We have discovered on this trip that it is sometimes difficult to get your sleep! There are just too many things to see, even at night because it is daylight all the time now. One doesn’t want to miss seeing anything that we are sailing by.
After waking up a few times in the night to peek out our window, we got up for the day around 06:30 as we docked in Harstad. This is a town of 23,000 inhabitants. It is located near Norway’s largest cluster of islands. In the past it flourished with the harvesting of herring. Now, the sea still provides much activity to the town but the fertile farming communities to the west and north also provide produce-based products to the economy. It is known for growing some of the northernmost strawberries that are apparently very flavourful when harvested in August. Our stop here was not too long so we did our looking from the ship. As we sailed out of the harbour we were able to see the Trondenes Church dating from around 1250. It was probably the most important Roman Cathoic Church in northern Norway.
Mid-morning on board the ship, the crew held a “Polar Baptism” for anyone who was crossing the Arctic Circle for the first time. It was quite a bit of fun as you can imagine. Held on the open deck at the stern of the ship, King Neptune paid a visit and then the crew set about ladling cold water with ice cubes over each participant’s neck, making sure some got past the collar! This was followed with a wee drink of schnapps and later certificates delivered to our doors. Since this was Sherrill’s first crossing of the Arctic Circle, she had to bow to the wishes of King Neptune … b-r-r-r-r! Meanwhile, John enjoyed this photo op.
Throughout the morning, we passed scenic islands, hearing about bits of their history as we made our way to Tromso. We docked in Tromso about 12:00 and headed off on our tour of the city. Our first stop was to Polaria, an adventure centre with Arctic, Antarctic and Barents Sea themes. It was very well done with a marvellous wide-screen video presentation about Sptizbergen. A real treat was seeing some several bearded seals work with their trainers. As the bus drove us through several parts of the city, we felt that Tromso has a really interesting feel about it. It has quaint parts, cosmopolitan aspects with its university and students, and also some new parts that were exciting and inspiring. The Arctic cathedral, our last stop, is an example of the “new”. It is designed to symbolize the dark period and the northern lights. As we looked at it in the sunlight, it was difficult to imagine that each year Tromso is in darkness for about 3 months. We were treated to some wonderful organ music while in the cathedral too. All in all, we found Tromso fascinating and look forward to exploring further in a few days time on our return.
Our day was topped off with a feast of reindeer at dinner on board the ship. We had been served this on two occasions since arriving in Norway and it is delicious. We perhaps haven’t mentioned the meals on the Hurtigruten, but they have been good and something new each day…not to mention the wonderful array of breads and cheeses.
This night, as we headed to bed, it wasn’t dark at all!!! The sun didn’t dip below the horizon ... it truly is the time of the midnight sun.
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