To the Paris of the North - Tromsø

In the blog of Lloyd and Chrissi's trip to Norway in 2023, Lloyd notes that Tromsø that was known in the 19th Century as the Paris of the North. It seems the name was given ironically as travellers expected Tromsø to be a wild outpost and they found it far more sophisticated and developed than they expected.

Today our northern trip continues on the Hurtigruten Polarlys and finishes in the Parish of the North. This image is our last view of the Polarlys as it heads out to sea.

Before we get to that's part of the story, let's go back to the beginning of the day.

Waking up

Friday dawns for me at 4.00am - a full 6 and a half hours sleep, which is a very long time for me. The bed in the ship's cabin is perfect, harder than the soft beds of the hotels in Norway, given the comfort I need to sleep well. It means I get a great night's sleep and wake up feeling fresh and glad to be alive.

Since we last looked the ship has gone from Stamsund to stop during the night at Svolvær (10.15pm), Stokmarknes (1.40am), and Sortland at (3.10am). We slept soundly through all of those. Our next sight is the channel between Dragnes and Risøyhamn with out next port of call being Risøyhamn where we are due to arrive at 4.50am, making steady progress north.

We will continue with stops at: Harstad (6.45am), Finnsnes (11.30am) and our destination Tromsø (2.15pm).

I begin to update the blog on our first full day in Trondheim and deal with some emails from my parish admin role which can't wait. I begin my ablutions at 6 and Drew follows after me. I must say this is a vast improvement on any previous shower I've had at sea. A large comfortable space and with little ship movement to make a shower a feat of standing up, let along washing. Excellent by Hurtigruten. 

We then go out on deck at 6.30am for our arrival at Harstad. Here are the scenes we saw as we arrived:

Drew clearly makes an effort for these photos, getting almost blown off his feet as the wind from the land whips across the sea.

Breakfast

While in port we go down for breakfast at 7.00am, as it opens, both of us feeling hungry after the meagrely food of last night's dinner. This means we have plenty from this morning's buffet to make up for the gaps.

The Hurtigruten Polarlys has a wider selection for breakfast than many of the places we have stayed, all of whom have had a lot of variety.

I begin with yogurt, nuts and seeds. Today's breakfast is the first time we have seen almonds since Oslo so they join the hazelnuts and four types of seeds in the bowl.

Drew opts to start breakfast with a salad and breadroll.

I then have oatmeal with cinnamon on top - I may have tipped the cinnamon shaker a little to vigorously, but it was very tasty.

I then venture into the pickled everything section with pickled beetroot, pickled gherkins, pickled cauliflower, pickled cherry tomatoes along with the more familiar varieties of pickled herring and peppered mackerel.

Drew visits the cooked part of the buffet and has sausages, eggs and potatoes

I decide to top up some more with omelette, roast potatoes, peppered cheese, Norvegia and Jarlsberg, 

Drew completes with some lovely sweet treats.

Back to the Cabin

I go back to the cabin and complete the blog post on Trondheim. It is a complex process as the ship's wifi doesn't allow access to photo applications like Flickr and Google photos, so I have to compose the text (some of which I'd written in real time in the Microsoft Notes app) and then disconnect from wifi and use a hotspot from Drew's phone to add the photos, luckily sailing close to land means we have mobile signal. 

Finnsnes

I finished the blog post at 10.30am, in time to go out and take photos of Finnsnes as we approach. 

We arrive just before 11am and leave at 11.30am - given the short gap it is a surprise to see how many passengers leave the ship to stretch there legs before rushing back when the hooter sounds.

As we leave Finnsnes we pass under a large bridge, Drew manages to capture it well.

He even takes the underside of the bridge

which is this wind is not an easy task

Check-Out

We take a last photo of Captain Jack looking out through the porthole

and leave the room at 11.45pm (check out is Midday) and go up to the Café area on floor four. 

We continue to travel through the Fjords noting how well Slartibartfast had done on his "little fiddly bits". The fjords through which we have travelled in this last day has shown the good job he or the creator has done on this part of God's earth.

Arrival at Tromsø

So, we have arrived in the deepest north, latitude of 69.65°N (or at least as far north as we are going on this trip) my mind is brought back to my childhood and stories of Noggin the Nog and Nogbad the Bad finally after 50+ years I am in that imaginary land: "In the lands of the North, where the Black Rocks stand guard against the cold sea." as the narrotor would always start the programme.

The ship comes into the harbour between the island of Tromsø and its mainland neighbour Tomasjorda

ADD VIDEO

Google even provides an automatic animation of Steve throwing the rope to the dock-hand and yes, it does hit him/her.

