[Tromso, Norway, Jan 17, 2024]

Despite last night’s disappointment with the aurora, I had a full day of fun awaiting me in Tromso!

We woke up around 8 am and even though I knew to expect it, I was still amazed at how dark it was!

As I was waiting for Maria to come down so we can head to town, I took a closer look at the bicycle that was chained up by the front door. To my amazement, I noticed that the tires were studded! Now it made sense how people were riding bicycles in this weather and did not slip and slide everywhere.

In Tromso proper, I marveled at the public library. It was designed by renowned Norwegian architect Kjell Beite. It was built from the shell of a 1960 cinema, with only the roof remaining from the original structure. Opened in 2005, the library is part of a complex that houses the Town Hall, City Archives and the cinema that was here originally but moved to a different section. I noticed a big banner for the Tromso Film Festival, which was currently going on.

We picked up coffee and some sandwiches from a bakery, then headed to Pukka Travels to get ready for our fjord tour. The tour took us to the island of Kvaloya, northwest of Tromso. We did about 5 stops along the way.

Our first stop was a fishing village. It was not even 10:30 am, but it felt like sunset!

Our first fjord was Erstfjord, which actually means first fjord!

The next stop was Kattfjordeidet. It is a lake rather than a fjord; the name means “almost fjord.” An overlook provided amazing views of the small village in the corner of the fjord.

Then it was on to the another viewpoint where a tooth-like rock jutted out of the mountains.

By the next stop, it was after noon. This was as much light as we got! My feet were definitely starting to get cold by this point.

Now it was time to cross the bridge over to the island of Sommaroy. This former fishing village is now a popular tourist destination.

Our last stop was Reina beach on the island. Being on an arctic beach was a surreal experience. The cold temperature and the snow around me just seemed in such a contrast to the clear green-blue water and the sand! It just seemed like snow and beach show not exist together. Our guides started a fire and made us hot chocolate, and we devoured the sandwiches we brought. We couldn’t resist but pose on the beach as if we were laying out like it was summer.

After being out on the freezing cold all day, a visit to the Tromsobadet water complex was in order. There are quite a few pools and hot tubs, saunas, steam baths, cold plunge… Pretty much everything you could think of. The biggest attraction was the heated outdoor pool, which overlooked a biathlon track! It links to the indoor pool via sliding doors, so you don’t have to leave the water to get to it. The wristband you get when you pay the entrance fee works wirelessly to lock and unlock your locker, so no need to lug keys around. It was all very clean and a fabulous way to relax after a long day in the cold. No pics are allowed inside so I had to get these off the internet.

Even though we were tired as hell, I had to give the northern lights another try. We went to the mainland side of Tromso to take the Fjellheisen cable car up Storsteinen mountain. We snagged a seat at the cafe and I kept running outside to see if the aurora had shown up. I was hopeful because it wasn’t cloudy, but no luck. I had learned on the northern lights tour the night before that sometimes, the northern lights will be picked up on camera before the naked eye can see them. There was a guy taking photos with a real camera and I asked him to send me one of his photos. Do you see any green sheen here?

At least the views of Tromso were great.

Because it was past 11 pm, making our way back to the island part of Tromso was quite the adventure. We were lucky enough to catch a bus right away at the bottom of the cable car, but it only took us half-way. We had to get a taxi the rest of the way home. What a day!