The Magic of Santa’s Village

Cheerful and busy elves scurry about, and in the stables you will meet a certain red-nosed reindeer – yes, it’s Rudolf himself. And you will meet, too, jolly old Santa Claus, who oversees the entire village but always finds a spare moment to welcome new guests. This time, it’s children from all across Europe who have come with their parents to thank Santa for the beautiful Christmas he prepares each year – and to bring him warm wishes in return.

The selected families came comfortably by airplane, while the bags stuffed full with children’s wishes to Santa took a much longer journey on board the ŠKODA KAROQ cars. Two groups (one had set off from Moldova, the other from Germany) had driven for hundreds of kilometres across Europe to their rendezvous in Warsaw, then continued on together to the Baltic shore. By that time, the whole expedition already had driven 3,700 kilometres. But this was just the start of the whole adventure!

A ferry carried the convoy of four ŠKODA KAROQ letter carriers across the Baltic Sea from Tallinn to Helsinki, where the crews took on yet another package with letters for Santa and again drove on, now through Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The conditions grew increasingly severe as they traveled northwards. First a few snowflakes, then snowstorms, next they were digging the cars out of snowdrifts. There were encounters with carefree elk walking along the road – and sometimes across it. The drivers had to be very careful at all times. The crews drew upon their best abilities, and their resilience and that of their cars were put to the test.

Their mood, however, was brightened by the beautiful landscape of the Far North, with its snowy plains, forests, mountains, fjords, and abundance of snow, as well as by the knowledge that with every kilometre they were drawing closer to their destination: Santa’s Village. But first, they had to cross the border into Norway and reach the Nordkapp, the northernmost place in Europe, then churn on through more snow, ice, frost, and blizzards across Sweden and back to Finland, namely to Rovaniemi in Lapland.

The courageous crews in their indomitable cars handled this, too, and were rewarded with the magical northern lights overhead. After this transcontinental expedition, driving the happy selected families from the airport to Santa’s Village was a piece of cake. It was a real honor and a joy, too – just to look into the children’s sparkling eyes as they caught first sight of Santa’s magical world. It was a dream come true.

A merry program awaited the children and families here, and of course it also led them to Santa’s post office. This is an extraordinarily busy place just before Christmas, because this is where children’s wishes from all around the world are headed and where the elves must sort them as quickly as possible. The highlight of the day was of course meeting Santa Clause himself in his workshop. The expedition reached its destination and most importantly showed Santa that children think about him with as much generosity and affection as he does about them.