NTW Pre-Tour 2014 - Vesterålen

As every year in spring the national tourism board, Innovation Norway, held also in 2014 the "Norwegian Travel Workshop (NTW)", this year in Alta.
And as usual there were various pre- and post-workshop-tours organized for the participants in order to get better acquainted with the tourism product "destination Norway". Nearly every year it is arranged that my colleague Franck participates in the workshop itself, but sends me and/or another colleague on a pre- or post-tour. (Click for the posts of previous tours in 2010, 2011 and 2012.)
This year I was sent on a tour discovering a bit more of the Vesterålen Islands, an archipelago bordering the north of the Lofoten islands. The start of the tour was on a Thursday, but I decided to fly up a day earlier, making a stopover in Tromsø to visit Jana and Helder for a day/night.

Wednesday, 26th of March:

Flight in the afternoon from Oslo Gardermoen to Tromsø.

Helder's and Jana's "Reich" (how do you say that in English - realm?).

Helder was preparing photographs for the NTW, where he was going to present his own company: Northern Shots, offering Northern lights chases for tourists with a focus on aurora photography.

Thursday, 27th of March:
Helder and Jana had to work today, so I used some time around noon to meet my cousin Florian who also lives in Tromsø (again). We met downtown at his workplace where he invited me for lunch at his office canteen.

In the afternoon it was time for me to fly to Andenes on Vesterålen islands.

Check in at Hotel Marena where I met the other participants of the tour later on in the evening.

Friday, 28th of March:
Start of the day: with a whale safari! The weather was certainly not the best, but at least with the whales we were relatively lucky: we saw two of them. Two sperm whales :-)

On below picture one can see the whale "breathing out" through the hole in the left part of the head.

And here a dive shown in slow motion/step by step.

The excursion by boat was followed by a visit of the whale centre/museum.

Around noon we had our first site inspection: Andrikken Hotel, in Andenes. Pretty basic hotel, but "luxurious" accommodation is anyway rarely to be found in northern Norway.

Shortly after we made our way southwards, with a stop at the Spaceship Aurora, a new learning- and visitor centre at Andøya Space Center with focus on Northern lights research. The place hadn't yet officially been opened and things in there seemed not ready yet. Maybe that's why this place hadn't really left a remarkable impression on me or led me to take any interesting pictures.

For lunch we stopped at Andøy Friluftssenter, at a farm by the Buksnesfjord in Risøyhamn. Next to some activities and cosy accommodation, good local food (e.g. their proper fish and own cultivated cloudberries) is an important part of the experience at Andøy Friluftssenter.

The crazy owner Nigel on a selfie before taking a group picture of us :-)

Wild reindeer en route.

Further down in Kvalsaukan we meet a Sami family at "Inga Sami Siida" where we got an introduction to the Sami culture (including a sequence of joik, a traditional sami form of song) and where we also got to meet and feed some reindeer.

 

In Stokmarknes we quickly visit Sortland Hotel...

...before checking it at Vesterålen Kysthotell where we were taught how to correctly set up your SLR camera (if you had one) to take pictures of Northern lights. Not really useful for me only being in possession of a pocket camera.
Later on: dinner at the hotel. The initial plan was going on a Northern lights hunt later in the evening, but the weather conditions were so bad that the chances of seeing an aurora were basically zero. So we simply skipped that point on the programme and went to bed.

Saturday, 29th of March:

En route to Harstad, the gateway to the Vesterålen and Lofoten islands.

In Harstad we met two guys of B&B Touring for a rib boat tour that was supposed to take us out to Bjarkøy and the surrounding islands ending at Røkenes Gård for lunch.

Unfortunately the weather was so bad that there was no point in going out to those islands. It started raining heavily the moment we set out with the boats.

With the strong wind the rain started freezing in our faces. Therefore the guys brought us straight to Røkenes Gård. At the quai docked the world's oldest schooner "Anna Rogde" from 1868 which we were allowed on board for a quick look inside.

Getting out of the overalls in the bus - not that easy!

