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Above the Arctic Circle
Above the Arctic Circle, winters are relentless, long, dark, and bitterly cold. I’ll never forget the first time I set foot in Lannavaara, a remote village in northern Sweden. The moment I arrived, the sky was shrouded in darkness, and the biting cold pierced through me like nothing I had ever experienced. Coming from Portugal, where winters are mild and the air rarely feels hostile, this was a shock to my system. You can probably imagine how overwhelming it was.
Everywhere I looked, snow blanketed the landscape, the ground, the houses, the trees, the hills, everything was cloaked in pristine white. It felt like stepping into another world entirely. But I quickly discovered a challenge, if you stray off the groomed tracks, you’ll sink a full meter into the snow. For someone like me, who loves the freedom of wandering through forests, this was frustrating, to say the least.
Yet, despite the harsh conditions, the Arctic holds a magnetic charm that continues to captivate me. Why? First and foremost, it is stunningly beautiful. Even during the polar night, when the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon, there’s still light, a soft, ethereal glow that graces the sky for a few hours in the morning. It’s a light unlike anything you’ll ever see elsewhere, unique to the North, and utterly magical. And then there are the otherworldly phenomena, sun dogs, the dazzling dance of the northern lights, the clarity of star-studded skies, and the profound stillness that envelops the land. The Arctic exudes a serenity and wonder that feels almost otherworldly, a treasure of experiences that I believe every person should witness at least once in their life.
Feeling cold? Build a fire, sip on warm juice, and keep moving, you’ll find your own rhythm in the Arctic wilderness, and with it, a profound appreciation for its wild, unyielding beauty.
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