Beyond the Northern Lights
Description of the trip to Finland and Estonia from 20 to 30 March 2023
The Northern Lights have been watched for a long time. We thought over different travel options to see this unique natural phenomenon. According to descriptions on the Internet, one of the most suitable places to observe the northern lights is the Norwegian city of Tromsø. We considered the options for cruises through this city. Finally, the following conclusion was formed. You need to look from the ground on a dark cloudless night. Most descriptions on the Internet recommended going in September-October and in late February - March - early April. It was often written, that a good time is a few days before and a few days after the vernal equinox, which in the northern hemisphere occurs on March 20. Of course, we wanted to minimize costs. After much deliberation, we chose the north of Finland and took into account the following additional criteria:
1. The new moon was supposed to occur on March 21-22, that is, at this time the moon is not visible and the night is completely dark. On such nights, the radiance is better observed.
2. The weather in the third decade of March should not be very cold. According to statistics, there are more clear nights at this time. Cloudlessness is a prerequisite.
3. I wanted to see the northern lights against the background of white snow and trees covered with snow.
The study of numerous materials made it possible to conclude that it is impossible to predict the occurrence of Aurora. The likelihood that it can happen on certain days is very doubtful. It was supposed that we should look for places where aurora is statistically more common. A prerequisite is undoubtedly the absence of clouds. Visit https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast provides a lot of useful information and advice. It tells you about the 27-day solar cycle, on the basis of which predictions are made on the probability of aurora. Looking ahead, I will say that we saw the aurora in full glory on the nights of March 23 to 24 and from March 24 to 25. Forecasts https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast attributed March 23 to one of the most unfavorable days in March 2023 (that is, according to forecasts, we could not see a good Aurora). The day of March 24 was better, but also far from the best days. The days of March 25 and 26 were indicated as significantly better, but on these days (starting from the evening of March 25) we did not see the Aurora (although on the night of March 24-25 the radiance was impressive). Certain the information was gleaned from https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/auroras-and-space-weather. Basically, there you can analyze what was before, for example, not now, but before (for example, for the previous day). This is also useful, as it allowed us to conclude where the aurora is more common. We chose three such places in the north of Finland: the site between Ivalo and Sodankylä, Pello, and Muonio. Looking ahead, it was in these areas that we saw the strongest Aurora. Studied many other sites. For example, https://rwc-finland.fmi.fi/index.php/space-weather-in-finland/ , https://www.taivaanvahti.fi/ , https://aurorareach.com/places/fi/rovaniemi . All of them, to some extent, are useful. We received information from the meteorological sites of Finland (one of the meteorological laboratories is located in Sodankylä). We analyzed the value of Kp - the index of measurement of the strength of the Aurora (or planetary index) with values from 0 (calm or no radiance) to 9 (strong geomagnetic storm). Kp values =5 and above are classified as a geomagnetic storm. On the night of March 23-24, in the areas where we were, at some points in time, this index (according to information on the Internet) reached almost 8 and during the night was most often equal to 4-5.
Of course studied the presence of clouds. Watch the weather forecast here: https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/weather/rovaniemi?forecast=long ; cloudiness here: https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/clouds-nordic-countries?clouds-nordic=scandinavia-daylight .
Now about how information on the Internet helped us.
We learned a lot of interesting things. We understood how and where the
Aurora arises. We traveled a lot to places
where the Aurora statistically occurred more
often. From them, we chose such places where
there were no clouds. Some sites have indicated that the aurora can
occur in half an hour or in 1-2 hours with a certain probability (for
example, in persantage). Useful current
information was obtained from the MyAurora smartphone application. This
application determines the probability of aurora. At about 20 o'clock on
the night of March 23 to 24, the MyAurora application showed a
probability of 95%. On some other days, this probability reached almost
30%, but we did not see the aurora, although there were all the
accompanying conditions (a dark cloudless night, the absence of any
lights, frosty, good night visibility). We analyzed the presence of
radiance in the place where we were. 30% is supposed to be a lot, but we
haven't seen anything. An unequivocal conclusion arises. The internet is
good, but luck is better. Now we can say with confidence that all the
long-term forecasts in our case did not give anything. The percentage of
the presence of radiance inspires and stimulates the search. We saw the
aurora for the following reasons:
1. We randomly chose the right time. Suffice it to say that there was
practically no Aurora in the north of Finland
for about a week before March 23 and about a week after March 25. We saw
some photos on the Internet, but they did not impress us at all. That
is, the photos were not at all what we would like to see.
2. We searched and found absolutely cloudless places, although it was
cloudy nearby. Mobility of movement was provided by a rented car and the
constant availability of the Internet.
