Tromso

Continued from Bergen

Days 8 -11

Tromso was the star of the trip because it featured the event that was the raison d’être of the entire vacation. We reached the airport at around 11 AM and caught a Flybussen to the city. For a change, we bought tickets on board – 100 NOK pp. If you’re willing to wait, there are city buses too (#40, 42) that will get you to the city at half the price but in double the time. The journey took us half an hour and we were dropped right in front of our hotel – Scandic Ishavshotel. The check in was only at 3PM, so we dropped our luggage in a maze of its brethren! We had chosen the hotel for the superb views it offered. We walked around a bit taking in the excellent view outside before lunch.

We had a few lunch options we wanted to check out, so we took a circuitous route around the place. The buildings by the pier reminded us a bit of Bergen. We found a Christmas market – mostly food – and later realized we were lucky to catch it since it never reappeared during our stay. It was well before lunch but given that dark sets in around 3, the streets were already getting lit. We also caught a church procession complete with singing, through the main road! There was a very interesting building with three floors of books! Turned out that it was the library – I was very glad to see books alive and kicking in this part of the world. 🙂

Lunch was planned at Bardus Bar. We realized that it opened only in the evening. But the spirit seemed strong here because I introduced my posterior to the Tromso streets right in front of it! That got D and me to one fall each, the next one would be the decider! Bardus also has a bistro right next door, and in addition to the witbier from the local Mack microbrewery, and white wine for D, we got ourselves some mussels and a moose ragout. The place was really pretty, though this was our costliest meal during the trip – the only time we reached near our maximum meal budget of 65 euros.

Since our room was still not ready, we decided to advance our schedule a bit. We were supposed to take the cable car the next day, around 3PM – sunset time. We had a bit of time left so we took a bus from near our hotel. There is not a lot of information on the bus stops on the web – all we knew was that we had to take #26. The problem, when we reached Peppes Pizza – our landmark, was that there were stops on both sides of the road and they both featured that bus number! Our general sense of direction made us choose the same side as the landmark and the driver confirmed it was the right bus as we got in. Tickets are costly – 50 NOK pp would get us an hour of rides.

The best way to get to the cable car station is to request the driver to let you know when to get down. The internet, for some reason, is quite bad at this! A short walk from the bus stop took us to the cable car station. It’s pretty pricey at 210 NOK pp. The view, though, was beyond fantastic. We were just in time to see the lights come on and I can think of only Dubrovnik as a comparison. Tromso seemed very large, and we thought it would be the third largest place in Norway after Oslo and Bergen. But it wasn’t – it was much lower in the scale, however it was apparently more spread out.

Meanwhile, a good time to talk about the cold. At -3/-4 ºC, Tromso was the coldest we had experienced. The cable car station was obviously at a higher altitude and even colder – we had to run back in after quickly taking in the spectacular view and trying to snap it. Buses are at about 15 minute intervals and we waited at the same stop we got out at. On the way back, we got down at the Arctic Cathedral. Here, D got us the final score for the tour – 2 falls for her, and 1 for me. Walking on ice/snow is quite an acquired skill!

We went back to the hotel and finally got our room. After freshening up, we got ready for the evening’s agenda –  dog sledding with Lyngsfjord Tours. They picked us up at around 6, and a 1.5 hr bus journey took us to our destination. We then got into appropriate gear – overalls, boots, gloves, cap etc, and this proved quite sufficient despite the crazy temperature!

From all the reading we did, I had assumed that we would merely be passengers in this adventure, and at halftime we could choose to become the rider. Turned out that the two hour sledding was to be completely manned by us, with a guide who would ride in front of us in another sled. At halftime we would have a chance to switch rider-passenger, but that was just between D and me. All my dreams of lazing on a sled, looking up at the sky and catching the lights crashed and burned. I would look up later for a brief time, only to contemplate my anti-theism and to make necessary negotiations!

Controlling five huskies whose only desire in life seemed to be running as fast as they could, is not for the faint hearted. The only way to control them was with a couple of brakes – hard and soft – and that required brute force from the rider. You also have to help them by pushing when the track went uphill.   So D sat on the sled while I stood behind, dazed by the turn of events, and calculating the different ways I could leave my mortal self in the next 2 hours!

