Ready to move?

FRozen assetsLooking for the cooLest destinations in europe? Visit during noVember to february,

the european winter season. northern skies are gLowing, ski sLopes are gListening

and christmas markets are magicaL.

Journalist Andy Round and photographer Ezequiel Scagnetti journey to bovec in slovenia, kiruna in sweden and Vienna in austria. They discover that when the temperature falls, there is no business like snow business.

usefuL websites http://europa.eu/readyforeurope/ www.visiteurope.com

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sweden

from the cooLest hoteL in the worLd to the magic of reindeer

sLedding, the winter wiLderness of northern sweden

is a magicaL experience.

arctic adventuRe

At Sweden’s Kiruna Airport the temperature is mi-nus-18 ºC. Inside the famous Icehotel nearby at Juk-kasjärvi it is a more cheerful minus-5 ºC. But in the hotel’s bar, the wedding party atmosphere is warm-ing up. Fast.

‘My niece Claire is marrying Lee in a couple of hours,’ says guest David Murrow. ‘They decided to do something different rather than hold the wed-ding in the UK and, well, this is certainly different.’

There is no word on the bride’s dress, but when you’re 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, thermal boots, insulated jackets and furry hats are certainly de rigueur for guests.

‘We have about 150 weddings a year at the Iceho-tel’s church,’ says representative Beatrice Karlsson. ‘But the main reasons more than 40 000 visitors come here during the winter is for the tranquillity of Europe’s last wilderness all around us; the chance to stay in a unique work of art and the opportunity to experience activities such as dog-sledding, snow-mobiling and moose safaris.’

Every winter the 5 500-m² hotel is built from scratch using 2 500 gargantuan ice-cubes chain-sawed from the frozen Torne River and 30 000 tonnes of snow and ice (or ‘snice’).

‘The hotel has a church, exhibition hall, lobby, bar and 65 rooms including 15 ‘art suites’ each individu-ally carved by artists from countries as varied as the Netherlands, Germany and Spain,’ explains guide Robert Siverhall.

Their work is open to the public during the day. To walk from the carved ‘ice-belly of a whale’ in one

suite, into a crowd of ice statues in another, before finding yourself face-to-face with a frozen transpar-ent ice dragon, is a joyously eccentric experience.

But what’s it like to stay overnight? ‘Surprisingly, it was not the cold that we found so strange,’ says American Ken Gould, fresh from a trip across Rus-sia on the Siberian Express.

‘It’s the unusual sensation of sleeping in so many layers of clothes in a giant thermal bag that I found unusual. Still, I’ve travelled to 92 countries and this is a great thing to say I’ve experienced.’

‘But the main reasons more than 40 000 visitors come here during the winter is for the tranquillity of Europe’s last wilderness all around us; the chance to stay in a unique work of art and the opportunity to experience activities such as dog-sledding, snowmobiling and moose safaris.’

the noRtheRn Lights

The hotel has become a magnet for curious travel-lers like Ken Gould, but it is just one highlight of an extraordinary region.

‘There is a great contrast here between the moun-tains, the forests and endless empty countryside,’ says Mattias Mannberg of Kiruna’s Tourism Author-ity. ‘Kiruna Municipality is 19 500 square kilome-tres – half the size of the Netherlands – but just 23 000 people live here.’

The region, he says, has become a major draw for tourists from the UK, Germany and France and is increasingly popular with Chinese and Japanese travellers with a handful of direct flights from Tokyo recently introduced for the winter season.

So, what is the big appeal for long distance travel-lers? Simple. The fantastic swirls of colliding charged particles known as the Northern Lights – or aurora borealis – that illuminate this incredible Christmas card landscape like dancing ghosts.

‘From September to March they are a major attrac-tion for most travellers,’ says Mannberg. ‘I took them for granted when I was young, but today when I see what they mean to tourists, I realise we are blessed.’

Crunching across the packed snow of Kiruna town from the pretty 100-year-old wooden church to the boxy municipal hall with its art installation clock tower through a park with two-metre snow sculptures by Russian, Mexican and Spanish artists you quickly appre-ciate how winter is frozen into the DNA of daily life.

fast track traVeL

dog sleds are fun, reindeer sledges are enjoyable, but the thrill of powering up a snowmobile and racing off

into the wilderness of northern sweden is joyous. as the sun sets, the snow glows, trees become shadows

and the wind whips your visor, the world is reduced to a 40kmph slither and a headlight-illuminated snow

track. wonderful.

ore inspiring

kiruna town was built to serve what is now the biggest iron ore

mine in the world. run by the government-owned company Lu-

ossavaara kiirunavaara aktiebolag (Lkab), it is a unique tourist

attraction with 30 000 visitors every year. ‘why should people

visit? it’s an opportunity to go 540 metres underground to ex-

perience a mine that’s working 24/7,’ says Lkab’s ylva sieverts-

son. ‘it’s the most modern mine in the world and a lot of mining

technology was invented here.’

sweden useFuL websites www.visitsweden.com www.kiruna.se www.visitsapmi.com www.icehotel.com www.lkab.com

From November to April, metres-thick duvets of snow coat everything, daylight seems to last for minutes and countryside temperatures can plum-met to minus-30 ºC.