3. Drove a lot at night. More specifically, until 4 a.m. on the night of
March 23-24 and until almost 2 a.m. in the
morning on the night of March 24-25. At this time, all the photos with
the northern lights were taken, which will be shown below.
After returning from this trip (from March 20 to March 30), we talked to
many experienced travelers who were looking for the aurora, but
unfortunately almost none of them saw it. Photos on the Internet are
taken most of the inhabitants of the relevant places, that is, the very
places where the Aurora arises. For them, the
situation changes to the diametrically opposite. We talked to many
people in the area of the Finnish city of Rovaniemi. Almost everyone saw
the Aurora and some of them showed us
pictures. Again, a conclusion was asked. If you live in a place where
the Aurora occurs, then the probability of
seeing it is almost 100%. If you come from other places with the hope of
seeing the Aurora, then nothing is guaranteed,
even if you are well prepared and knowledgeable. In any case, you need
to study the details, analyze statistics, actively search and hope that
you will be lucky. A careful study of the proposed excursions (they are
quite expensive) showed that such excursions do not give any advantages
if you are sufficiently prepared theoretically and well informed. A
rented car is a good option if you have experience of traveling in
winter at low temperatures and at night with very limited visibility.
Many roads in Finland are not lit.
Now about the trip itself. We got to Madrid by car (March 20), which was
left in the parking lot of the airport. Tickets were bought in advance
through the company Finair. We spent the night in the hotel in Madrid H2
Fuenlabrada (paid 69 Euros per night). First (March 21) we flew about 4
hours to the city of Helsinki (the plane of the Spanish company Iberia)
and, further, by Finair plane in Rovaniemi (a little over an hour). On
the way we saw that the site is
https://aurorareach.com/places/fi/rovaniemi predicted a
strong aurora in Rovaniemi on the evening of March 21 to the morning of
March 22. We were flying just in the evening of March 21 (all the time
in the dark). I peered into the sky hoping to see something shining.
Rarely, but earlier (before this trip), people also saw a glow from the
plane (there is relevant information on the Internet). We did not see
anything like it. We landed in Rovaniemi. Next to this, the city has
already stayed in 2021 (see description here:
https://sweet.ua.pt/skl/3_2/NewTripsFromJuly2020/FinlandJuly2021.html
).
Housing was ordered like this. I called the landlord (Dmitry) in
Finland. He himself is from Murmansk, but since 2000 he lives in the
Rovaniemi district and is engaged in business. I agreed to rent the same
house in which we lived in 2021, for 5 days at a price of 70 Euros per
night. I also arranged for Dmitry to pick us up by car at the airport
and then take us to Rovaniemi railway station, where we rented a car
from National. We paid 20 Euros for each delivery. Prices suited us. In
Finland, in winter, housing and transport are expensive.
Upon arrival, we called Dmitry from Rovaniemi airport and he quickly
came to pick us up. So soon we were in the house. The house is located
in the forest. There was high snow all around that reached almost to the
windows. In front of the house the snow is cleared. Underfloor heating.
It's warm, although during our stay the temperature at night dropped to
almost -30 degrees. The house has a real sauna. Dmitry said that we can
use the sauna as much as we want. Firewood was nearby. This place is
called Scandinavian Dream Vikajarvi and it is located just above the
Arctic Circle about 25 km from Rovaniemi. Nearby (south) is the village
of Santa Claus, in which the Arctic Circle is marked. In fact, this
place (Santa Claus village) is about three kilometers south of the
Arctic Circle (more information can be found here:
https://sweet.ua.pt/skl/3_2/NewTripsFromJuly2020/FinlandJuly2021.html
). Below continues the description by day with photos.
March 21, 2023. Website https://aurorareach.com/places/fi/rovaniemi predicted a high probability of the northern lights in the Rovaniemi area. We settled down and immediately headed into the forest in the hope of seeing something. We went on foot to the place marked on the map below "Here is an open dark place in the forest." There is an open area through which a snow path passed. Step left or right and immediately fall into the snow waist deep. Around the trees. We spent there about half an hour. It was dark, frosty, the sky was completely open with stars (see one of the pictures on the bottom right on the map, where the dots are stars). We didn't see any Aurora.
The next day, Dimitri told us that he had seen the glow from the window of his office. It was about 11:15 p.m. We walked around a little bit later and didn't see anything. There are trees all around the cabin we lived in. The sky is almost completely closed. We looked out the windows, but we didn't see anything.