Our guide rode his sled in front of us, and we had two more couples behind us. That added a complication – we had to maintain some distance between the 4 sleds (guide in the front, and 3 silly pairs of tourists). The huskies liked to keep mingling with their counterparts in the other sleds so that was a task in itself. Not to mention that they also liked to smell, pee, and chill (in a Netflix kind of way) while I was going crazy trying to control the sled! Our guide fell down in the first 15 minutes, trying to negotiate a steep uphill. Thankfully, he wasn’t injured. I thought it was silly of them not to have a steady terrain – a lot of it was twists and curves, increasing the risk. At half time, we didn’t change roles, since I was sure my backseat (front in this case) driving would be the end of us! The couple right behind us did, I learned of it when the guide beckoned for us to stop and something hard crashed into my leg in the next 5 seconds. The lady had lost control, fallen off, and the dogs then did what they liked to do – run! They stopped when the damn sled caught up with ours, or rather, my leg! Though I enjoyed the last 45 minutes or so because I figured out the “driving”, I still maintain this is a death wish!

After the ride, we got some nice, warm food in a Sami tent. A couple who also sat at our table had seen the lights for two consecutive nights, and the pics were amazing. We were dropped back at the hotel, and after some excellent drinks at the super crowded Bardus bar, we slept.

We lazed around the next day. With a view like that, it was easy not to get up. But after a superb breakfast, we went out to see the Tromso Cathedral. Sunday afternoon in Tromso made it seem a ghost town! Very few people on the road and most shops were closed. Lunch was at the Huken Brygg, the only restaurant we visited that didn’t have a WiFi they could share. But the meal was decent. Our next stop was Polaria, because D wanted to see seals being fed. This was a longish walk, specially with the slippery snow, but it was worth it.

As we walked back to the hotel, it started snowing. We were horrified because our Northern Lights plan with Enjoy the Arctic was for later in the evening, and we needed a clear sky! At the hotel, the internet was down. We walked off to Bardus Bistro (where we had connected to the WiFi the previous day) to check if we had updates from our guide. We did – he wasn’t sure if we should go today, and said he might be considering postponing it to the next day. That was our last night in Tromso, so if we missed the Lights, well, that was it! He would let us know by 5.  The next hour was the worst as we tried to figure a Plan B. At 5.15, we got a person at the hotel reception to call him and ask for an update. He said the tour was on because he felt we could get a clear sky an hour outside Tromso. We again walked off to Bardus to confirm, and there was a mail from him. We were on for the 6PM pickup. Yay!

When we got back, the internet was back, and I took it as a good omen. At 6PM, we found our guide waiting at the location, a short walk from the hotel. There were seven of us, all Asians. There are bus tours that take 50 people at a time, but I would suggest going with small groups. Costlier, but completely worth it.

We went about 45 minutes outside the city, and Andrei took a few turns looking for a perfect spot. The first was rejected because he felt “we could do better” and the second because there was no parking space. We stopped at the third and waited for the magic to happen. And happen it did, in an awe-inspiring fashion. Quick notes – mobile cameras are quite worthless, so unless you have a DSR and a tripod and are bent on getting your own pics, let your guide do the photography. The lights look better in photos, but on a good night (we got lucky) you can still see the green tinge and the “dance”. So, just enjoy the breathtaking sight and its movements across the sky, pose for the pics, shiver in the sub -10 ºC cold, thank the campfire and the sausages, have fun conversations, maybe make yellow snow, and take in the experience of a lifetime.

Two hours later, we had done all of that except the yellow snow, and were back in the city, in the comfort of our beds, content and thankful!

The next morning, after breakfast, we set off for reindeer sledding with Lyngsfjord Tours again. This was a much better experience, and part of it was a very interesting conversation about the Sami culture with our hosts. They showed us their lasso style and told us about their life here and how they traveled with the herd twice a year. Apparently, asking them about the size of the herd (which I did) is like asking someone how much money they had. After taking my snow boot out of my mouth, we introduced ourselves to the reindeer and went on a ride. A much more peaceful one and I actually lay back and thoroughly enjoyed it. After the ride, we had the standard hot meal and dessert at the Sami tent before making the hour and a half journey to the hotel.

We were originally supposed to reach at 6, but the Ice Dome visit that was a part of the plan had been canceled because the snow hadn’t been enough this year and construction was still on. So we got back to the city at 4 and after lazing around for a bit went for dinner to Pastafabrikken. Excellent mussels and pasta later, we went back to Bardus for our last-night-in-tromso drinks. We had really liked the place, and the drinks, but it had been packed the night we had visited. Since it was a Monday, we figured there wouldn’t be many folks around, and we could sit comfortably with a drink. Exactly what happened. We then walked around for a last look at Tromso, and saw the tiniest hotdog outlet we have seen before dragging ourselves back to the hotel.

The next day, after a lazy breakfast, we were off to Oslo.

Next stop, Oslo