Initially, we planned to visit Guesthouse Husky before making our way to neighbouring Norway, but since the snow is not thick enough to do any husky safari, we decided to visit Siida, a museum showcasing Sami culture and nature of Northern Lapland instead. After breakfast, we check out of the hotel with our luggage and went to the nearby bus terminal to wait for the bus to Inari.
The bus journey from Ivalo to Inari passes by various scenic lakes, including Lake Inari. After alighting from the bus, we lost our way and ended up at Sajos, a cultural centre. Luckily, a kind lady at the cultural centre allows us to deposit our luggage with her while we make our way to Siida.
Passing by Lake Inari on our way.
We spent the whole afternoon learning more about Sami culture and how human, animals and plants survive under the harsh environment of this northern part of the world.
We went back to pick up our luggage, and since it was still early, we shopped for some souvenirs at a souvenir shop nearby before waiting for the bus to Karasjok outside Hotel Inari.
Lake Inari next to Hotel Inari
The road from Inari to Karasjok was quite bumpy, especially along Utsjoki, and we reach Karasjok after a 2 hours bus ride. For our first night in Norway, we'll be staying at Lily's House which we booked through Airbnb. There wasn't too much accommodation choices in Karasjok, and Lily's House stood out due to its price, and its reviews in Airbnb were quite good. We took some time to locate Lily's House, and spent another 15 minutes standing out in the cold as the person inside the house did not respond to the door bell and various knocking at the doors & windows. When we finally caught her attention, we were led into the house and then she left us almost immediately with no instructions. One of my friends immediately tried to contact Lily, while the rest of us went around to inspect the house. Adding on to our astonishment, the house was quite dirty with bread or biscuit crumbs all over the table, unwashed glasses in the basin, and the beds were not even made. Based on the condition of the house, we decided that it is better to keep it as its current condition, and just boil some water to eat the cup noodles that we fortunately bought along with us for dinner.
Things did not get better when Lily finally appear, and she told us with a very straight face that we have to make our own beds. As we were quite concerned that it will get cold in the night since there is only 1 small heater in the bedroom, Lily started the fireplace in order to heat up the whole apartment before leaving us to go back to work. We decided to make do with whatever we have since we'll only be staying there for a night. This was my first time staying in an apartment booked through Airbnb, but my friends assured me that their other experiences with Airbnb were much more better. Anyway, for the price that we paid to stay in Lily House, we probably cannot expect too much, since the standard of living in Norway is exceptionally high.
After checking the forecast, we decided that was not a good night for aurora hunting. We went to bed early and hoped that the subsequent days of our journey in Norway will fare better than today's experience.
Up next: Finland & Norway Trip Day 7 - Alta
Previously: Finland & Norway Trip Day 5 Part 2 - Ivalo
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