March 22, 2023. In the morning Dmitry
arrived and we drove to the railway station (27 km from the place of
residence). The car was rented from 9h30m. We came to the station. We
saw the sixt rental company there and nothing else. Our company National
was not there. On the wall hung an ad with a phone, many rental
companies were listed (ours was not) and it was offered to call. Iouliia
called, but did not receive any useful information. There were no other
phones. At 9h47m I sent the following email: Dear Sir/Madam! We came to
railway station of Rovaniemi and there is no representative of National.
We rented the car in your company at 9h30m. Could you please contact to
me as soon as possible? Thank you. Valeri Skliarov
At about 10 a.m., a representative of the company appeared. We got the car pretty quickly. We rented it for four days. We paid 325 Euros, which included full insurance with our zero liability. I used to (until 1994) go a lot in the winter. At the end of January 2009, we drove with Iouliia on a rented car from the city of Pittsburgh (USA) to Niagara Falls (about 800 km round trip). We went normally. Then there was a very heavy snowfall. The road was covered in snow and slippery in many places. We've seen a lot of car accidents. As a rule, cars drove deep into the snow on the side of the road. That is, there is some experience, but a lot of time has passed and now we decided to play it safe.
We took a small car. We got a Toyota Yaris car. On the paper under the glass was written Enterprise (the name of another rental company). The car turned out to be very good: automatic, heated steering wheel and seets, camera in the back, recognition of road signs in front, etc. The most important thing, perhaps, is that the car was hybrid, that is, partially electric and partly gasoline. This, as I assume, significantly reduces the probability, that the car would stand somewhere on the road at a low temperature. We drove this car 2070 km and there were no problems. At the time of rent on the speedometer was 22919 km. Helped heated steering wheel. After taking pictures at a temperature of about -30 degrees, my hands froze very much and I had to warm them up to go. For the convenience of photographing and changing the modes of operation of the camera, I did not wear gloves. At the end of the photo shoot, the fingers hardly moved.
The car was rented only for me.Iouliia also drove, but quite a bit, only about 20 km. For an additional driver, you had to pay a lot.
The route of this day is shown on the map below. The first stop was in the town of Kemi, which was founded in 1869 by decree of Emperor Alexander II to provide access to the Gulf of Bothnia of the Baltic Sea.
We looked at the ice palace in Kemi. We walked around the buildings made of ice and rode down the ice slide. Then we went to the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia of the Baltic Sea, covered with ice and snow.
The first two photos below were taken in the area of the ice palace.
The next two photos were taken while riding an ice slide.
In the next two photos we are on the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea.
The next stop was on the Arctic Circle in the Finnish village of Juoksenki. Nearby, on the other side of the Torne River, is the Swedish village of Juoksengi. Now the Finno-Swedish border runs along the middle of the river. Two villages (both located on the Arctic Circle) of Juoksenki and Juoksengi were previously considered one village until the national border was drawn along the river in 1809. We were allowed to drive the rented car only in Finland. You could quickly get permission to move around Sweden and Norway, but you had to pay extra money for it, which we didn't want to do. We parked the car near the Arctic Circle in the village of Juoksenki (Finland) and decided to go to Sweden on foot across the frozen river. We started looking for a transition. I saw a snowmobile rut and we walked on it. So we crossed the Torne River exactly along the Arctic Circle. Also exotic. The distance in one direction turned out to be about 1.5 km. Below is a map of our path across the river and photos.
The left picture below shows the Arctic Circle in Finland (in the village of Juoksenki). The photo on the right was taken when we were already back. Here in Finland, we left the car exactly on the Arctic Circle.
In the left picture below, Tania is walking across the river. The Finnish village of Juoksenki is visible in the background. In the right picture, Iouliia is standing in the middle of the river on the border of Sweden and Finland (Sweden on the left, and Finland on the right, where Iouliia has her bag hanging).
In the left picture below, Iouliia is already in Sweden (Tania is visible from behind). The Torne River is quite wide here and we have just crossed it. The right picture was taken at the Arctic Circle in Sweden (village Juoksengi). There, on the poster, it is written that the Arctic Circle passes through 8 countries (Denmark - Greenland, Iceland, Canada, Norway, Russia, USA, Finland, Sweden). The flags of these eight countries are also hung here, and the flag of Russia has been torn off, that is, there is only a mast.
Here is the inscription on the poster (it is written in many languages, including Russian). Greenland is not exactly a country. This is the territory of Denmark on the largest island in the world. We have been to all these countries. Everywhere, except Canada, we were on the Arctic Circle or very close to the Arctic Circle (in Iceland and in Alaska - the USA).
Below are two more images from the Arctic Circle in Sweden. There were no people there. Snowdrifts all around.