The ship docks at 2.12pm and we can see the top of our hotel, with its bright blue Radisson Blu sign. But we let the people, heading off on their trips for the short time they are in port, leave the ship first as they are time-limited and we are not. 

We walk the three minutes to the hotel, arriving at 2.30pm.

Radisson Blu Hotel

While Thon have two hotels in Tromsø, neither of them had availability for the whole weekend when I was looking to book in January. So, I then looked at a map of Tromsø to see where the port and the bus station were, as we were coming in at one and leaving from the other, I thought it best to locate ourselves near both. It turns out that this wasn't really a challenge as the bus station is three floors below the Hurtigruten docking area in the same building!

That done I looked at a number of the hotels and saw a Radisson Blu near by. 

While I had never stayed at a Radisson Blu I'd had good feedback from my sister who had stayed in one, I therefore joined their customer membership scheme on the app and booked. Given the 20% discount offered by the scheme, along with the savings I had made on the Thon bookings, I thought, this being the last hotel that I booked, that I might treat ourselves, so opted for a Junior Suite. It was the best use of our money, as the view from the room window of the port and the amazing bridge to Tomasjorda, with the 'Arctic Cathedral' and Cable Car beyond that we spent most spare moments looking out.

We got to room 502

at 2.45pm and unpacked and settled in.

Mass for the Feast of the Assumption

The purpose of our timings for the last week has to be to get to Tromsø for Mass this evening. Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption - a Holyday of Obligation - which means all Catholics are supposed to attend Mass. Given the limited number of churches in Norway (See this post for details) getting from Trondheim to Tromsø to arrive in time for Mass today was a logistical challenge - one I relished, and relish more now it has been successfully achieved.

I left the hotel at 6.35pm and arrived at Our Lady's Cathedral at 6.40pm - a very gentle walk.

The Norwegian confirmed I was where I should be with the simple words: Catholic Church

The doors confused me for a while, the sign with Mass times then has an arrow pointing in opposite directions. I thought this meant the entry was to the side. It actually was pointing to the steps onside and the ramp the other - there are times when I over think things!! [Co-pilot's note: I think, dear readers, I speak for all of us when I say - No shit Sherlock!!]

I went into the lovely little Cathedral which would seat 100 or so. It is the most-nrtherly Catholic Church in the world, as well as being the most northerly Cathedral of any Christian tradiion in the world. The Lutheran Cathedral is about 1/2 a mile south.

St. Olav, though not the patron of this church, unlike the other two cathedrals in Norway (Oslo and Trondheim) is well represented by this large image.

As it happens the Assumption is not a holyday in Norway - each BIshops' COnference agrees with Rome which days are appropriate in which country. As a rule of tumb it is lots in Catholic countries (Rome, Spain etc.) and less so in countries where protestant churches are dominant - the UK is a kind of mid spot on this. But I know Canon Law well enough to know that "you take your obligation with you if you are traveling not changing domicile." Canon 12.3

Given this there are only 18 of us present plus the priest. Given in Norway the feast is transferred to the following Sunday, tonight we have the readings and prayers of the Vigil Mass. Given the English Masses in Oslo and Trondheim this is my first Norwegian Mass - there is a helpful leaflet provided with the words in Norwegian, but as for the æ, ø & å I can only reflect that the ø sounds like er but I have no idea with the others - but I try my best.

Mass finishes, with four hymns and all, by 7.45pm

Dinner

I meet Drew at 8pm and we meander down to the harbour – about a minute away - where we have dinner booked for 8.15pm. We are in torrential rain, but our MacsinSacs again come to our rescue.

The restaurant is called Full Steam.

We start with drinks Drew with a Coke Zero and I with a sparkling water. Is Squad a person's name I wonder. I've not found out yet!!

I start the meal with Husets Friterte Torsketunge - Fried Cod Tongues - these Crispy panko-breaded Atlantic cod tongues, served with carrots roast potatoes and remoulade bring back lovely memories of eating Cod Tongue in Newfoundland, though they roast them there and they look more obviously like tongues (they love Cod cheeks too!)

Drew has Røkt Vågehval - Smoked Minke Whale - and we manage a photo this time - yes it is as black as it looks.

Drew continues with a Reinsdyrburger - Reindeer Burger - 

and I have whale for the second day in a row, the Husets Enestående Hvalbiff - Whale Steak - Grilled Minke whale steak, served with a rich red wine sauce, roasted baby potatoes, and seasonal vegetables, topped with a touch of Norwegian lingonberry.

We both have double espressos to finish. 

We finish the meal at 9.45pm and walk back to the hotel for 9.50pm. We sit and watch the boats, including the Hurtigruten Polarlys leaving, for some time. Then head to bed at 11pm.