Getting dressed in the morning involves insulated ski-pants and extra socks, collecting the shopping is easier with a sledge and plugging your car engine into the mains overnight is essential if you want it warm enough to start the next morning.

indigenous peopLes

A short drive from town is the Sámi Siida Culture Centre, featuring a small museum, handicraft shop and a deliciously warm café. Here, over coffee, Sámi representative Lennart Pittja outlines the philoso-phy of VisitSápmi, an organisation funded by the Swedish Government and the European Union.

‘Sámi are one of the world’s indigenous peoples and Lapland is often promoted as our land,” says Pittja. ’Sápmi is the true Sámi name for the region that extends across Norway, Sweden, Finland and

Russia and VisitSápmi was established as the tour-ism and information organisation to do this.’

At the heart of the organisation’s philosophy is a commitment to sustainable tourism that ‘gives back’ to Sámi communities and the transferal of Sámi knowledge worldwide.

That transfer of knowledge comes to life at the cen-tre’s reindeer lodge. ‘We offer reindeer sled excur-sions into the wilderness, overnight stays in cabins and plenty of story telling around the fire,’ smiles Sámi reindeer herder Anders Kärrstedt, strolling into the paddock.

‘We also have a circuit cut into the snow for high-speed ‘Formula 1’ sledding, but all our young ‘Ferrari’ reindeer are out with tourists at the moment,’ he laughs.

Not to worry. Lennart Pittja reins up a more pe-destrian 15-year-old ‘pensioner’ reindeer, and dem-onstrates the 10kmph art of trotting a sled gently through the forest snow.

It’s a truly memorable sight.

the soaring ski resort of kanin may offer an exhiLarating aLpine

experience, but in the VaLLey beLow, boVec is one of sLoVenia’s

hottest winter destinations.

naturaL high

At 2 202 metres Kanin is the highest ski resort in Slovenia. It forms part of the Julian Alps, a spiky range that punctures the clouds from Northern Italy to Slovenia’s Triglav National Park.

From the top, you can see the sloped roofs of Bovec and the emerald green of the winding Soča River. Over the ridge are Italy and the glistening Adriatic. In two hours you can be on the beach.

But you have come to ski. And this is what it’s like. ‘Exhilarating. Exciting. Breath-taking. Especially when there’s been a lot of snow overnight,’ laughs Goran Kavs director of Soča Rafting. ‘I enjoy skiing off-piste and the sensation of free-riding down untouched snow at 50 to 60 kmph, spraying fresh powder for 1 200 metres is amazing. Then you might come to a 10-metre jump, well, then there’s no turning back…’

endLess possibiLities

There may be wonderful slopes in Chamonix in France, at Ischgl in Austria or in St Moritz in Switzer-land, but Bovec and Kanin feel like delicious secrets. They are destinations lesser known internationally, despite Soča valley having being celebrated as a Eu-ropean Destination of Excellence for tourism and intangible heritage by the European Union in 2008.

‘We drove almost 2 000 kilometres from Kirch-Jesut in Germany to be here,’ says Josef Bone-Winkel, watch-ing his family on Bovec’s slopes for children. ‘The peo-ple are friendly and the scenery is wonderful.’

If skiers feel like a change from the sun-drenched, south facing slopes of Kanin, they can always catch

the bus to the Italian side of the mountain in the north to enjoy the experience of skiing in two coun-tries in one day.

But why leave? When apartments start from EUR 15 per person, a week’s ski-pass is EUR 196 in high season and lessons are EUR 30 an hour, your euro goes a long way in Slovenia. What’s more, the winter wonderland that surrounds Bovec offers endless possibilities.

‘It’s the most active place in Slovenia,’ says David Štulc Zornik of Bovec Tourism. ‘In summer, for instance, you can enjoy paragliding, rafting, mountain biking, kayaking and go caving. In winter you can ski, sledge, snowshoe…’

You can see this sporting legacy reflected in the suc-cess of Slovenian athletes such as the glamorous Tina Maze, who has won endless World Cup ski events. While Štulc Zornik chats, Tina’s Slovenian hit song ‘My Way Is My Decision’, plays quietly on Café Ka-varna’s radio.

