Some of you might know that I have a cousin, Jan & Herad's son Florian, who lives in Tromsø... in the North of Norway, far away from the rest of Europe. That is exactly 350 km north of the arctic circle!!!
Never heard of Tromsø? 350 km north of the polar circle? You think now that this is some lost place in the middle of nowhere far out of civilisation? No, that's not the case. So let's have a closer look where I went in the beginning of July when I finally managed to visit my cousin where I spent a really nice weekend.
Location:
Arrival Friday 3 July:
Here I was just leaving Oslo (by the way in short pants, T-Shirt and 32°C!):
And here you see the arctic influence when arriving in Tromsø:
A note on the climate:
The proximity to the sea moderates temperatures. Summer is rather cool, with an 24-hour average of 12°C; daytime temperatures are usually slightly warmer, but vary from 9°C to 25°C. In my case: 8°C (!!!) awaited me on my arrival in Tromsø and the weather (quite clowdy as you can see on the pictures) accompanied me the whole weekend :-(
Having been used to weeks of heat in Oslo, though, I was freezing and the 8°C felt colder than they actually were. So I added a fourth(!) layer of warm clothes by asking Flo to borrow his nice & warm red fleece jacket :-) I usually wear that much in deep winter when it's really cold... Anyway, now well packed I could start enjoying my visit :-)
Light & darkness:
The midnight sun is above the northern horizon from about 18 May to 26 July, although the mountains in the north block the view to the midnight sun a few days, meaning that one can see the sun from about 21 May to 21 July - given that the whole sky is not covered by clouds as it was unfortunately the case when I was up there. Due to Tromsø's position near the top of the globe, twilight is longer, meaning there is no real darkness between late April and mid August.
For some pictures I will give a note on the time when the photo has been taken. It's amazing how much light there is still at night. So just check the times.
The sun remains below the horizon from about 26 November to 15 January, but due to the mountains the sun is absent from the center from 21 November to 21 January. The return of the sun is an occasion for celebration. Due to the twilight, there is some daylight for a couple of hours even around midwinter, often with beautiful bluish light. The nights shorten quickly and by 21 February the sun is above the horizon from 07:45 to 16:10, and 1 April from 05:50 to 19:50 (summertime).
Tromsø:
Tromsø is the seventh largest city in Norway by population (64,000 inhabitants only!!!). Most of Tromsø, including the city centre, is located on the small island of Tromsøya in the county of Troms. The island is connected to the mainland by the Tromsø Bridge and the Tromsøysund Tunnel, and to the island of Kvaløya (Whaleisland) by the Sandnessund Bridge. This is by the way where Florian lives (Kvaløysletta).
The Arctic Cathedral ("Ishavskatedralen"),
a modern church from 1965, is probably the most famous landmark in Tromsø. In the evening of my arrival I went with Flo to listen to some midnight concert.
(00:12)
(00:07)
On the way back home...
(00:11)
... we passed a little boat hangar where they restore old, historic, wooden boats:
(pictures at ca. 00:35)
Saturday 4 July:
As the city is a cultural centre for its region, several festivals take place in the summer. So for example the "Bukta Open Air Festival" where I went with Flo on Saturday afternoon. That was quite nice to attend. They also had Tørrfisk (Clippfish) there as you can see on the picture.
In order to prepare the fish for a dish the dry meat is placed into water which makes it very soft and delicous again. But anther method of eating it is demonstrated on the picture below: beat small pieces with a hammer until it's somewhat softer... In my opinion though, cosuming it that way is equal to chewing a very hard piece of cardboard that doesn't wanna become softer.
The city centre of Tromsø contains the highest number of old wooden houses in North Norway, the oldest house dating from 1789.
(an old cinema, they only show once a week movies for children)
The "Polarlys" - one of the Hurtigruten boats. We went for a visit inside. It was interesting to see as we (Terra Nova) work together with Hurtigruten - we use them for several of our groups.
Florian's house:
And some houses in the neighbourhood:
The only purpose of these two pictures (I took them from my sleepingroom) is to show how much light there is at 01:30 at night!
Sunday 5 July - visiting Sommerøy:
On the way we get to see some reindeers:
Unbelievable: the sun comes out for a while
Crazy: after that Flo went swimming in this freezing cold water. I'm not joking!
Up the Fjellheisen:
The lower cablecar station is located near sea-level in Tromsdalen on the mainland side of the city. The upper station is located at Storsteinen (English: "The big rock"), a mountain ledge about 420 m above sea-level. We took the four minute trip to the upper station offering a commanding view of the city and the surrounding islands and fjords.
He nearly points directly at his house in Kvaløysletta.
Flying home to Oslo.
Despite the grey, cold weather: I really enjoyed this weekend. Tusen takk, Flo, og ha det bra!
No comments:
Post a Comment