Travelling by train from the Lappish interior of Rovaniemi to the top of the Gulf of Bothnia and, shortly afterwards, checking into the hotel in the largest snow castle in the world reinforced the level of almost-arctic surrealism we were experiencing.
It's almost three in the afternoon.
Kemi and her Record-Breaking Snow Castle
The temperature drops sharply. The remaining light fades at a comparable rate. They lead us to the room where we were going to stay and give us instructions adapted to the coldness of the accommodation:
“Your room is minus 5 degrees. That’s how we ensure you don’t melt!” says the hostess with a sarcastic smile, aware that the -5 to -20 degrees outside and in the surroundings would hardly allow for that. “The sleeping bags are for -25 degrees. If you use them well, you’ll get a cozy night’s sleep.”
The sleeping bag had a fleece lining and two other layers. It closed with no more and no less than three synchronised zips.
Much more than the bulky and complex sleeping bags, we were impressed by the solid, translucent and cold bed that awaited us.
In two hours, night would take over Kemi. For that experimental sleep, there was still more to come. We decided to use the still waning day to wander around. First around the castle. Then, around Kemi.
Upon conquering the fortification, we discover communal rooms connected by tunnels and arched entrances.
Ice sculpture of a fox pulling a rabbit out of a hat at Kemi Snow Castle
Room after Room, Distinct Finnish Motifs Carved into Ice
One of the rooms has an entire forest carved into the walls and ceiling. In a corner, a magical fox points to a rabbit pulled out of a hat. We move on to the next room.
In this, angry birds they look at visitors sideways, armed with a slingshot that animates so many of their stories.
It is a tribute to what remains the most popular fictional creation – cartoon, game and the like – ever created in Finland.
Kemi Snow Castle Hotel guest hugs a snow Angry Bird
There is a chapel with fifty to one hundred seats that has already brought couples from all over the world together. There is an ice restaurant where we would soon be having dinner.
Other spaces reveal different figures from the Suomi imaginary, all sculpted in the white ice on which the fortress is built, receiving tones that artificial lighting alternated.
A restless community of kids wanders here and there, engaged in games, mischief and running around that help them cope with the cold.
Children enjoy tobogganing at Kemi Ice Castle
Outside, three or four adults are struggling to control the excitement generated by a few grooved, sloping slides in the ice, where the kids slide on buoys, sleds, toboggans and who knows what else.
Monsters with eyes of fulminating light seem to swallow the children every time they change wings.
Animated portico of Kemi Snow Castle, the largest in the world
Spacious as it was, Kemi Snow Castle housed that and much more.
The Still Short History of Snow Castle
In 1996, the city of Kemi built it in partnership with UNICEF as a gift to the children of the world. Since then, with almost thirty springs and summers in between, the castle has melted and been rebuilt at least that many times.
With areas ranging from 13 to 20 square meters and the longest walls measuring over 1km.
It originally stood on the shores of the Bay of Bothnia and the Kemi marina. In 2017, the authorities moved it to the somewhat unpronounceable address of Mansikkanokankatu 15.
It is from there that we set off with the mission of exploring the small town at the top of the Gulf of Bothnia, 120km from the Arctic Circle, less than 30km from Sweden.
As you would expect, in the dead of winter, we find it covered in thick snow.
Sometimes, under impressive layers of snow, as is the case around its Lutheran church, completed in 1902, now with a salmon tone that matches the predominant “pastels” of the city.
Kemi's Lutheran Cathedral, towering above the snowy town center.
And the Russian Genesis of the already Secular Kemi
Alexander II, Russian Tsar, founded Kemi in 1869, at a time when Finland remained an autonomous Grand Duchy, part of the vast Russian Empire.
The emperor's idea was to provide the top of the Gulf of Bothnia with a deep-water port that would encourage trade in products arriving in those parts.
Both those that came down from the north of Finnish Lapland via the Kemi River and those transported up the Gulf of Bothnia, in both cases today linked to the city's two major industries: timber and paper pulp.
As we have witnessed on three occasions, the port's operations were and still are interrupted during the winter freeze.
A few vessels resisted, benefiting from special protection, in the adjacent marina.
Boat surrounded by ice in Kemi marina, Bay of Bothnia
Offshore, the only ships that circulate during the cold are icebreakers like the emblematic “Sampo" in which we have the privilege of traveling the Gulf of Bothnia through newly opened channels.
Kemi in World War II and the Post-War Period
This port was complemented by two other important structures, which, like the Snow Castle, were record-breaking. In 1944, Finland signed an Armistice agreement that ended the Continuation War with the USSR.
