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Norway Hurtigruden Day 3 to 7 Northern Lights

My Norway journey continues North from Bergen and Urke and now Trondheim, Saltstraumen Bridge, Tromso, the wonderful North Cape and Crossing the Arctic Circle.

Our ship, the Trollfiord is perfect for me as I have always had a love for Trolls so this Fiord was extra special. If you are not a hiker, this journey is also for you as you can see! Many different excursions are available and wait until you board as the Expedition Team and the wonderful excursion book on board can tailor one for you. And yes, I needed to do more research on these excursions ahead of time and to read the fine print that is in all languages. All of this is on line and they also have an insiders FB page but it is public but I love it now to read about others who have done this journey.

Day 3- Trondheim Nidaros Cathedral is worth seeing and we opted to walk around the town as it is very walkable. It took about 30 minutes with help from locals. There is an excursion to get you inside as you have to buy tickets but I was able to walk inside and see the beautiful stained glass windows but the outside is magnificent!

Day 4-Saltstraumen Bridge is worth researching on line via YouTube to see the tides and how they merge. My sister had done this rib boat excursion the year before and the tides were not very active. So I enjoyed this experience thru others on board who did videos. And on board, I tasted the special Salt produced from this area! Again, in the afternoon the Expedition team does such outstanding talks about this area and also what is in store the next day. This really helped me to select our excursions.

Day 5-Tromso in hunt for another Cathedral! No excursion needed as the modern Cathedral is right by where the ship docks but it is a 40 minute walk both ways. On the return going south, you get an option for a midnight concert. Why midnight, this ship is also a cargo ship and it stops for an hour or so around 11:30pm. We had a big day the next morning so opted not to do this on our return but it received high marks from those that attended.

So what is the big day we had planned you might ask! It’s the most beautiful North Cape and the journey on board and on foot or bus! Remember there is something for everyone and this is one NOT to be missed. I spent so much time on the top deck just marveling the untouched scenery. We saw a large Salmon Farm while sailing and the fiords or mountains were surrounding us.

Day 6-we had selected a rib boat excursion and a hike up to the Cape. This is where I needed to read the fine print and it is not fine it is pretty much right in the middle of the page on the difficulty and what is needed. Well this was a very difficult hike but the Trolls were out to save me. It got cancelled the night before because of high winds so we booked the bus tour. Thank you Trolls as this was the very, very best and we had a sunny and most windy day! I was on top of the world I felt and it is the Northern most land mass in Europe I was told. I will never forget it and when I peered down to look at what I would have climbed, I gasped. But with a lot of hiking training this year, I may return to do it. There is a great museum with a cafeteria and the most amazing movie about the North Cape.

Oh did I mention the reindeer, white and gray all around on our bus journey. And a bird island could be seen with binoculars.

On this journey, we crossed the Arctic Circle, Crossing the line to the land of the Midnight Sun or Norther Lights. An invisible line sweeps across Sweden, Finland, Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Iceland. A line that splits Norway in two. The magic number 66degree 33’ MARK’s this line, the Arctic Circle, north of which the midnight sun shines. And yes, at 9:06pm the magical lights appeared in early September for this night and the next. They were white wisps that danced and my iPhone caught them as Green. Remember no flash. A memory for a lifetime! Go explore!