will write more about this when we reach that part.

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After the talk, we went to the open area which was behind the train station. It is a huge open area. We lied on the snow too. It was not cold as we had the right clothings. Next to the open area was a Sami village where we took a detour to visit the area.

I do not understand why does my Samsung phone takes sort-of blueish white photos while others' phones take snow-white photos. We made our way back to STF Abisko and decided to walk to the beach. The sign says Stranden. Of course, one can only see frozen waters. The wind was also blowing but we slowly trudge our way towards the beach.

There are two packages that one can choose from to go up the Aurora Sky Station. One package allows you to go up without dinner and it costs about SEK700. The other package includes a four-course dinner and costs about SEK1900. I wanted to buy the dinner package initially, but my friend said that one can still see the Northern Lights wherever you are. The Lights are in the skies. Plus, the weather is uncertain and if you are unlucky, it will be a waste of monies to go up to the Sky Station and not being able to see anything.

The Beach. It was blowing very hard by the time we reached the beach. 

We took a rest at in the cottage before we headed back to STF Abisko for our 5.30pm dinner. We stopped by in the grocery shop that is located in STF Abisko main building. They sell different kinds of dry food and you definitely can find something for yourself to eat. It is really well-stocked up.

This is the dinner menu for tonight. One can buy individual dishes or a 3-course meal which is SEK40 cheaper than buying individual meals. For lunch, it is buffet with a standard price of SEK130. It is similar to a weekend lunch buffet in Stockholm except there is more variety in Stockholm than in Abisko.

There are always things to do everyday that are organised by STF Abisko, and of course, it comes with a price. The Northern Light hike costs about SEK695 for STF members, and the hike is about 4-6km and starts at 7pm till 11pm. There is coffee and smoked (I think) reindeer meat. I think it is very expensive. I suppose it is another way to walk in Abisko National Park although I won't go for it because I am not good in walking in the snow, and not to mention, it is dark!

The restaurant. There were no other guests as it was 5.30pm only. We had bread and butter. The bread was really fluffy and delicious!

For our appetizer, it is tartar of cured reindeer meat. They were small cubes of meat that tasted sweet.

Main dish was fish - tenderloin of char with oven baked vegetables. This fish belongs to the family of salmon fish.

For dessert - creme brulee! I was very stuffed by now.

We walked to the open area behind the train station and was faced with a strong gust of wind. One of my friends did not enjoy the wind. So, we thought that we should go back to the cottage instead because the wind was getting stronger and we did not think it is suitable to stay out to see the Northern Lights. I was disappointed and sad because I thought I will miss my chance to see the Northern Lights, but tomorrow evening is another chance too. 

The wind did get stronger and our whole cottage shook throughout the night. The weather app shows wind speed at 22m/s. Now, I know what that means -  22 meters per second!