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Natasha Bartol, who works for a local insurance com-pany, recently enjoyed the region’s latest adventurous attraction ‘zip-lining’ (see box out), but when not in-dulging in adrenaline sports, she established a cultural history tour of Bovec. The history tour was created with the help of local school children using informa-tion boards to guide the curious around town.

the past is composing the FutuRe

‘Bovec has been at a continental crossroads of trade bringing goods to and from the Italian coast to the rest of Europe, so many merchants settled in the town building comfortable homes,’ she says. ‘But life for those in the countryside was more difficult: the yearly farm-ing cycle, finding pasture in the mountains, lambing and cheese production offered a harsher way of life.’

In Bovec today that farming legacy endures in the architecture of postcard-pretty homes. In winter, hay was once stored in giant third-storey lofts provid-ing insulation for the living area below, while on the ground level, livestock offered unique central heating.

‘Today these quarters are used to house that mi-gratory species ‘homo touristicus’,’ jokes Štulc Zornik. “Many of these houses now feature very comfort-able holiday apartments.’

Still, the past is an important component of Bovec’s cultural future. Over homemade cheese and salami in the wine cellar of Dobra Vila, a boutique hotel housed in a former 1930s telephone exchange, Mé-tka Belingar outlines a European Union-funded pro-ject to protect the intangible legacy of the district. ‘We have been interviewing people to preserve their unique knowledge whether it is about bee-keeping, wood-working, dialects or the production of sheep cheese, and we are looking at ways of making this intangible legacy tangible for visitors,’ she says.

Much of this history has been shaped by the land-scape of Bovec and surrounding 840 square kilome-tres of Triglav National Park. Every frozen waterfall, narrow pass, bottomless gorge, claustrophobic cave or pine-coated mountain has a human story to tell.

Edvin Kravanja, curator at the Triglav National Park’s museum and information centre, tells the story of An-ton Tozbar the 19th century guide who incredibly con-tinued his career despite losing his jaw in a bear attack; the 18th century miners who risked their lives digging deep into mountain peaks for iron and the ‘hot-cold’ mountain biodiversity that created a staggering range of flora inspiring botanists such as Austrian Julius Kugy.

Zip through the VaLLey

one of the newest attractions at bovec is Zip Lining. in 2012, a 2.4-kilometre

wire was strung across krnica Valley. Longer than similar zip line attractions

in scotland or austria, the slovenia version is big on thrills and attracts up to

60 thrill-seekers every day. ‘you can reach speeds of up to 60kmph at heights

of up to 200 metres from the ground,’ smiles ana Šraj of aktivni planet.

‘but it seems faster when you are racing over tree tops.’

‘I enjoy skiing off-piste and the sensation of free-riding down untouched snow at 50 to 60 kmph, spraying fresh powder for 1 200 metres is amazing. Then you might come to a 10-metre jump, well, then there’s no turning back…’

sLoVenia useFuL websites www.bovec.si www.slovenia.info

war wounds

In winter Bovec’s dark fortifications, machine gun posts and cemeteries of World War I are

covered with giant pillows of snow. these serve as frozen stone reminders of the human

cost of the bloody soča front. from 1915 to 1917, on a front less than 70km long, more than

600 000 italians, austrians, bosnians, germans, poles, slovenians and hungarians were killed.

Near the centre is the home of Ivan Jelinčić, a retired park forester with an artistic temperament that’s as broad as his giant moustache. A sheep farmer, artist, musician and cheese maker, he rents out apartments and camping sites at his forest home to travellers.

Jelinčić pulls out six landscape paintings from a stack of canvases. ‘I’ve been exploring the forest for as long as I can remember,’ he says. ‘But each time I sit down to paint I see something different. This is a genuinely unique place.’

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austria

christmas shoppers haVe a baLL in the romantic

winter wonderLand of Vienna’s festiVe markets.

Viennese waLtz

Winters in Austria will deep freeze your nose and curl your toes, but Vienna at Christmas will melt your heart like no other city.

From November to December each year, more than 40 festive markets set up stalls in the Austrian capital and each one gift-wraps Christmas perfectly in all the Technicolor joys of the festive season from dazzling decorations to roasting chestnuts.

‘More than three million people visit Vienna from November 17 to December 24,’ says Andreas Ze-nker of Vienna’s famous Christmas ‘Rathaus’ City Hall market, over a mug of the city’s famous gluh-wein. ‘Many come from nearby countries such as Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Germany, even as far away as Japan. This market has 145 stalls, a 32-metre Christmas tree and 27 kilometres of wiring just to power the decorations. It’s a big attraction at this time of the year.’

But almost every European capital from Brussels, Belgium, to Berlin, Germany, has a Christmas mar-ket of some description, so why come to Vienna? ‘The city’s winter market tradition dates back to 1294 and in many ways it became the prototype of Christmas markets,’ says Norbert Kettner, Managing Director of Vienna Tourism Board.

