Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 2.
12/7 Day 2: Drove from Arvidsjaur to Kiruna. Hiked Midnight Sun Trail (Midnattssolstigen) and saw midnight sun.
Costs
(1) Car hire from EuropCar for 3 days - SEK1705
(2) Breakfast buffet at Laponia Hotel - SEK70 (price for staying in Camp Gelais)
(3) Coffee break at Arctic Circle rest area - SEK30
(4) Lunch in Peking Palace restaurant, Gällivare - Stir-fried chicken with mixed vegetables SEK145
(5) Dinner in Glada Anka restaurant, Kiruna new town - Chicken dumpling SEK70
(6) Hostel for 2 nights, including breakfast, in STF Malmfältens Högskola, Kiruna - 1200kr per person
The Story
12072024 - First, we had our breakfast. My friend suggested that we have a buffet breakfast at Laponia Hotel. As we are staying in Camp Gelais, we paid SEK70. I don't know the price if it is a walk-in. It was a really nice buffet spread! There were boiled eggs and eating one made me full and held me full until lunch! Of course, I had more than just egg.
My breakfast - pancakes, meatballs, sandwich with smoked ham and reindeer meat and smoked salmon. yoghurt with granola, a boiled egg, a glass of orange juice and my hidden cup of coffee.
After breakfast, we collected our rented car from EuropCar. We took an automated car with petrol. I was not comfortable with an electric car as I did not know how to recharge such car. I opted for the smallest car too as it would be easier for parking. The ride from Arvidsjaur to Kiruna was estimated to be 5 hours and I estimated it to take longer as I was not used to such long drives.
As soon as we left Arvidsjaur town, we were already greeted by a random reindeer. There are many reindeers in Arvidsjaur. I slowed down and stopped as we should not scare the reindeer.
We took a break at the Arctic Circle rest stop. We stopped for a late lunch at 2.50pm at Gällivare. The lunch portions were so huge and I managed to finish mine.
After lunch, we walked around Gällivare town. We went to the train station and saw the Inlandsbanan sign.
The road trip continues and we were soon in Kiruna at 6pm. I was so happy that we reached the hostel safely. There is a toilet with shower facilities, tv in the room, a study table and two beds.
After checking in, we went for a walk into Kiruna new town. It was nice to give the legs a stretch after being in the car from 10am to 6pm. I did not realise that the walk would be so long. I did not realise that we were staying in old town and it took us about 30 minutes to walk to new town. New town was boring and it did not has many shops yet. Some parts of the town were still under construction. Pedestrian walks were not fully completed yet. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant and shared some chicken dumplings as we were still very full from lunch.
We walked back to our hostel and decided to hike the Midnight Sun trail (Swedish - Midnattssolstigen). The start of the trail was a 5 minutes walk from our hostel. It was 9.30pm when we started. The trail was very easy and a gradual upward trail. There were signs to guide us. We reached the peak an hour later. The wind was blowing so hard and my chest was hurting a lot. I did not think I could feel this much of cold! I was in a lot of pain. My arms, fingers, and chest.
What a beautiful midnight sun! We were lucky that the sun has not started to set yet. The sun will set again on 17 July. I wanted to wait until midnight but my painful physical me could not withstand the cold. We went down at 11pm and we saw others who were hiking up.
This is the view of Kiruna town. The trail back to the hostel was not clearly marked. We thought that there was a round trail when we saw the map on the signboard in the beginning of the trail, but we could not find it. So, we went down a steep slope which is a ski slope during winter. I held on to my friend as I was not very good in going downhill. We were back in our hostel 45 minutes later, and the time was past midnight.
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