Then we returned back to Finland, took the car and drove to our place of residence. Below are some pictures taken on the road that day.
Before returning to the place of residence, we stopped by Santa Claus (see three photos below). From our place of residence on the road to this village 18 km. Pictures in the Santa Claus Village taken in the summer of 2021 are shown here: https://sweet.ua.pt/skl/3_2/NewTripsFromJuly2020/FinlandJuly2021.html . All of them were taken in the place where the Arctic Circle is marked (see left image below). In fact, this place is located about three kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. The middle picture is a real snowman. Iouliia herself wanted to make it, but it was frosty and the snow did not roll down. The right image below shows distances to different locations. For example, to Madrid, where we left the car, 3524 km.
The evening was again very good (clear and frosty). From Santa Claus we returned to the house where we lived. I suggested (at about 21 - 22 hours to go and look for the Aurora). Iouliia and Tania were against it. Iouliia said that she had studied all possible sites and that there should be no northern lights that day. I had to agree. The next day we found out that on the night of March 22-23, there really was no Aurora in our area and in the vicinity of 100-150 km.
March 23, 2023. On this day, we slept for quite a long time and gained strength for the subsequent sleepless night. The left picture below was taken this morning in our cabin. Here we had breakfast. Warm. Tanya was delighted with the surrounding snow. Over the past 29 years, we have rarely seen snow. Here it was very pure, deep and beautiful. Five days went by quickly. We left the place of residence at the beginning of the twelfth (at about 11h10m). On the right below are pictures before the departure. The car was parked in front of the house entrance (just a few meters away).
Below is a map of our path on this day, or rather, on the day of March 23 and on the night of March 23-24.
We drove 35 km from the border with Russia. On the top right are photographs taken on the Kola Peninsula near Murmansk in 1989. For more information, see page 57 of my 2022 book: Across Continents, Countries, and Territories. We traveled to Murmansk and beyond Murmansk by car from Minsk.
Now we were driving to the very north of Finland, to the village of Utsjoki. There is the northernmost municipality in Finland and the European Union. It is located in Lapland and borders Norway, as well as the municipality of Inari (we passed through the city of Inari). The border crossing (over the bridge; see photos below) to Norway is the northernmost border crossing in the world. Utsjoki village about 100 km north of Murmansk in Russia. Around the road, in the forest, there were high drifts of snow. The air is very clean and the white snow sparkled in the sun. The weather was excellent. Below are photos taken along the way. One of the pictures shows that we are at a distance of 48 km (by road) from the Finnish settlement of Lokka.
The next two shots were taken near the entrance to Utsjoki village.
In the bottom two photos we are at the northern exit from Utsjoki village. Norway is already on the right side of the bridge. According to the rules of the rental company, we are not allowed to leave Finland. Therefore, we did not go to Norway and turned back from here. These pictures were taken at 19h15m at a latitude of 69 degrees 54 minutes and 34 seconds (that is, almost 70 degrees). Murmansk is located at a latitude of 68 degrees and 58 minutes.
We drove and studied the values of the current aurora intensity indices. The Kp index began to increase. Drove Inari. It was written on the Internet that after the day of the vernal equinox, the probability of Aurora in the north (69-70 degrees) becomes lower than in places closer to the Arctic Circle. Therefore, we decided to look for the Aurora between the settlements of Ivalo and Sodankylä. At the entrance to Ivalo, Iouliia checked the sites we selected and said that the probability of seeing the Aurora in the area of our location increased to 95%. The value of the Kp index was in the range of 4-5. We passed Ivalo. It was already dark enough. Iouliia looked into the front window and saw slowly moving clouds of gray in the clear sky. "This is the Aurora," she supposed. We left the road and stopped about 10 km on the road after the town of Ivalo. We set up the camera on a tripod and started taking pictures of the sky. The first picture was taken at 21h45m with the following shooting modes: aperture of 2.8, sensitivity of 1600, shutter speed of 5 seconds. Manual focus, set once and for all time at a distance close to infinity. Back in Portugal, I checked that such a focus provides sufficient depth of field even with a strongly open aperture. Later, the following main mode was chosen: aperture - 3.2; shutter speed - 8 seconds; sensitivity - 1600 or 2000.
Immediately, in the first pictures, we saw Aurora in the sky with rather bright green and red colors. This is despite the fact that the eye perceived the corresponding colors as gray and rather pale. Gradually, the intensity of the Aurora began to increase. The Kp index was constantly rising. I started taking pictures of people (i.e. Tania, Iouliia and myself). To illuminate the face, a very weak flash was set at the beginning of the shooting (my Sony DSC-HX-400 V camera was set to Slow Sync mode and the flash Comp value -2.0). Below are the first photos. According to information on the Internet, red colors should occur at high altitude (above 90-120 km). Green colors are the most frequent and they occur at an average altitude (below 90 km). Blue colors occur at a lower altitude (probably in the region of 50 km).
