I’ve just spent a month in Lulea, one of two Swedish cities not far from the Arctic Circle, the other being Kiruna, famous for its iron ore deposits, scientific research, and now, official decision to move all the buildings and houses, so that the iron ore below the town can be extracted. Strangely enough, the land in the north of Sweden is still rising, a weird consequence of the ice age. Before the pandemic, Sven and I visited the original location of Lulea, farther inland, and now called Gammelstad, the “old town.” There’s a beautiful 15th century cathedral there, as well as a lot of small rowhouses, all painted dark red, where the residents would stay overnight after journeying a distance from their farms to attend church. So called “church towns” were typical in the north of the country. We were able to visit one cute little house, which is maintained as a museum so that the curious can learn what life was like in Sweden’s past. In case you ever explore this part of the world, don’t miss the café/shop, which sells reproductions of household items that were used all those years ago. Gammelstad is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
