Tromso

Scandinavia’s largest city within the Arctic circle is Tromso. It has been called the Paris of the North. It has a population of approximately 70,000. The city of Tromso is situated on an island, with a suburb across the water. Tromso is one of the oldest towns in Norway, established in 1794. The city was not harmed badly in WWII. The Germans when they left did not burn the city to the ground as they did in other places in Norway.

We did a scenic tour in the early afternoon. We saw various parts of the island, stopping to take some photos of Whale Island. We also drove by the Arctic Cathedral, whose design is compared to the Sydney Opera House. It was closed to the public, so we could only see the outside. The city also is home to the northernmost botanical garden in the world.

Our big tour for the day was in the evening to again search for the Northern Lights. It was pretty cold again, around 4 F. We went to several places but the skies were too cloudy to see anything. Our guide did make a fire at one place to help us keep warm. He even took a photo of us in front of the fire. One with the lights behind us would have been better. When we got back to the ship after midnight there were sandwiches and a bottle of wine waiting for us in our room.

After overnighting we had a “shopping excursion”. The ship has been very strict about Covid protocols. We have our temperature taken daily, have to answer a health survey daily and have to be tested daily for Covid. To enable us to shop, 2 stores right next to each other in the town center, we’re closed to all others except for our group of 20. We were not able to go anywhere else during the 1 hour we had in town. Our guide said that she could lose her job if anyone wandered off. It was nice to get to do something that felt normal. Our group was mostly the only ones masked. Norway had dropped their Covid rules about 5 days before we started our trip.