The car was parked as shown in the left picture below. We drove off the main road onto a secondary road and took pictures there. In the dark, you need to peer to the sides to find a suitable exit. Stopping on the side of the road is very difficult and dangerous. Any light (for example, from car lights) degrades the quality of the shooting. Fortunately, on this day (it was Thursday) there were almost no cars. Then we moved to a new location, which was about 17 km (by road) to the south. There we parked in a marked parking lot (on the side of the road); see right picture below.
Below are two more photos from the same location. The dots are the stars in the sky, which was absolutely clear.
Then we moved further south (about 100 km by road) and again photographed the northern lights in the area of the Uutela place (a little before reaching the place Pikku Poikela; just after the lake Porttipahdan tekojärvi). Here we decided to try to go to the Christmas trees and take pictures near them against the background of the Aurora. We started to make our way with Iouliia. We fell waist deep in the snow. Then we crawled a little through the snow and took pictures. It was rather cold outside the car (see the left image below; the current time is also indicated there). We stayed periodically and did not take pictures everywhere. Just looking at the sky. 31.5 km in the lower left image is the distance traveled from the place of the last stop (when the engine of the car was turned off). Below are the images from the Uutela area. We're at the bottom of the picture, because we're almost waist-deep in snow. As soon as you try to walk to the trees, you immediately sink deep. The minimum temperature that night, which we recorded on the instruments of the car, was -29 degrees. It could be lower, but we have not fixed it.
Below are three more pictures from this place. The right one is made by Iouliia's smartphone (also with a long shutter speed). You can see me taking pictures there. It was cold. We were well dressed (carefully prepared in advance). The fingers on my hands were freezing. In the dark, it was necessary to navigate in the buttons of the camera. So I didn't put anything on my hands. Then, when I got into the car, my fingers didn't move well. The good thing was that the steering wheel was heated and my hands warmed up quickly. Iouliia also held on to the wheel to warm her hands. It was necessary to periodically recharge the battery of the camera. We didn't take the camera off the tripod. To minimize the time, the external battery was constantly connected to the camera. There were no problems. Usually, even if you shoot with a flash, the internal battery of the camera lasts for a long time. Without flash - more than 500 pictures. Now, after about 30 shots, the battery was almost completely discharged. Therefore, the external battery (10000 mAh) was constantly connected and we heated this battery in the car. My legs also froze. Tania often could not stand it and entered the car. Iouliia and I coped. The last pictures below were taken at 0h30m on March 24.
From here we went to the place of residence. Iouliia took pictures with a smartphone through the front glass of the car. Something worked, but there was only a green background on top. We arrived, left Tania in the house and went with Iouliia to a nearby place, which is shown on the map above. We saw Aurora from there. Photos are shown below. The intensity there was lower, but also not bad. The last pictures were taken after 3 am. Then we went to our house and went to bed after 4 o'clock in the morning.
March 24, 2023. We slept more that day than the previous day. Dimitri came in the morning. We said that we saw a very good Aurora and showed photographs. Dmitry said that he had not seen anything that night. He said that the photographs were really very good and he had not seen such pictures here (taken by his friends). We studied weather conditions. Cloudy forecast for Rovaniemi. The nearest place where clear skies were predicted was Muonio. That's where we headed. We left at 14h10m. The pictures below were taken before leaving: the left one is in front of the house; right - in the forest nearby. We looked at this forest from the window in the picture at the beginning of the day on March 23.
Below is a map of our path on this day, or rather, on the day of March 24 and at the beginning of the night from March 24 to 25. The road was worse than yesterday. We passed the municipality of Kittilä. The two shots right after the map are taken in front of Muonio. Snow-covered lake Särkijärvi can be seen in the background. This location is shown on the map above. We looked at Muonio and had a bite to eat. Usually we took a large glass of coffee for three. Sometimes there was probably half a liter in it. We paid for coffee from about 3 Euros to 3.4 Euros. Gasoline (95) was refueled at a price of about 2 Euro per liter. Luckily, our little hybrid car used very little fuel.
At about 21 o'clock we saw streaks of Aurora in the sky. This night it was different. Winding green stripes are clearly visible to the eye (approximately as shown in the two upper pictures next to the map above). They (running sinuous curves of green color) appeared and disappeared and slowly moved across the clear sky. There was plenty of time for taking pictures. Long exposure did not create problems, that is, the stripes, although they moved, but not so quickly.
