Today we went even FURTHER north, but just for the day. We drove 1 hour north to the Sami museum. The Sami people are located in the north of Norway, Finland, and Norway - the least number of then are still in Finland (About 10,000.). They are the only recognized aboriginal group in Europe. We first learned about them in a favorite Christmas movie (Klaus). WE thought they were fictional in that movie until we started planning this vacation. We were excited to see the museum and learn more about the people. There is a large indoor museum as well as an outdoor museum where they have moved a lot of the orginal housing. They are reindeer herders, but most now are part of modern society in this area of these countries.
In the afternoon we took a cruise in a catamaran around Lake Inari. There is 3300 islands in this part of Finland, and this relaxing cruise gives you a chance to take in the landscape from the water. We saw the isaldn where the Sami people used to do sacrifices and an island where they bury people (because on land animals will dig up the bodies because you cannot bury anyone deep due to the cold). The cruise was fine. We didn't love it. The kids got quickly bored, and we weren't far behind. IT was definitely too long for what you saw, but ah well.
In the evening we drove back to Saariselka and had dinner at a local restaurant with beautiful views. We walked to the restaurant and passed an incredible amount of reindeer. We did have reindeer for dinner (sorry fellas) and a cloudberry dessert. This is our last full day of activities and soon it will be time to go home.
The Sami museum
No comments:
Post a Comment