Time for lunch at Røkenes Gård. What a cosy place and what a super super delicious lunch!!!

Especially that soup as starter was extraordinary. Pumpkin soup (if I remember well) with parsley oil, crispy stripes of bacon and pieces of potato crisps!

After lunch we met a guide from Destination Harstad, taking us, among others, up to the Adolf cannon, a German naval gun designed in 1934 by Krupp and originally intended for some battleships. However, eventually they were used as coastal defense artillery during the Second World War. Out of eleven produced guns eight were brought to Norway, the others to Poland and France.

 

Visiting Trondenes Church, the northernmost medieval stone church in Norway built in the 15th century. 

Trondenes Historical Centre, a museum covering the history of Trondenes and the surrounding areas. It displays more than 2000 years of history in the region, which was once a Viking Era power centre.

The afternoon was characterised by several hotel inspections: Rica Hotel Harstad to come first.

Then Clarion Collection Hotel Harstad.

And last but not least Thon Hotel Harstad, the hotel where we would stay over night.

In the evening we were brought up to Sollifjellet mountain for some snow fun and Northern lights chases. At least that was the plan. But it was pretty cold and again too cloudy for any visible auroras.

At least we got a northern light WRAP instead.

Back down in the valley we had a transfer to Heggenkollen to have a traditional sami dinner in a lavvo. The dinner was ok, but nothing special and also the hosts weren't as fascinating and exciting in their story telling then for example the couple at Inga Sami Siida. It was a bit too "flat" the evening.
After dinner, transfer by bus to the hotel.

Sunday, 30th of March:

Harstad in the morning at 8 a.m. That is when one is able to see two Hurtigruten ships at the same time in a harbour along their journey along the Norwegian coast: the one ship being on its northward journey, the other one on its way southwards, crossing each other in the Harbour of Harstad.

At 8:30 we were already on our way driving to the Polar Park in Bardu, the world's northernmost wildlife park with plenty of predators.

 

We did not only get to see the predators, we actually got to meet and touch them.

After careful instructions on how to correctly behave when being close to the wolves we were let into their enclosure. And if you were lucky you even got "kissed" by some wolves :-) "Kiss" = a huge lick over your entire face! What an experience!

Someone actually managed to take quite a good picture of me getting kissed by a wolf. But I couldn't remember who exactly took that picture and also after the tour I wasn't able to get hold of the picture :-( What a pity that I can't post that picture here now!

The bears.

In the enclosure playing with the polar foxes.

Feeding a greedy moose.

The lynx.

After having had lunch at the Polar Park, drive to Narvik.

Short rib boat tour on the Ofotfjorden to get a close look at a shipwreck from World War II.

In the Battles of Narvik in World War II, the Ofotfjord was the scene for several naval battles, and many ships are resting at the bottom, especially in the vicinity of Narvik harbour. These are very popular among divers. However, some of these ship wrecks are declared war graves and are thus protected by law. The German destroyer "Georg Thiele" was scuttled and is still partially visible on the surface.

After the excursion check in at our hotel Quality Hotel Grand Royal in Narvik.

At around 5 p.m. transfer to Narvik Mountain Lodge for dinner, offering a great view over Narvik.

We ended the day with a spontaneous site inspection at the new Rica Hotel Narvik...

...testing also its rooftop bar to have a drink at the last evening of the tour.

Monday, 31st of March:
Early (7 a.m.) departure to Harstad/Evenes airport.

While all the others headed on a flight to Alta where the workshop was going to take place, I flew back to Oslo.

Unlike in the north the snow in Oslo had already gone.

To sum up: good and interesting tour, loaded with a lot of new things to discover and which it means now to remember for future use. I'm especially happy about the whale safari (not only because of having seen whales, but also from a professional point of view as we use that supplier a lot for our clients). And of course the visit of the Polar Park, in particular the experience with the wolves, was pretty unique and unforgettable.
Unfortunately no northern lights accompanied this tour. They would have made this trip just perfect!