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Santa Clause Village in Rovaniemi -
Our tour.
The
Real Santa Clause lives in Finland. He's at the Santa Clause Village,
they say.
The
Santa Clause Village in Rovaniemi, Finland: This attraction takes us
three hours to see. On our tour, we visit shops in the Christmas House,
and see the Christmas exhibition, mail postcards at Santa's Post
Office, and even meet Santa himself.
If you tour the the entire
village, go on reindeer sleigh rides, see Santa, or do extras,
like
go on snowmobile rides, give yourself more than three hours time.
Below image is a general overview map of the village. We
parked our car on the far right of the pic., see the P
(near the yellow bus) parking place.
The wind is howling, and blowing snow against our faces making
visibility poor. We are in a snow storm. The perfect setting
to
see where Santa lives in Finland. Finally, we have arrived at the
arctic circle close to the city of Rovaniemi.
 Since
we are traveling by car and most navigational devices, include popular
attractions, it is easy to navigate our way to the Finnish arctic
circle.
In the right picture we are standing below the arctic circle Napapiiri
sign.
The
yellow arrows show our distance from: New York = 6204 kilometers ;
London 2260 kilometers ; Rome = 2985 kilometers... and so on.
From the southernmost tip of Finland you can count on driving
two days if you want to get where we are standing.
Naturally, Santa Clause Village is busy around the Christmas holidays,
that is why we are here at the end of February.
Tip:
Visit off- season to find discounts, deals,items on sales,great
bargains ...and of course, fewer people,as well as,cars and buses.
Welcoming our arrival, we notice these buildings...
Left: Arctic Circle , Center: Shop
number 1, Right: Iitalla glass outlet shop.
 Inside the Christmas House.
See #5 on the map.
Inside the Christmas house there is a large shop we found with every
kind of Finnish gift.
A Toy Factory and Christmas
exhibition.
Rosa finds a key chain pen made of reindeer antler.
Products include: Handcrafted, wooden spreading knives, clothing,
mugs, Santa's carved out of wood, and elves.
This is one of the many shops at the Santa Clause Village. We 'dig' a
bit for bargain souvenirs.
Adjacent to where we are standing...reindeer fur for sale.
!!--Hang
up the Northern lights in your home.--!!
My favorites are the northern lights collection picture framed
photos on display. Here are pictures of the northern lights
displayed in Finnish Lapland.
Fiery red...
Froggy green...
Minty sky...
There are many more "Northern Light's" pictures to select from at the
store.
Practical gift ideas from Finland. Everyone spreads something on bread;
butter, jam etc.
Wooden knives which say
Finland, Lapland, and Arctic circle.
Next...
...The Santa Clause Village Christmas Exhibition.
Christmas
around the world...What is that like?
We go into the houses
and see Christmas tree decorations from different parts of the world.
This exhibition has rooms to see what Christmas around
the Christmas tree looks like.
There is an explanation posted about each room. Let's go take
a look around the Christmas tree in...
...Finland. The tree is carrying the Finnish flag. Top right, a pic. of
the Finnish Santa Clause.
Germany around the Christmas tree. Das
ist gut!
Sprucing up on Christmas tree history. Christmas trees from the 15th
and 16th centuries were hung from the inside of the
houses' ceilings.
Apples signify the similarity of the forbidden
fruit.
A Christmas tree in a typical Austrian home. Ist so wie es scheint?
Images of Santa Clause
There is a close-knit
relationship between Lapland and Santa. Center picture: Santa
looks like a Lapp!
See more at the exhibition:
- An interactive short movie clip of Christmas
around the world.
- Elves under your feet. Be careful where you
step!
- Ancient Christmas - What Christmas was
once like.
- Tin and wooden toys, dolls, teddy bears and
digital toys at the toy factory and more.
Next stop at the Santa Clause
Village... Santa's Main Post
Office!
But first...along the way we meet a reindeer herdsman. -Willing to
offer us a
sleigh ride...
...we are almost out of time
and in a hurry to find Santa. Before seeing Santa let's
get Aura's postcards mailed out.
Another quick pic. near the ice-sculpture gallery ice-house.
An
ice House used for the ice-exhibition display. Except for the wooden
roof. The windows, block elements, walls, fixtures are all
out-of-ice held together by frozen water like mortar.
Ahhh, back indoors and out of the snow blizzard where it is
warm. A golden sign on a the table reads: Joulupukin Pääposti Santa
Claus' Main Post Office. Here, you can read letters, that others sent to
Santa.
See a real
elf at work. Boy is she fast!
Making the choice difficult, there are hundreds of postcards on the
theme of Santa, Christmas, Lapland, Northern Lights.
Ready to send
your mail, ok great. The friendly elf will place on
your letter/postcard/parcel an official stamp which also has
this on it...
Back
out into the cold and to our final stop. To see Santa
Clause. Yes, he Is in
Finland. This
is where to go to See Santa...notice the red welcome note
on
the side of the steeple?
Tomi is entering the hut to pay Santa a visit. Aura and Rosa are
already in the building.
Getting
closer and closer to Santa! Inside the hut, we venture
along the
narrow corridors, through paths of snow and ice. Up creaky
wooden
stairs. What could be up there?
Finally, we are on an upper loft, eyes fixed at some amazing
clockwork which the elves put
together.
A huge wooden clock wheel.
These
Elves are geniuses! Now we are really close to seeing Santa. The
bright light, under the wheel is where all the action
is.
Seeing Santa is free, we talked and sat with him, he talked to us, put
his arm around Tomi and Rosa, and "Flash" --a we got a picture made
with him. This time around we did not get the 'Santa and Us'
video to take home.
A picture with Santa costs around 25 euros, and the
DVD 35 euros.
More to do at the Santa Clause Village:
- Slide down the ice-slides with the kids, or go
on Husky & Reindeer rides.
- Get a "Been there done that" certificate proof
with a golden nugget that you crossed the Arctic Circle. Costs 5 - 12
Euros.
- Make a mini 'Santa Clause' for free at the art
hand craft section.
- See interesting ice-sculptures.
- Buy your children a gift from Santa without
them knowing about it! That is cute.
Tip(s):
Rovaniemi airport is closer to Santa's village than it is to Rovaniemi
town. So if you are flying into Rovaniemi, first go to the
Santa Clause Village from the airport, then on into Rovaniemi for
accommodations.
Go to the Santa Clause Village in late January, early February.
Michelin recommended driving directions to Rovaniemi
Location of Santa's Village in
Finland - Google Maps.
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