We got off the main road pretty well. The local road (to the right) passed through the area cleared of snow, on which the car was parked. The first photos (see below) were taken around 22h. This location is marked on the map above as Aurora 1.
The left picture below shows where the car was parked. The main road is visible in the background. March 24 is Friday. Cars constantly drove along this adjacent road. We had to choose moments so that the cars would not illuminate us. In the lower left picture, a passing car illuminated nearby trees. Not far from Kittilä there is a famous ski resort (Levi Ski Resort). Maybe the cars cruised before the weekend to this resort and back. A small crescent appeared in the sky. Julia immediately wanted to photograph the radiance against its background. In the right picture below, not a month is visible, but a full moon, but only a narrow crescent was visible to the eyes. A similar effect took place in subsequent shots.
Three more photos from this place are shown below.
Then we drove a little (about 15 minutes) and stopped again (the corresponding places are marked on the map above as "First stop" and "Second stop"). The photographs shown below were taken there. The last one was taken at 22h45m
Then we drove to Sodankylä (we passed through this community yesterday). Then we turned to the place of residence and drove yesterday's road (from Sodankylä to our house about 100-105 km). Again we saw the Aurora and stopped twice on this stretch of road. During the day, the sky in these areas was covered with clouds, and when it got dark, the sky cleared. The first place is marked on the map above as "Aurora 2". A bottom picture was taken there, which is shown next to the map of that day above (the red light was added because another car parked ahead and did not turn off the taillights; according to audible speech, the Germans were driving in it). Due to the fact that the red lights interfered with photographing the Aurora, we drove on and stopped at a place that is marked as "Aurora 3". It was completely dark and the photos from there are shown below (they were taken after one o'clock in the morning). The left photo turned out to be quite original. The aurora began to close small clouds. The last picture was taken at this location on March 25 at 1h15m. Then we drove to our cabin and got to 1h40m.
A few words about night riding. The road is visible, although, in some places, poorly. The last section of yesterday's road to Utsjoki was heavily snow-covered. On the way back we passed it in the light. You can move to the side of the road in the snow, but most of all, we were afraid of forest artiodactyls and, above all, moose. Dmitry (the owner of our place of residence) said that before our arrival he miraculously avoided a collision (he said that the moose ran in millimeters). The driving speed even at night reached 100-105 kilometers per hour. We looked at both, but it is difficult to notice the nocturnal beast, of course. It was gratifying that during our journey we did not see a single collision of other cars with forest animals. What's more, we haven't seen a single car accident. If the engine stalls, then in such a frost this is a big problem. It seemed to us that the drivers of passing cars would not leave us on the road. We tried to drive where other cars meet and hoped that the probability of such problems in hybrid cars is lower. Often, when starting, the engine did not start (intentionally by the system of the car) and rode on batteries. On this day, there were practically no cars on the section to Sodankylä (it is difficult to foresee this in advance). We even carried matches with us just in case.
Forecasts on March 24 said that the next day (March 25) should be very
successful. The Aurora was predicted accurately. Despite this, in the
previous days we have done everything in our power to see the Aurora as
much as possible. And on March 25 (that is, on the predicted lucky day),
we did not see the Aurora. It simply did not exist in those areas,
although all conditions were suitable. It was a cloudless frosty night
with a completely open sky. So the conclusion suggests itself "you can
not postpone for tomorrow what you can do today, even if you really want
to sleep and warm up a little with alcoholic beverages". We strictly
followed this rule.
We went to bed after 2 a.m. On such trips, you must immediately tune in
to sleepless nights and long sleep in the morning.
March 25, 2023. The first part of the
day we decided to look for deer on the road. In 2021, we met a lot of
them (see
https://sweet.ua.pt/skl/3_2/NewTripsFromJuly2020/FinlandJuly2021.html).
This time we saw deer only a couple of times (on a trip to the north of
Finland on March 23). We decided to go where we saw deer in 2021. We
left in the morning around 10h30m. Below is a map of our March 25
journey.
After turning off the main road, the local road became narrower and heavily snowed (see left image below). We stopped at an interesting place (marked on the map as "First Stop"). This is where the next four shots were taken.
It was unclear where the water came from. It was freezing weather, and in January and February, we expected, it's even colder here. There was also water flowing in the Vaattunkijoki river near our place of residence. Lake Vikajärvi was frozen. When we crossed the river into Sweden, it was undoubtedly safe there (thick and hard ice cover).
