Who hasn’t dreamt of meeting the real Santa Claus as a child? Our students were incredibly lucky – their dream came true! From 18 to 20 December, a group of schoolchildren and their parents set off on a real winter adventure to snowy Lapland. The trip was organised by NOLTA-TUR in cooperation with history teacher Igor Kalakauskas.
In the early morning of 18 December, while the city was still asleep, the group had already gathered at the Viking Line terminal in the harbour to sail to Helsinki. During breakfast, they could watch the dawn over the Gulf of Finland.
At 9.30am the group arrived in the Finnish capital and headed straight north to snowy Lapland (by the way, it’s almost a thousand kilometres from Tallinn to Rovaniemi!). On the way, they stopped at the unusual café Vaskinkello, famous for its collection of a thousand bells and chimes from all over the world. Late in the evening we arrived in the university town of Oulu, where we were welcomed by the cosy Scandic Oulu City hotel – right in the heart of the city.
On the second day, right after breakfast, we drove to Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland – Santa Claus’s homeland. There you will find his official office, post office and the wonderful amusement park “Snowmen’s World”. In the village of Santa Claus, we were treated to a number of experiences: crossing the Arctic Circle – everyone received a certificate confirming that they had been to the Arctic Circle; meeting the real Santa Claus and his helpers, the elves – the very moment we had come all this way for! Some got to meet the Nordic animals – the fluffy huskies and the dignified reindeer. Others visited “Snowmen’s World” – an amusement park where they could drop tubes down the hill, walk in a snow maze and admire ice sculptures. The last stop in Lapland was the unique Arctic Museum, a giant glass tunnel 172 metres long.
In the evening, full of impressions, we returned to our hotel in Oulu, from where we started our return journey the next day. The drive was uneventful: young tourists shared their impressions, looked at photos and explored the souvenirs they had bought in Santa’s village. Igor Kalakauskas was not silent either – both on the way to Lapland and on the way back, he shared interesting information about Finland and told stories about his life.This trip was not just a tour, but a real dive into the winter wonderland. Many thanks to NOLTA-TUR for the excellent organisation of the trip.
Photos of the trip participants.
