Tromsø, Norway - July 11, 2023 - Day 10

Port of Tromsø

Tromsø is located 271 miles north of the Arctic Circle and is the 3rd largest city above the Arctic Circle anywhere in the world.  The population is around 80,000. 

Known as the Paris of the North, the city houses the world's northernmost university (not really true as I discovered later there is a university in Svalbard) as well as the northernmost botanical gardens and planetarium.

The city center is located on the island of Tromsøya and has the Arctic Cathedral...which is not really a cathedral as it is a parish church of the Church of Norway, which is Lutheran.  Because of its striking design, it is one of the most famous churches in Norway.

Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions.  He was on the first expedition to overwinter in Antarctica...because the ship became locked in ice.

He later led the first expedition to traverse the Northwest Passage and in 1911 led the first expedition to reach the South Pole beating out British Explorer Robert Scott.  Some of his expeditions originated in Tromsø.

You can read more about him in the link above.

Our tour for the day was "Tromsø Sojourn." We started at the port...upper right corner of the map.  We went through a long tunnel which traverses the island...it even had roundabouts in it!  Norway has 900+ tunnels, including the longest road tunnel in the world (15.2 miles). 

We crossed over to Kvaløya Island (top left on the map), 5th largest island in Norway. On the southern part of this island we stopped to see some rock carvings dating from about 7000 years ago.

Across the water, we could see Moose Island where the German battleship Tirpitz (sister of the Bismarck) was sunk by resistance fighters in 1944 during the WWII.

The rock carvings are classic hunter-gatherer and have been dated to 3000-2200 BCE.  There are 3 panels but the other two are not available for visits.  This one consists of 17 figures of elk, fish, seals, reindeer and some geometrical figures (you can't see them all in our photo below). They paint the carvings with white paint and treat them with ethanol to keep moss from growing.  

After our visit to the rock carvings we headed south to the Malanger Peninsula on the mainland (the lower part of the map).  We enjoyed the scenery while heading to the Malanger Resort. 

At the resort, we enjoyed coffee, tea and pastries on the outdoor patio. Chris tested the water temperature and found it to be around 60 F.

After our rest stop, we completed the circle shown in the map above...again passing beautiful scenery. 

And, we saw our first reindeer!  And no, Santa wasn't with him. 😞

Our guide told us a little about troll beliefs.  They are believed to live in rocks, mountains and caves and are hostile to humans.  Whenever she goes hiking in the mountains she makes a pile of a couple of rocks (cairn) with the belief that this protects you from mountain trolls.  She also told us if people in a family are argue, they must have house trolls living with them.  

The first mention of trolls in Nordic mythology was in the 13th century.  Find out more about trolls in the link below.  

Introduction to the Trolls of Norway

We have been seeing them everywhere.  This is one of the trolls we saw in Tromsø.

After sailing from Tromsø, we enjoyed the scenery pictured below.

Until tomorrow....