There were almost no other cars (we met only a couple of them). One of the pictures on the road is shown at the bottom of the map above. Even local roads in Finland are good. For the entire duration of the trip, the wheels of the car never slipped. The only time, in the town of Muonio, at a turn where we drove very slowly, the rear wheels slid a little. It was almost imperceptible and the temperature at that time rose to 5-6 degrees. When we got out of the car, my legs also slid. Deer were searched for a long time, but along the road we did not see any. Iouliia began to study the Internet. It was written that wild deer have owners and in winter they are kept in pens. We also thought that with such deep snow, it is difficult for deer to dig up food. So they have either gone to more southern places, or live in pens, where they are fed. We drove behind the spot where we saw deer on the road in 2021 and turned back. In one of the places (it is marked on the map above) we changed with Iouliia and she also drove along winter roads for about 20 km. The left photo below was taken in the place where we changed. The right photo shows Iouliia driving (see also the top picture on the map above).
In one place we saw deer in a corral. We stopped and walked over to take a picture of them. The deer immediately withdrew and disappeared (the pen is large).
In the evening, we again planned to hunt for the northern lights. We decided to find places during the day where we could park at night. We went behind Lake Vaattunkijoki near our place of residence. We tried to drive country roads to the shore of the lake. If there are no houses, then there are no roads either. Otherwise the road leads to some house. Then we drove up to the Vaattunkijoki River near our place of residence. We walked over the bridge. There, nearby, something like camping. The place is not bad. After searching, we understood. Finding something in advance in the afternoon is not easy. If there are roads, then they're leading somewhere. As a rule, these roads are narrow and you need to look for a place to turn around on them. We did not find any alternative to the places we had moved to in previous days. It so happened that we accidentally found very good places at night.
Then we went back to our place of residence and drove to the shops. We didn't really like the shop next to us. You can buy food there, but the choice is small. We went to Rovaniemi and stopped near a deer pen near the village of Santa Claus, in which the Arctic Circle is incorrectly marked. We photographed the deer (see two pictures below).
After returning to the place of residence, we melted the bathhouse. It was actually nice. Birch firewood. Unfortunately, there were no veins. We steamed and from the steam room went immediately on the snow, which was only in a distance of 5-10 meters (see pictures below).
Many years ago I allowed myself a lot of this (even far away in Siberia). Now the time has become a little different, but also not bad. In the evening we gathered again beyond the Aurora Borealis. We decided to drive up to a place in the forest next to our cabin. Iouliia said to me, "You can have a drink after the bath; I'll drive up; here nearby" (only about one and a half kilometers). So we did. The night was clear and frosty. There are stars in the sky. The probability of seeing the Aurora in our place according to the information on the Internet reached almost 30%. The Kp index was somewhere between 2 and 3. We waited for a long time, photographed the sky, but never saw anything. We returned to the house. That was the end of our Finnish part. We were satisfied. We drove around the whole of northern Finland in winter (mainly beyond the Arctic Circle) and saw the Northern Lights well. I think we chose the right places. In Rovaniemi, the Aurora was also visible, but judging by the photos on the internet, it wasn't as impressive.
Below, on the left map, all of our car routes in the 2023 trip are integrated. Thickened dashed lines of this color show where we saw the most impressive northern lights. Dates are also listed there. The right map integrates all our car trips in Finland that have taken place in this country since 1997 (we visited Finland in 1997, 2008, 2009, 2021, and this year 2023). Separately, older trips to Karelia and the Kola Peninsula in Russia, made in 1980-1990, are shown.
March 26, 2023. From Rovaniemi to Helsinki, we had pre-purchased train tickets. On the day of arrival in Finland, we learned that the railway workers had gone on strike (this was on Tuesday). It continued on Wednesday and Thursday. We arrived at the railway station, but official people did not tell us anything definite. On Friday, we found out that the trains began to run. On Sunday morning (March 26), we gathered, checked out and went to the train station. We arrived, left the car, threw the car keys into a special box, and went to the train. We drove only 27 km on this day. In just four days of rent, we drove 2070 km, that is, an average of 517.5 km per day. We took a picture of the car from all sides. There wasn't a scratch on it because of our fault. We had full insurance and the photos were taken just in case, more for ourselves. Later, I received a call from England (from the National company) and asked if we were satisfied with the rental car. Of course, we were satisfied.
The train left on time, at 9h22m in the morning. We drove through snowy areas. Gradually, the thickness of the snow began to decrease. When approaching Helsinki, islands of black earth appeared against the background of the snow cover. I recorded the route of movement, but the GPS sensor (inside the train) in some areas stopped working. Such sections are shown on the map below by red curves. We passed through the same areas in 2021 by a car, which was rented in Helsinki (see https://sweet.ua.pt/skl/3_2/NewTripsFromJuly2020/FinlandJuly2021.html). From the Helsinki train station we walked to the port. We took a ferry at 19h00m from Helsinki and sailed to Tallinn at 21h30m.
