We flew a fairly small but very full plane 2 hours north to Tromso, in the northern part of Norway. I was in the window seat and took a few shots that I felt were blog worthy. First up, this fjord was shortly after departing Oslo. The farming of this region is quite obvious.
This fjord was as we were nearing Tromso, about 10 minutes before landing. Really stunning topography!
This final shot from the plane is about a minute before landing. Love this gorgeous mountain range shrouded in the clouds!
Tromso sits at just below 70 degrees latitude, so it’s more northern than any part of Iceland. This makes it the highest northern spot we’ve visited, so far! Despite the northerly latitude, we had excellent weather, and I think it hit 76 on our last day here!
We walked around town on the day of arrival, and visited the Tromso Cathedral, which is rather subdued as cathedrals go, built in 1861 almost entirely out of wood.
We also hit the Olhallen Brewpub, which has 72 beers available, including ones they brew right on-site. The local brewery is called Mack, and you can find it pretty much everywhere in northern Norway. I think they must make 20 different beers! If you like darker beers, go for the Mack Bayer…it has nothing to do with aspirin, but it might have the same medicinal effect.
The next day we took a hike over the Tromso Bridge to visit a couple of attractions on the other side of the fjord.
First up was the Fjellheisen Tram, that runs up Storsteinen mountain. The views from the top are incredible!
In every direction!
We will be driving through these mountains when we head to our next destination after Tromso. By the way, they have decent draft beer at the top, so make sure you relax with the view before heading back down.
We then hiked back towards the Tromso Bridge to visit the Arctic Cathedral, which really stands out on the landscape of Tromso!
It’s supposed to be stunning at night, but since sunset was around 11:00 each night, and it really doesn’t get very dark this far north, we never saw it lit up. Still a beautiful cathedral which draws a lot of tourists.
I think the exterior is more of a draw than the interior, but it’s worth the fee to go inside.
On our final day in Tromso we took a 2.5 hour boat ride on Hermes II, a restored wooden boat from 1917. A beautiful boat with an excellent crew! Highly recommended!
We cruised by the final resting spot of the Nazi battleship “Tirpitz”, which was stationed just off Tromso. A British air attack with 32 Lancaster bomber planes was able to heavily damage and capsize the battleship at this spot in November 1944. The vessel was mostly salvaged afterwards, and not much remains.
The views from the Hermes II are excellent!!
Simply a perfect day in Norway!
Up next, we travel to the small island of Sommaroy for some more incredible views!
Not surprising that it was warm that far north since the sun barely ever sets in the summer. I think that I’ve been that far north before but can’t remember the name of the place that I visited as it was so many years ago.
Hey Chuck! Good to hear from you! You likely went further north during your time in Sweden, a place we have yet to visit. Hope you are doing well!