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Sjalen Says: Along the Vassara River and the railway lies the "Lapp quarters" which is where the nomadic Sami's (known as Lapps for a good while in Swedish history until this was considered incredibly rude) settled when they needed to stay in the Gällivare area for a while. The Swedish...
Sjalen Says: Some 45 kilometres south of Gällivare on the main Jokkmokk road is the hydropower village of Porjus. Its main sight is the Hydropower exhibition by the great dam in the Lule River. Hydropower is a debated way to get Swedish electricity and many are opposed to it wrecking the...
Sjalen Says: Down by the Vassara River is the Gällivare Heritage park, showing you some of the oldest houses in town which have been gathered here. You will find an old school, the oldest shop and a Sami camp as well as a homestead and the barracks that the English constructors up here...
Sjalen Says: When mining took off in Malmberget, the new miners had to live somewhere so a shanty town type of arrangement was built up there and you can see a copy of it today. Summertime, there are all sorts of activities and reenactments but I quite liked visiting in winter when it...
Mount Dundret and Midnight sun
Sjalen Says: Dundret means "the thunder" in Swedish and is a Swedish version of what in Sami language is called Tuoddar and means "low fell" but some people say that the Samis too called it thunder mountain. In any case, it has always been a bit special to Sami people as its two peaks...
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This being Gällivare, the Chinese restaurant also has to diversify and serve pizzas, but at least they do their own Chinese food reasonably well and this place is popular both at lunch and in the evenings. They also don't seem to mind if people walk in with snowy ski boots.
Favorite Dish: Fish in sweet and sour sauce.
Written Jan 3, 2007
Sjalen Says: Gällivare is not the hub of Swedish nightlife but the Grand Hotel Lapland has its Vassara Pub which is nice for a beer amongst friends. There is also an adjacent nightclub weekends. A good thing about this place is that since it is in a hotel, you find a mix of locals and...
There is three places to go in...
Piggelin Says: There is three places to go in Gällivare, The Kilkenny Inn, Vassara Pub and Björnfällan. My favourite is Kilkenny.Kilkenny is an Irish pub, well, not really but they try to be, and they often have live music as well as dance music.So if you want to dance all night long, go...
Sjalen Says: The Norrland way to transport yourself around town in wintertime is by "spark" which translates as "kick" as that is how you move forward on the snow.
Sjalen Says: Gällivare is along the "Malmbanan" iron ore railway which runs between Luleå on the Baltic Sea coast, and Narvik on the Norwegian coast. This means railways up here are a tradition since navvies sacrificed their lives to create the line that would send Swedish iron ore...
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There are several handicraft shops but this is one of my favourites and in a central location, even if there are others with more Sami things. Here you will still find (expensive) Sami carved knives, silver jewellery and different reindeer art as well as more general handicraft such as textiles.
What to buy: Silver jewellery.
What to pay: Anything from SEK 250 and upwards. The most expensive Sami knives are around SEK 8000 but start at 3000...
Written Jan 4, 2007
Address: Storgatan
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In winter, you will see people transporting their snowmobiles between different tracks and their garages with special snowmobile trailers all over town...
Updated Jan 4, 2007
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If you feel like walking downhill from the Dundret hotel complex in winter (hey, you might want a waffle at the ski slope cafe or something, seeing as Dundret is closed...), just be aware that even though the walking path is signposted as a walking path, this makes no difference to the children (and their parents!) of the childrens' slope. They just use it as their "spare slope" from time to time. Watch out and hope that they do too and that they are somewhat experienced!
Updated Jan 3, 2007
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Luggage and bags: A backpack is recommended.
Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: If you go in wintertime, bring warm clothes. It can get very cold.
Toiletries and Medical Supplies: In summertime, bring mosquito repellent. I recommend 'Mygga' but it doesn't work for everyone, so just try different brands until you find something that works for you.
Written Sep 12, 2002
Sjalen Says: I have never been here but it has to be mentioned on a page about Gällivare. Located in the westernmost part of this vast municipality, the park can be reached by road from Porjus about 40 kilometres south of Gällivare, and that is as close as I've ever got to it but I hope...
Sjalen Says: Some 40 minutes north-west of Gällivare, towards Kiruna, is the village of Kaitum which is a Sami village and therefore is the local centre for Sami handicraft. Moreover, there is a famous chapel here by Anders Labba, in honour of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskiöld who...
Sjalen Says: Children can sometimes borrow toboggans from the ski centre in the Dundret slopes but otherwise the sport shop in the city centre should sell them cheap. Dundret was full of skiers to avoid but we still found a toboggan-friendly hill or two. It just got quite dark on a...
Sjalen Says: There are ten kilometres of cross country skiing tracks prepared on Mount Dundret, but you can also ski in the city centre, following tracks along the river.
Sjalen Says: Go for a walk along the river. You can start at the Heritage area and work your way towards the railway and then across to the Lapp quarters which makes for a lovely walk on a sunny day and gives you lots of local history.
Piggelin Says: Come here for the nature, winter or summer doesn't matter, it's always breathtaking. Sunbathing on the snow when the sun is getting warm again after the winter. Just love it. And no, it's not me in the picture.
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As you hop off the train or arrive from the airport, Gällivare town centre is perhaps not the most inspiring place in Sweden, with modern houses and empty shopping centres, but forget about that as......
Gällivare lies 10 Swedish miles south of Kiruna. It was my home town for 15 years. Skiing during the winter, hiking during the summer, the nature here you just have to see for your self.
Gällivare is a small city in the north of Sweden, situated about 100 km above the polarcircle. You can easily get here by plane from Stockholm, a two hour flight. Even though it's so far up, the...
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