I'll start from a day prior. Let's start from where I left off in my Lofoten blog. So Hurtigruten it was- the MS Richard With!! It was our first time on a ship. We checked in our luggage and rushed to the upper deck to grab our recliner seats.
We couldn't get cabins, so recliners were the best sleep-friendly options. Mine was literally the front seat 😜 I could see the icebergs floating around with the spotlight helping in dodging them.
We were so exhausted that we missed the troll story and complimentary fish cake sessions. Next morning by the time we were awake the ship had reached Narvik.
There is this strange thing about Northern Norway. While you're indoors it may seem that it's all sunny and warm outside, but as soon as you step outside you realize that despite the sun the weather outside is cold enough to freeze you to death!!
But the kid in me won't take no for an answer😜 I went to each and every deck and every time there is something beautiful around I'd even drag my wife out for a photo op. As the ship was approaching Tromso, we were entering frozen waters. We were told that the ice near the coast was as much as 40cms thick. The ship cut through the ice like a hot knifi through butter.
We reached Tromso at around 2:30 in the afternoon. Our ride was waiting right outside the port. He dropped us to our hotel- Thon Hotel Polar. Though not as exotic as the Scandic, Thon Hotel Polar was an above avert hotel with extremely helpful staff.We checked in, freshened up and were ready for our first activity- 'Fjellheisen- The Cable Car'.
Quick fact: Tromso is situated at a latitude of almost 70°N. The temperature outside the city drops to a fuckin -20° after sundown!! 😥 We were clearly not prepared for that kinda cold.
Every time I went to the reception, they gave me a new city map and marked the places where I'll get bus tickets. There are shops called Narvesen all around Tromso. Look out for the ones that sell bus tickets. Every ride costs you 33NOK, no matter what distance you travel. So we took Bus No. 24 and reached the foot of the hill. Soon we realized that 2 American and Canadian families were following us assuming that we know the way 😜
We took the cable car to the top and I gotta say the view of Tromso from there takes your breath away. I had seen about a million photos of the same view before reaching there. But once I was there, it took me a moment to believe that I was actually looking at this million dollar view!!
We badly wanted to see the aurora from there... Imagine what a sight it would have been!! But I guess luck was not on our side. We had spent 5days in Norway and still hadn't seen the northern lights.
Since our boots were not ideal for the weather, our feet started getting cold. Moreover the weather was getting colder with every passing minute. So we decided to come down and returned to our hotel.
Day 2 in Tromso!! The Northern Lights Capital of the World!!
Tromso despite its latitude, is a pretty warm city with daytime temperatures in March going as high as 2° due to the nearby gulf stream. In places even 4-5kms away from the city, the daytime temperatures drop to -10°.
We had our Fjord Cruise activity scheduled for the day. We had to reach this place called Kystens Hus by the port where we met the guide. The boat was called Strønstad- a very small boat with cabins and complimentary drinks inside. But I was in no mood for staying inside. I went to every corner of the boat... except the 'crew only' sections 😜
Also went to the watch deck, and the view from there left me spellbound. I had my fair share of Titanic poses too at the front. Since we were traveling out of Tromso, it was very difficult to stay outside despite the 4layers I was wearing.
We went to 2 noteworthy places and I must say the journeys were way more beautiful than the destinations. The first one was a submarine bay from WW-II. The Norwegians have presently rented it out to the Russians but our guide seemed pretty suspicious that some military activities were going on inside. Movies like Die Another Day and Austin Powers were also shot there.
Our next destination was a sunken German Naval Ship from WW-II. Legend has it that the ship had escaped from enemy territory and was hiding there at night. The Airforce flew in next morning and dropped shells on its starboard side making it topple and killing all the soldiers on it. The bottom of the ship is visible in times of low tide. We were amongst the lucky ones who were able to see it.
Our guide was a crazy hippie. Once our boat entered the frozen waters, he put on a floating suit and jumped into the water. I have a 2minute long 4K quality video of the entire incident, but the size of the video is unfortunately 1.5GB. He swam with the boat, climbed the ice, broke a piece of it, did some showboating, climbed back into the boat and headed straight for the jacuzzi 😆🤣
It was a really amazing experience. I'd suggest everyone to explore the outskirts of the city since Tromso is pretty much similar to every other major Arctic city with it's crowd, malls, shops and architecture.
After finishing the tour, we headed for a fish restaurant where we were explained the concept of dry fish. We were told that different varieties of cod are dried on fish racks for 4 months in winter before they are exported. We even had to taste cod liver oil and caviar. Honestly, I hated both of them!! 😝 Even after diluting with vodka, the cod liver oil seemed like the worst thing I could ever taste.
Then we went for the Polar museum. The museum looks like a small hut from inside. But it is enormous, I tell you with 3tiers and a massive collection of exhibits. It has a very elaborate display on Roald Amundsen and Nansen- two legendary explorers. The ticket price per adult is 70NOK.
The exhibits on cruelty on polar animals are so lively that I couldn't help but feel pity on them. There were miniatures of actual ships used for polar expeditions. The museum is almost completely made of wood with the upper tiers having cabin kinda look which definitely adds to the ambience.
Having done all of this we decided to call it a day. Although we returned to our hotel, the day wasn't over for us yet. We had this grief in our heart that it was our 5th day of the trip and we hadn't seen the Northern Lights even once. In the meantime as the sun set, the sky suddenly started turning red. We were literally stunned by the colours. All we could think was that there must have been aurora activity behind those clouds, but till date we haven't understood the reason for the sky turning red at 8 o'clock in the evening.
Do check out the photos...
