Last few days in Norway

As we journeyed south we stopped in Tromso for a midnight concert at a church just near the ferry terminal. No photos were allowed during the concert but it was wonderful. They played and sung a range of Norwegian songs as well as English hymns (How Great Thou Art and Amazing Grace).

I was really hoping it would be a tiny bit dark at 1am as we went back to the ship but it wasn't. Sunset was 10.43pm and sunrise 2.58am, so I had some hope but we were too far north for darkness at this time of year.

There was lots of beautiful scenery, farms began again and we went into Trollfjord.

There was a lot of noise made when we met our sister ship, the young staff were particularly enthusiastic!

Many places in Norway seem to make geographical claims to get people to visit them. Bronnoysund's was that it is in the middle of Norway but whether that is true depends on what you consider the southern and northern most points of Norway, which is highly debatable. It did have a lovely yarn shop though, just two minutes from the port. 

Last night's final excursion was a journey along the Atlantic Coast Road, not something I'd want to do in winter. I can see why it was in the last James Bond movie. 

We also stopped to see the newest stave church in Norway, Kvernes Stave Church. It was built in 1631-33, and was quite interesting. 

The model ship was stolen from the Danish, something the Norwegian Guides were proud to tell us. 

I forgot to photograph dinner, which was baccala, a cod and potato stew, made with rehydrated dried cod (clipfish). It was very salty and very tomatoey.

 

We drove back to the ship through some stunning farmland that I was disappointed we didn't have a photo stop at. I may have laughed out loud when the guide mentioned the very large dairy herd of 30 cows one farmer in the area had. 

It rained the rest of the way back to Bergen, making us grateful for all the sunny days we've had in Norway. 

The Arctic Circle

On the ship they held a cute ceremony to welcome us to the Arctic circle. I chose not to have ice poured down my back though.

The scenery has been much more populated and greener than I expected, especially from Trondheim to Tromso, which apparently has a micro climate affected by Gulf streams. There are some very picturesque towns and villages. 

Special fish soup and mulled plum wine on the deck at 10.30pm on the evening we crossed had crossed into the Arctic Circle.

Tromso's bridge with the mountain in the background reminded me of Hobart. 

The biggest yarn shop I've even be to, in Tromso but I only bought one skein of Norwegian wool.

Honningsvag was an unexpectedly delightful small town, that looked even more amazing when some must rolled in. 

On the left, in the middle you can just see the avalanche fences that protect the town. We've seen a lot of them and fences to redirect snow from the roads. It's hard to imagine in winter they can get 3m of snow a day and travelling between towns is often done in convoys behind the snow plough. Though the amazing tunnels, like in Iceland have made such a difference for people living in more remote  areas. 

One afternoon we had an interesting visit with a Sami couple, who are reindeer farmers. They're the indigenous people across the north of Norway, Finland, Sweden and a little bit of Russia. They're the only ones allowed to farm reindeer in Norway. They have summer homes in the north and travel about 250km south for the winter. The reindeer road quite freely, Hammerfest spent about A$1 million on a fence to keep them out of the town but it is a total failure.

Traditional turf houses on the right and tepee like tents. Turf houses were quite common until the 1960s..

Kirkenes was our turning point, only 15km from the Russian border and the last Norwegian town before it. They have a memorial to the Russians who liberated them from the Germans in 1944. Today Germans are the biggest group of tourists in Norway and many Norwegians speak German. 

Today we were up very early for breakfast at the North Cape, the northern most point of Continental Europe. We were extremely lucky to get one of only a few days a year with no fog and also to beat most of the tourists there.

Note the white reindeer, apparently all reindeer farmers like to have at least one as they're considered lucky. 

Reindeer Spottings!

 Yesterday nothing we spotted a reindeer in Honnesvag (town of 2500 people) but it ran away before we got a photo. Then we saw lots of reindeers from the bus when visiting an indigenous group last night but this morning as I walked into Kirkenes there were two just hanging out at the edge of the port! Initially I thought they were a sign but there was another tourist snapping photos and soon I was too! 

BTW the numbers here show when the business is open, Monday to Friday and Saturday, hardly any shops open on a Sunday. All the supermarkets in Norway seem to have big numbers like this showing when they're open. 

Spot the reminder! These are their summer grounds, they wander 250km south for the winter.