Best described as a spectacular natural wonder of the world with myriad mountains rising right from the sea. In a few words: Fjords, mountains, narrow winding roads, astounding bridges from island to island – our heads were on a swivel each moment of our time there; every corner brought a new and captivating view. The images below will be more illustrative of the area than I can be - so we hope you will enjoy them. All the images were taken by Ewa or me except for the aerial shot of the soccer field and you will see why. Dramatic!
We started our journey in Tromsø, a city located on the banks of the Tromsøfjord (the local fjord). It is about 350 km north of the Arctic Circle (that is 217 miles for those who are metrically challenged and 714.04 mi or 1,149.14 km north of Oslo). We drove from there down to Lofoten Islands; about 230km. The roads are small and winding with the national speed limit generally being 50km (31mph) so it was a long drive. However, the scenery along the way was well worth the slow pace. Norway is on the expensive side – gasoline for the rental car was about $8.50 per gallon (4 liters more or less); everything else was equally as high.
The Lofoten is an archipelago in Norway. (by its nature the archipelago is a string of islands). They are known for the dramatic scenery, with peaks like the Svolværgeita pinnacle jutting up into the sky. We wound through fishing villages like Henningsvær, which has colorful buildings lining its waterways. The roads here were very narrow and winding generally with a fjord on one side and a mountain on the other. The mountain peaks were often snowcapped even in June and frequently had thick cloud like white cotton candy cascading down - fascinating to say the least. Having visited on the shoulder season there were very few tourists which enhanced the experience.
The main source of income over the centuries and into today has been fishing - in particular cod. Cod is like a religion in this part of Norway. Every fishing village is replete with wooden cod drying racks. The cod are gutted, salted, and hung up to dry. It is their main export and sustains much of the population in one way or another. I personally abhor the smell of fish so walking through one of the drying areas was brutal to say the least - but interesting to see. It is the seasonal fishing for Skrei (Norwegian-Arctic cod) that has been most important. Every year from January to April, large quantities of Skrei come from the north to the waters around Lofoten to spawn. For fishermen this is nirvana as the quantities are vast and the market for this delicacy is very profitable. Believe it or not, there is a large market for cod tongues – go figure. The vast majority are exported.
Some of the highlights: The sun never sets during the period we were there. At 02:00 it was as bright as day - quite an interesting experience. In addition, there are folks out playing golf at that time. On the food side – Ewa had a taste of whale and some local fish, we had shrimp, lamb stew, and a local favorite – giant cinnamon rolls.
This area is well worth a visit.