Prabhu n Ferrari

Narvik is set in a very picturesque location. There are mountains, fjords all around the city. And there is sea as well. My bus to Tromso was at 15.30. I had 2 hours time. I like to have some buffer time in my journeys. Just in case, any of the connecting train/flight/bus gets delayed, then I don’t like to be stranded somewhere. I spent the 2 hours, hunting for a ATM and roaming around the streets of Narvik. I found a city square, with the statue of a woman holding her baby and a museum. The weather was fine. Sun was shining and it was around 15 degrees Celsius.

The bus left Narvik at 15.30. The journey was for 4.30 hrs. And since I was going in the direction of North West, I chose a seat on the right side of the bus. Actually I was very tired. I have had enough action for the previous 24 hours, and wanted to sleep. But that was not to be.

How can someone sleep, when you travel through such amazing landscape? If Kiruna-Narvik was one of the best train journeys, then Narvik-Tromso is one of the best bus journeys.

Reached Tromso by around 8 PM. Meanwhile I befriended a Norwegian, who told me that Tromso shares the same latitude as Alaska and Siberia, 400 to 500 kms above the Arctic Circle. And this was easily accessible, when compared to the other 2 places. This is the eight largest city in Norway, and has a population of more than 20000 people and most of them belong to Sami community. Due to its culture and fashion, people call it as the paris of the north. I have never been to Paris, so I am not sure with that statement.

But the city looked beautiful. Reached my hotel, checked in and after a quick shower set out.

Tromso is famous for many things. Like the midnight sun in summer, natural lights or Aurora Borealis as it is popularly called. Sun was shining when I reached Tromso, but later clouds covered the whole sky. Though there was sun light all through the night, I coudlnt actually see the sun.

But look at these pictures. It was taken at 12 in the night After spending some time near the harbor, I reached the hotel by around 1 AM. I literally crawled into the bed and hid below the covers (It was around 6 degrees at night).

I had read in the weather report, that heavy showers were expected over the weekend. Infact many people with whom I interacted in Tromso, said that all through the summer it had been raining.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see the sun shine brightly, when I woke up the next morning. After a quick shower and breakfast I set for the hill nearby.

Actually it is very close to the arctic cathedral. This cathedral looks very different from others. And they have special sessions during summer. Even at midnight(or midday?). Right next to the cathedral, there is a cable car station from where you can take a cable car to reach the hill top. The view from there is breathtaking. Rather breathtaking is a small word, to describe the view.

Please have a look at the above picture. Do download the original size and set it as desktop wallpaper. Thats when you can actually see the panoramic view of the town Oh yes, remember to save your current desktop background before setting the tromso picture The mountains behind the town reminded me of the harry potter movies. It looked like a set and not real.

The sun was really shining, and for the first time in two days I didnt feel like wearing a jacket. I aimlessly wandered for a while. My mind was too numb to think. What can you do, when you think you have seen the best sight go further and find something even more amazing?

Suddenly I realised it was getting chill, and looked up at the sky. There was no sun. It had behind the thick cloud cover. And the temperature dropped down really fast. I was literally shivering, till I wore a sweater and jacket. Rushed into the small hotel nearby and had my lunch of chapathi and avakkai pickle, with coke The hotel staff said, the tempearture outside must be some 4 or 5 degrees!

I got back to the main city by late afternoon. I had seen boards advertising whale safari. I enquired at the counter. They said they will take us into an island somewhere beyond Tromso. And we can watch whales from a distance. As in, they will briefly appear above the water and disappear again. And it costs 100 Euros. Thank you very much. I would prefer to see them via animal plannet or national geographic. And by this time it started to rain. I got back to my hotel, and waited for the run to subside. Grabbed a copy of the tromso city map from the reception, and checked out on must visit places.

The harbor, the bridge connecting the tromso island to the main land, polaria and the arctic ship were the things I decided to see. The rain didnt seem to stop and it was around 7 PM. I stepped out of the hotel, with the help of the map and went on a trial run(walk?) to all these places. There were hardly anyone on the roads, and it was very gloomy.

And in many restuarants they had some lights like this. Interesting thing is, these lights emit heat. So when you go near, you actually feel very warm. I tried to find the name of it, but then the restaurant guys didnt understand what I asked them. Anyways, if you know what it is tell me

It was colder than the day before, and add to it the rains. So there was no chance of catching the midnight sun. But still, I did venture out at midnight. It was very cold. But the experience was very nice. The sound of water hitting the rocky shore is still ringing in my ears. My thought process was focussed on how people brave such extreme weather and survive. The sun is there for only 3 months. Maximum temperature goes only till 15 or 16. And the winter is harsh. Really tough. I couldnt imagine staying there for even 1 week even though its so beautiful.

Next day I ended my vacation by visiting the polaria and the arctic ship. The polar museum is called as polaria. Here they show a movie, which portrays how people survive in this part of the world. And many other things. If you are going to tromso, this is a must visit place. They do some environmental research as well.

And there is a special area where there are endangered seals. At 12.30 every day, they feed the seals. Its really a sight to watch. The way the seals cuddle to the trainers and squeal. You will really enjoy it. I have taken the videos of the same. Will upload in youtube sometime and let you know. After this, I went to the arctic ship which was used in hunting and many other voyages across the arctic. Looked deadly. And yes. There is a dummy polar bear which looks so real!

By the time I came out of the museum, it was evening. Went back to the hotel, checked out and reached the airport by 6 in the evening. I was too tired and slept through the 2 hr journey to Oslo. After reaching Oslo, got into a bus at 11 PM and reached Goteborg by 02.30 in the morning. With that a trip of lifetime came to an end. Instead of telling these stories to my grandchildren, I would actually prefer to take them here If you get an opportunity to be in this side of europe, do visit these places. You will never ever forget the experiences even in your next birth.