We stayed in Tallinn from 26 to 29 March. Iouliia taught classes at the University (in fact, from morning to evening) on March 27 and 28. Tania went shopping, and I didn't know what to do. Basically, I walked around the city and also went to a few shops. In Estonia, I was most often not only from the Baltic countries, but also from other European countries. Our best friends live in Tallinn.
March 27-29, 2023. In Tallinn, we stayed in the city center at the St. Olav hotel. We paid for three days 195 Euro (with breakfast). We loved the breakfast and service during breakfast. The latter was perhaps the best in recent years. Below are some photos from Tallinn. The temperature was a little below zero. Sometimes it snowed.
March 29, 2023. We took off from Tallinn at 13h45m. Tania and Iouliia even managed to run shopping in the morning. We flew through Frankfurt. We arrived in Madrid at about 23h30m (with a slight delay). We took a long time to get to the parking lot where we left the car (we arrived at one terminal and first had to move to another terminal, from which a minibus went to the parking place). We spent the night in the same hotel in Madrid H2 Fuenlabrada and at the same price. From the airport we drove to it about 40 km.
March 30, 2023. We went from Madrid to Portugal. We took our time and stopped at the shops. Prices in Spain, of course, are the most democratic compared to Finland and Estonia. Fuel for the car is cheaper than in other countries. We refueled at a price of 1.38 Euros per liter (diesel fuel). In Tallinn, Iouliia drank coffee, which is sold to students at Tallinn University and paid 1.5 Euros for a cup. At the University of Aveiro (Portugal), she pays 0.4 Euros for the same cup. Frankfurt Airport has overtaken the whole of Europe. Coffee in a paper cup costs 4 Euros there. Prices have jumped a lot, especially in a store with a promising name TAX Free. I am always interested in looking at the TAX not Free store. We visit Germany often, but in the country itself, TAX Free prices still need to be searched well.
Food in Finland, I must say, was not bad. Stores sell ready-made heating kits. We often bought good meat sets with potatoes, which need to be heated in a microwave oven and eaten. One such set cost about 4 Euros. Two such sets were enough for three of us. There was a microwave oven in our place of residence. I really liked the red fish in the store. We bought it for about 28-29 Euros / kilogram. This is a sealed package weighing 500-600 grams. You bring it home, unpack it and you can eat. We brought such fish to Portugal (without any problems). Gas stations in Finland have very convenient places to eat. Prices are normal and they are lower than in Estonia. Estonia has risen in price seriously. Meat and bread are relatively inexpensive. Restaurants are significantly more expensive than in Portugal. Our friend Andres Keevallik invited us to a restaurant (Italian). We ate there. To say the food was bad is very mild. One dish matched the noodle stew exactly. The price of this dish is "only" 20 Euros. Prices in Estonia have increased significantly compared to what it was before.
Additional photos from this trip are posted in a photo album.
ABOUT MANY OF OUR TRIPS WRITEBUT IN THREE OF MY BOOKS, TWO OF WHICH ARE SHOWN BELOW. INFORMATION ABOUT THEM IS AVAILABLE HERE: https://sweet. ua. pt/skl/Diagrams/Books. html
Питание в Финляндии, надо сказать, было неплохим. В магазинах продаются готовые наборы для подогрева. Мы часто покупали хорошие мясные наборы с картошкой, которые необходимо нагреть в микропечке и употреблять в пищу. Один такой набор стоил примерно 4 Евро. Два таких набора нам хватало на троих. Микропечка в месте нашего проживания была. Очень понравилась красная рыба в магазине. Мы покупали её примерно за 28-29 Евро/килограмм. Это герметичная упаковка весом 500-600 граммов. Привозишь домой, распаковываешь и можно есть. Привезли такую рыбу в Португалию. Она доехала без каких-либо проблем. На заправках в Финляндии есть очень удобные места, где можно поесть. Цены нормальные и они ниже, чем в Эстонии. Эстония серьёзно подорожала. Мясо и хлеб относительно недорогие. Рестораны существенно дороже, чем в Португалии. Наш друг Андрес Кеэваллик пригласил нас в ресторан (итальянский). Поели там. Сказать, что еда была плохой это очень мягко. Одно блюдо точно соответствовало тушёнке с лапшой. Цена этого блюда "всего лишь" 20 Евро. Цены в Эстонии существенно выросли по сравнению с тем, что было ранее.
It is planned to translate these books in English