The day after the epic Kent concert I left Kiruna for Abisko, and once again this simple task turned out to be more complicated than expected.

There’s a free shuttle bus to the train station but it doesn’t run often, as it’s synchronised with the train schedule. Deciding not to take any chances with the bus I got up super early and took some photos of the Yellow House on my way out.

I also needed to top up my mobile data so popped in at the mall. It was all still quite sleepy and almost everywhere was shut. Shops in Sweden open later in the day than back home (luckily the Telia shop was open early).

I saw several mining-themed sculptures around town

At the bus station the shuttle arrived a few minutes early and parked off at the side. I went up to it, greeted the driver and tried to board. He was confused and gave me a lecture about how it was too early and I had to wait at the stop, and then returned to his newspaper.

So I went back into the cold and waited. After a while I was joined by Jun,  the Korean tourist from the previous day. Turned out we were the only 2 heading to Abisko that day.

Eventually we got on the bus and a short while later arrived at the empty train station.

We were the only people there and as with the day before it was all quite confusing. Several  freight trains came and went and our train was scheduled on the board. Still we managed to miss it – it arrived and a few people got off but it was early and there was no announcement or indication that this was our train… So it left without us. The board didn’t update for like half an hour so we kept thinking it was still on its way… But no.

There were only 2 trains to Abisko per day so we had no choice but to wait.

We waited in the station all day. One group came and went. Then some hours later another. For all the subsequent trains there were tannoy announcements… Which would’ve been super helpful for our train but alas.

The fog had started rolling in while we waited in Kiruna so unfortunately the train ride wasn’t as scenic as it could have been. By the time we arrived at Abisko Östra everything was covered in mist. Jun’s reaction to the station will forever be my first impression of the place: “Very Silent Hill”.

It was a short walk through the eerie (and also abandoned) train station to the guesthouse.

I’d planned on having the afternoon to explore the area but we arrived so late and in so much fog that there really wasn’t any option other than to check in and make dinner.

Later that night Jun and I went out to try to see the northern lights, but alas it was too foggy, and too dark for us to even find the nearby lake.

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Kapstaden till Kiruna :  intro  |  pt 1  |  pt 2  |  pt 3  |  Kent at Arena Arctica  |  pt 4
pt 5  |  pt 6  |  pt 7  |  pt 8 |  pt 9  |  pt 10  | Tiger Lou at Pustervik  |  pt 11