This agreement led to Nazi Germany becoming Finland's enemy and the beginning of the Lapland War, which lasted until April 1945, almost until the end of World War II in Europe. Before surrendering, the Nazis destroyed Finland's longest bridge and viaduct, both located north of Kemi.
A year later, construction began on the Merihovi Hotel, where we would move, and it was completed in 1949.
Despite the shortage of materials caused by the Great War, it became a classic building in the city. It hosted former Finnish President Urho Kekkonen and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on several occasions.
When we pass by, filming of some Finnish period film or series is taking place, with colorful cars from the 60s to 80s lined up in the parking lot and a few scenes inside that we are denied access to.
Vintage cars lined up in front of the Merihovi Hotel during filming
Back to the Frozen Castle
We returned to the Snow Castle chilled by a wind that had come out of nowhere. The authorities warn and praise the famous local wind:
“It gets windy in Kemi. Quite windy. Thanks to the wind, we have become a particularly strong people. We have survived many challenges over time.
The wind in Kemi is fresh and clean. A good kind of wind. It gives you energy!”
Teenagers wearing few masks during the Kitacon convention in Kemi
It was making us, in particular, teeth chatter.
Okay, we sped towards the shelter that awaited us, even in the snow and ice, the one we could count on.
We reanimated in the only heated room in the castle, the communal one, at that hour, for obvious reasons, almost at a fever pitch.
The Ice Restaurant at Kemi Ice Castle
A Dinner as Experimental as It Is Brief
At about 19pm we moved to the Snow Restaurant. We sat on wooden stumps made more comfortable by reindeer skins and at a table made of large blocks of ice.
They serve us freshly cooked salmon and elk wrapped in aluminum foil.
We unwrapped them, still steaming. We arranged them on the plates, determined to photograph this unusual meal. We took great care. And it took us longer than we should have. We had already been warned that dinners at the Snow Castle did not allow for hesitation, much less socializing.
When we finally got ready to enjoy the Nordic specialties, everything was already cold, even less so in the dining room from which we hurriedly migrated back to the comfort of the living room.
Kids play in one of the rooms of the Snow Castle
With tasks to complete on our laptops, we drag ourselves along until we are the only ones there. It is nine at night when, with effort, we give in to the challenge of going to the bedroom.
As expected, the transition punishes us again. Having overcome the demanding task of getting into our sleeping bags, adjusting the zippers and covering ourselves with the reindeer skin blanket, tiredness demands that we fall asleep for the first time. On a bed of ice.
Day breaks again. They knock on our door. Even in the freezing room, we are the last to wake up. We have breakfast. We move to the Merihovi Hotel.
From there, at around ten o'clock, we set off for a snowmobile ride around Kemi, followed by sailing aboard the icebreaker “Sampo”.
Tiny passengers against the huge icebreaker “Sampo”
We returned shortly after sunset, once again needing to warm up. Filming was still going on outside the hotel.
After dark we keep an eye on the distance and above Kemi.
The predictions indicated a good probability of them happening northern lights.
Instead, the sky became cloudy. So it became night.
Kemi's Unexpected Kitacon Convention
We check in at the weekend.
Gothic participants at the Kitacon convention in Kemi.
As we wandered around Kemi, we realized that the city had been taken over by humans converted into Lolitas, goths, undefined masked people and comic book characters that we didn't know.
Parents tow children on sleds in central Kemi
Everyone flocked to the same building. Following in their footsteps were a few young parents pulling children and even babies on colorful, sliding sleds.
We entered the building. Inside, there were hundreds of young people dressed up as who knows what.
They explain to us that all of this was part of Kitacon.
It was a convention for fans of anime, young cultures and Japanese subcultures and similar, which brought together teenagers, mainly from Kemi and Finland, and also from a few neighboring countries.
Swedish and Danish participants at the Kitacon convention.
Far from counting on the event, we integrated ourselves into the half-geek, half-nerd community, in any case, proud of its incarnations and of seeing us interested in them.
Conditioned by its extreme latitude and inclement weather, Kemi takes every opportunity to escape from routine and transform herself, preferably by living with outsiders.
Masked couple for the Kitacon convention.
We would like to reiterate the self-definition of the city authorities: “[Kemi] may not be the most exciting place in the world, but it is probably a better place than many to live, sleep, eat, laugh and have a good time. One thing is for sure:
Kemi is the best Kemi in the world and everyone there is welcome.”
Mythological sculpture at Kemi Snow Castle
HOW TO GO
Fly from Lisbon to Helsinki with TAP - flytap.com from €450 round trip. From Helsinki you can travel to Kemi with Finnair.
