Arctic Circle Center at the Arctic Circle

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We head north of Mo-I-Rana which might be far north in Norway – but it isn’t truly within the arctic area since it is located south of the Arctic Circle. So driving north is heading up along the main highway E6 is our first trip up in the true arctic region.

Arctic Circle Center with the snowy mountains in the background

The road is the main road in northern Norway so there is a bit of traffic of many campervans driving north to explore the northern part of Norway. So it might be a main highway – but it isn’t a fast highway – though occasionally they do change the standard speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour to the still not very fast 90 kilometers per hour (just over 56 miles).

The road starts down from sea level but soon we head up a bit in some small mountains. The mountains are not very high – but up here the temperature isn’t very high so even this small change in elevation is enough for the temperature to fall and the snow to survive long into the short arctic summer. As we drive along the road there is more and more snow along the road.

Arctic Circle marker

We arrive at the Arctic Circle. There is a building here which is by far the biggest building along this lonely section of the highway. The building houses the Arctic Circle Center which supposedly is the main attraction of this area. The center isn’t really a big museum of the Arctic Circle – it is basically just a tourist shop where people stop – just because it is located right at the Arctic Circle – kind of like all the shops you might find at certain places at the equator.

Snow in the low mountains of the arctic

We enjoy the view outside the center – there is quite a bit of snow up in the hill so we enjoy the view of the white covering the bare rocks around the Arctic Circle Center.

Snow on the mountains at the Arctic Circle

We go in the center to have a look at what is inside. There isn’t much except a large tourist shop where you can buy your typical Norwegian souvenirs like the wool jumpers and other knitwear.

Yunni at the marker of the Arctic Circle at the Arctic Circle Center

Inside the shop there is a lot of stuffed animals – there is pretty much all the animals living in the arctic – and this might be the only place you will see some of the animals – though they are stuffed.

After having a look at the stuffed animals we head out and have a last look of the snow around the center before we get ready to head back towards Mo-I-Rana.

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