‘Here the markets nestle among museums, palaces, courtyards and in parks, which is incredibly atmos-pheric. A city changes with the light, and Vienna’s historic architecture is the perfect setting for Christ-mas illumination.’

Each Viennese market also has its own unique fla-vour. The market on Rathausplatz, for example, is popular with families because of its range of town

hall children’s activities that include everything from candle-making to carol singing, while at the Old Market at Freyung, held in the heart of the city’s historic centre since 1772, the main attractions are traditional Austrian handicrafts and food.

At Freyung, Nusstandl nuts are still roasted and caramelised in situ and at Franz Höller’s the vibrant glass decorations for sale are hand-blown locally. But times are changing. ‘You see these gingerbread biscuits here, they are made by Karl Kammerer,’ says stallholder Walter Ecker. ‘Unfortunately he is 73 years old and the last of the traditional ginger-bread makers in Vienna.’

Opposite, Cristal Konrad is selling brezelns – tradi-tional breads woven into giant pretzel shapes. ‘We have apple, chocolate, but the most popular are al-ways the traditional plain dough versions,’ she says.

Brezelns and gingerbread are all very well and good, but Vienna also prides itself on a contemporary urban approach to the concept of the Christmas market.

In the MQ ‘Museum Quarter’, nestling between the city’s modern art centre and the famous Leopold Gallery, ice ‘pavilion’ drinking booths and an ice-curling rink are installed every Christmas. The best time to go is at night when animated light shows illuminate vast walls and the courtyard hums with music by local DJs.

the winteR soundtRack

Of course, these markets may be the jewels in Vi-enna’s Christmas crown, but the winter soundtrack of the city is a treasure trove of live music. Accord-ing to Vienna’s tourism authority there are a stag-gering 15 000 live music events of various shapes and sizes each year. ‘Every night in Vienna around 10 000 music fans are treated to live classical music,’ says the authority’s website. ‘This is unheard of in any other city.’

These events range from concerts by the famous Vienna Boys’ Choir and extravagant performances at the State Opera House to free concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic at Schönbrunn (see box out).

‘Every night in Vienna around 10 000 music fans are treated to live classical music,’ says the authority’s website. ‘This is unheard of in any other city.’

market forces

Vienna may be the grande dame of christmas markets, but strasbourg’s christkindelsmärik has been

providing french festive cheer since 1570; the belgian city of bruges has carved out a christmas success

for itself with the annual snow & ice sculpture festival; cologne’s christmas market is internationally

celebrated and prague’s old town market is a winter fairy-tale at christmas.

Still, for Vienna visitors who don’t know their li-brettos from their legatos, an alternative source of classic winter entertainment can be found at the 440-year-old Spanish Riding School of Vienna’s Im-perial Palace. Here Iberian-descended ‘Lipizzaner’ horses and their immaculately groomed riders at-tract more than 300 000 visitors a year with displays from the ‘High School of Classical Horsemanship’.

austria useFuL websites www.austria.info www.wien.info

winter paLace

the palace and gardens of schönbrunn are just a 15-minute metro ride away from Vienna,

but light years away from bustle of the city. ‘in the 17th century it was originally modelled on

Versailles palace outside paris and was used as a summer residence by the habsburgs,’ says

guide gabriela steiner-scharfetter. ‘today it is the most visited sight in the whole of austria.’

in addition to imperial rooms, grand scale art, endless gardens and, incredibly, the world’s

oldest zoo founded in 1752, there is a glorious christmas market.

‘The displays may take place in an 18th century win-ter riding hall,’ explains the school’s Karin Mayrhofer. ‘However, behind the scenes we have every mod-ern facility including a solarium to warm the horses’ muscles.’

the quintessentiaL viennese expeRience

After such a Christmas whirlwind of city excite-ment, it is worth pulling up a comfortable chair in Vienna’s warming café culture.

Cafés and coffee are as much embedded in the Austrian psyche as Vienna’s favourite son, Sigmund Freud. You can’t move anywhere in the capital with-out falling into wood-panelled cafés loaded with marble-topped tables, lavish chandeliers and wait-ers with an attitude that is as stiff as their collars.

One such place is Café Landtmann, where Freud was said to be fond of ‘Guglhupf ’ sponge cake. Opened in 1873, it has been owned by Anita Querfeld for the past 36 years.

‘Where else in the world can you spend the entire day – reading newspapers, meeting friends, relaxing – for the price of a coffee and perhaps some cake?’ she laughs. ‘It’s a quintessential Viennese experience. And it always seems cosier at Christmas.’

usefuL websites

www.readyforeurope.eu

sweden

www.visitsweden.com

www.kiruna.se

www.visitsapmi.com

sLoVenia

www.bovec.si

www.slovenia.info

austria

www.austria.info

www.wien.info

www.icehotel.com

www.lkab.com

© Pictures: European Commission