The snow-hotel - Kirkenes

Arrived at Kirkenes at 9 but was chucked out of the cabin at 8 - i imagine they have to turn the place round fast before they set off back South.  We had a beautiful arrival into harbour, moving slowly down a long fjord, or maybe a gap between islands, hard to tell on the map. Our waiter told us there were often porpoises off that part of the coast but we didn’t see them.  The hills were low and covered in snow and it all felt very peaceful. 

Kirkenes is a small ‘city’ close to the Russian border, 15km,  and before the war obviously used to pick up a lot of Russian money as they shopped in the big shopping mall by the ring road. All the signs were in Norwegian and Russian.   But the border closed because of sanctions but our guide said that still a few come across.  By boat or on ‘special permits’.  Apparently it was legally too complex to shut down all together.  

The hotel is the famous snow hotel where you sleep on beds of ice.  Or rather some do, I suspect the younger visitors were going to, we however were in cosy cabins.   I scored, at vast expense, a husky dog sled ride with a young trainee musher from the Czech Republic.  She was careful but enthusiastic and apart from nearly mowing down a wandering tourist we did two brisk and enjoyable circuits.  The huskies here are Alaskan huskies, not pure bred like the Siberian so a scrappy, friendly bunch.  You are encouraged to handle the puppies to help them socialise and the whole gang of dogs seemed relaxed.  There were reindeer as well, which are smaller than I thought with their preposterous antlers looking hazardous.  The Sami guide handed out buckets of lichen to feed them with.  

After a good lunch of dried cod soup (bacalou) we went and explored the empty ice hotel. I found it a bit depressing although there were elements that amused like the bear at reception pictured.   It is kept at -4c which can feel warm when the outside temperature is -20c but currently as it’s about -3c outdoors it just feels a bit dank.  There is an insulated soft roof which is covered by a white fabric but now there is real snow it beds into the landscape.  The arctic light is phenomenal, so bright, so intense. 

As it was dark by 3 and there wasn’t much else to do outside we went in and read and drank tea and caught up with things.  Dinner was a set menu of chard, reindeer stake and delicious ice cream with cloudberries.   On the way we saw the best aurora we’ve seen so far but nothing as good as @treshnish regularly posts so I am not making a big thing! 

We decided not to go in to the ice bar, which didn’t open until 9 and seemed to be for people needing Dutch courage to go to bed, but wandered back via a lovely fire pit which scented the air with wood smoke.