Nomads i Norden 4: Luleå

Been a busy few days, so we’ve gotten behind again!

Neither of us had ever been to Luleå (LOO-lee-oh), so we opted to fly there and spend a couple of days, and then rent a car and drive to Arvidsjaur, though we could have flown on a teeny-tiny plane, to a teeny-tiny airport….but we wanted to see a bit more of Swedish Lappland, and driving is a good way to do that. Lars took some pics of the coast as we were approaching the airport. Luleå is at the very top of the Gulf of Bothnia, and the ice below made some interesting shapes and textures, perhaps depending on if the sea was calm or rough when the ice formed.

Luleå is home to a large technical university (Luleå Tekniska Universitet), and feels much like most university towns either of us have ever been in. The main shopping street was pretty busy, for being –10C (14F), with a lot of the college-age kids dressed much like they would be at home….though it seems like a tough climate for the torn jeans look. WE were thoroughly bundled up whenever we went out…a process somewhat complicated by the hotel we stayed at blasting hot air just inside the doors. Approach door with coat unzipped, hat and gloves in hand. Go through door and IMMEDIATELY zip up and cover head and hands. Reverse process on the way in.

We got a great deal from Norwegian Airlines on our hotel stay at Luleå's grand old hotel, Elite Stadshotellet. They've done a great job of updating the rooms while maintaining the 1900s feel of the public spaces.


Elite Stadshotellet


Our room, before we filled it with suitcases


View from our room...Luleå Cathedral

Pretty fancy for a breakfast room---otherwise used for major functions.


Every breakfast room should have a chandelier....

Lounge as seen from 2nd floor

This brings us to the related point that every hotel room we’ve stayed in has had the radiators set at 20C (68F), which seems rather too warm when going in and out from much lower temps. Sheila has developed the habit of immediately turning down every radiator she can find (they sometimes hide them….) to as low as possible, as soon as we come in the door on the first day. So far, this has kept us at a comfortable temp for the entirety of our stay…the buildings are very well-insulated.

One very interesting feature of Luleå is its facilities for winter recreation. Since the harbor is totally iced-in, they lay out skiing and skating paths all around the harbor and even out to some of the nearer small islands. People go skating, skiing, or just walking on the sea-ice. There are kick-sleds available at some locations, but it’s first-come, first-served, and we didn’t manage to score one. We did go for a longish walk through town and down to the ice, but it was windy, so we didn’t spend much time actually on the ice. There are a few points where windbreaks, grills, and picnic tables have been set out, and people were making good use of these. We think the large blocks of ice indicate how thick the ice is!

Another tourist attraction in the area, the one people are most likely to ask if you’ll be going there, is Gammalstads Kyrkstad (Old Town’s Church Town), a UNESCO Heritage Site. This is a few kilometers outside of Luleå. Gammalstad is where the original settlement was, but it proved better for business to be nearer the harbor. So Luleå moved, and the old town got a new name…Gammalstad. The Church Town was a collection of small cottages owned by people from outlying villages, where they could spend the night, or even the weekend or longer, in order to attend church. The first map of the area was drawn up in 1817 (though the town was described as early as 1600), and it is believed that some of the cottages date from 100 years prior. The Kyrkstad has never experienced any large-scale fires or other catastrophes, and is the best-preserved site of its sort in all of Europe. In order that there was someone left at home to look after the farm, there were alternating weekends for older family members and younger ones. A lot of courtships happened at the latter! We looked at some short films at the visitor center, and then went out to wander through the streets. The cottages are still in use, for high church holidays and as summer homes.