Norway – Day 9

Friday, 14 February 2025

Today we reached the mid-way point of our journey. We docked this morning in Tromsø … and I have no idea how that is pronounced because everyone seems to say it a little bit differently. According to the pronunciation guide from a couple of days ago, it should be like Trom -sur, but many times that I have heard it, it sounds more like Trum-sa. Perhaps it is because some of the guides speak Norwegian with a Swedish or German accent??

We were booked on The Arctic Capital excursion today which set out from the harbour at 9.45am. It was snowing wet snow as we made our way from the boat to the bus. Yuck! Dry snow like we experienced yesterday was sort of magical BUT wet snow is just unpleasant. We boarded the bus and our guide, Juergen, told us that the snow is wet in Tromsø because we are now in the Tropical Arctic, ha, ha. If Juergen introduced our driver, I missed it but later, when the driver was admiring my Helly Hansen coat and telling me it is a good Norwegian brand, I asked him his name which he told me was Oluf. I feel it’s important to record the name of the driver too because he’s the one who has driven us around safely … and in difficult road conditions here, for sure!

The MS Trollfjord is docked at the harbour on the island of Tromsøya with the city of Tromsø situated on the island and on the mainland. We crossed the bridge to the mainland and proceeded to Fjellheisen the mountain cable car. On the way Juergen was telling us that we might have to queue for a long time because today is Valentine’s Day and it is very popular for couples to take the cable car up Storsteinen Mountain on Valentine’s Day.   

We were in luck. Either it was too early in the day (just gone 10.00am) or the weather was too awful for people to be queuing to go up the mountain. We were into the cable car straight away and on top of Storsteinen Mountain about three minutes later. We ventured out onto the viewing platform and it was … pretty much a whiteout! Oh well, it was perfect weather when we went up Fløyen Mountain in Bergen so I guess it was too much to hope for that we would get a great day here too?

We had an hour to fill in on the mountain in decidedly sub-par photography conditions. Truly, sub-par conditions for anything really. We had to get creative to take any photos at all. Fortunately we both wear coloured coats rather than basic black so we took photos of each other in the snow. We found a purple bench for Bernie to sit on in his blue coat for a bit of colour in an otherwise greyscale landscape. While others were biding their time in the café we slogged our way around to the other viewing point and could still see virtually nothing of the city below us let alone across the sound to Tromsøya Island.

Back at the café the clouds parted for a moment. We went back out to the viewing platform and managed a couple of hazy photos of the city before joining the queue to catch the cable car back to the bottom of the mountain. Bernie didn’t get his elbows out to ensure that he could join me in the cable car. I descended to the car park while Bernie had to remain behind and wait for the next car! Before long the next car had descended from the mountain and Bernie joined me on the bus.

Our next stop was at The Arctic Cathedral (Ishavskatedralen) although officially it is Tromsdalen Church. Designed by architect, Jan Inge Hovig, the church was dedicated on the 19^th of November 1965. The cathedral has an A-frame silhouette formed by 11 aluminium-coated concrete panels. The main entrance on the western side is surrounded by a large glass façade with a pronounced cross.

In 1972 a glass mosaic by artist Victor Saprre was added to the façade on the eastern side. It depicts, amongst other symbols, God’s hand from which three rays of light project: one through Jesus, one though a woman and one through a man. The mosaic is somewhat controversial with the the original architect saying that it’s addition to the cathedral has destroyed his life’s work. He for one does not like it.

We headed back over the bridge to Polaria, Tromsø’s aquarium. Oceanogràfic, Valencia, it is not so it suffers from comparison seeing as we visited there last year. The aquarium is relatively small and very cramped at the moment with building works going on to enlarge the pools for their seals. We did, however, get to see the only bearded seals in captivity at feeding/training time. The seals don’t do tricks but are taught targeting and to adopt poses that assist with examining them for veterinary purposes.

From the aquarium it was back to the boat for lunch. After a bite to eat we headed out again on foot to explore Tromsø’s city centre. We walked past the Roald Amundsen statue not far from the harbour. Several of Amundsen’s legendary arctic expeditions started from Tromsø. We continued past the Tromsø Cathedral, the only Protestant cathedral in Norway built with wood.

We also wandered past the Rakettkiosken (Rocket Kiosk) Norway’s smallest bar. There was a long queue of people waiting to buy a hotdog from this miniature hotdog kiosk that started life as a news stand in 1911. Next stop Bispegården (the bishop’s house) built in 1920 and the site of the final gathering with the parliament and the king before he fled to England during WWII. Now in the heart of the oldest part of Tromsø we found Skansen a group of old restored fortress houses atop a fortress rampart which it is believed was raised around the 13^th century to provide protection from the Russians. Nearby were several traditional wharf houses that date from the 1830s and now house a number of museums including the Polar Museum.

Out and about in Tromsø it was hard to decide whether to wear the ice grips or not because some of the footpaths are heated to melt the snow and keep them ice-free. I opted to wear mine because I didn’t want to risk wandering around and taking a fall while I had them in my pocket! Bernie didn’t wear his and managed to stay upright for the duration of our perambulations. Thank goodness. He would have had no sympathy from me if he had fallen. The thing is that while the footpaths might be heated the roads are not so every time we had to cross the road it was icy underfoot.

This afternoon’s weather was MUCH clearer than it was this morning. Everyone was feeling optimistic that tonight might be the night that the aurora will be viewed. Sure enough around 5.00pm auroral activity was announced over the ship’s PA. We headed up to Deck 9 to be rewarded with a hint of aurora in the sky that was intensified by viewing it through our iPhone screens. At last some northern lights. When we leave Tromsø heading south again the chances of viewing the aurora will diminish.

It was just us and Mark and Claudia for dinner with the girls opting to eat in Brasserie Árran. Another lovely meal with Kristo coming out of his shell even more and joking around with us. I guess it takes a few days for the staff to get the measure of the passengers and whether they are dealing with people who expect their waiters to be seen and not heard or whether they are Australians who can be joked around with?

With the aurora forecast promising from 8.00pm onwards we went from the dining room to our cabin for hats and gloves and coats before going up to Deck 9 to watch a bit more for the northern lights. We were rewarded with a few more appearances of the lights tonight. Fingers crossed that some of the photos will be OK.

Steps: 14,031 (8.82km)