As I said before, there was no one location that we visited in Norway that was head and shoulders above any place else. Everything was a first-time experience for us. And everything was just absolutely wonderful! From the cruise itself, to the places we visited to the crew on board the MS Richard With, the excursions, as well as the absolutely marvelous cuisine. First class!

But I did mention from time to time about the air. How we have never seen such a remarkably clean, pollution-free environment. As a result, we noticed, from start to finish, just how clean the air was. We have never seen anything like this before. The sky just had an extra level of wonderful.

And so, without narration, let’s visit these remarkable and breathtaking images of the sky that I discovered in reviewing my photography every night.

This is my last Blog before the new year. We would like to take a moment to thank everyone for taking the time to view our wonderful excursion into the land of the midnight sun.

And to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

U nawguralek il-Milied it-Tajjeb ħafna u is-Sena t-Tajba.

As we sat down for breakfast today, our thoughts swirl through our heads. Is there just one thing that was spectacular; or was the entire cruise THE spectacular event? Fortunately, we don’t have to make a choice. Everything was special. Even to the sight of yet another unique lighthouse, as we begin the long entry into the Byfjorden towards Bergen.

Our thoughts were interrupted by loud singing and Norwegian flags waving. Gosh, do the crew do this every time the cruise is about to end? (The entire crew gets off after the two weeks. Another crew, from Captain to waiter, comes on board. Two weeks later our crew again take up their roles.) So, I got up to see what was happening. Turns out it was the Captain’s birthday, and the crew was singing him a happy birthday.

(As an interesting aside, I would point out that Norwegians LOVE milk. They drink it with most meals.)

We are not the only people whose cruise is ending today. Many, many cruise ships follow the Atlantic Norwegian Coast. But most cannot traverse as many fjords as the Hurtigruten ships due to their size.

As we head in towards Bergen, we are passed in the opposite direction by a Norwegian Coast Guard vessel.

The closer to Bergen we get, we see numerous summer houses, suburban houses, and finally into the Port of Bergen.

Too soon, we disembark, and head to our bus, taking us to our hotel, as there is only one flight a day to Helsinki. The very same airline and plane that caused us to miss the start of our trip in Bergen. All things worked out. So, now we will explore Bergen, in the rain, checking out the architecture, the people, shops and the restaurants.

75% of all new passenger cars sold in Norway in 2022 were electric. As of 2022, 22% of all cars in Norway are electric. The country waives all import duties and car registration taxes on them. Their Parliament has decided that starting in 2025, all new cars must be zero emission. In a country that has huge oil and natural gas reserves, they choose to export those commodities, and bank the profits towards the day when the country must use those funds. As of 2023, Norway has a sovereign wealth fund worth US $1,400,000,000,000, the largest in the world. To compare, the oil rich Province of Alberta, CA, has a wealth fund of only US $17,000,000,000. Their population is about the same as Norway. The Norwegian government recognizes that growth will not always happen. Put another way, this is their rainy-day fund!

As mentioned, the historic area of Bergen, by the waterfront, is a huge tourist magnet. Unlike some countries that keep on tearing down old buildings, destroying their heritage, and replacing them with ugly, superficial “modern” construction, Bergen chooses to renovate the old, colorful buildings. As a results, it is always filled with tourists. A real treat for the eye. No dingy, gray buildings that take away from the environment. This seems in harmony with a country that chooses a green environment, encouraging its citizens to go out and enjoy the wonderful environment, all year round, no matter the weather.

One final dinner in Norway. It was always going to be seafood. It was a toss between the traditional fish/shellfish, and a sushi restaurant. Both looked absolutely fantastic. But we chose the truly wonderful fresh Norwegian fish and shellfish.

Finally, it was time that we head to the airport. From one street away from our hotel, we took a bus to the airport. It was a 12KM ride (7.5 miles). When we got to the airport, we could see we also had the choice of taking a tram as well. A huge undercover entryway, as it was really pouring outside.

As you can see, a very modern airport. There are more than 30 nonstop flights from all over Europe. From many cities around the world, you can arrive there with only one change of plane.

OK, so we did do a double take on the sign mounted on the stone wall directly opposite the entrance. Did not have a clue, so I asked Bing AI to tell me about it.

This is what it said: It is an art piece that was the winner of an art competition. The artist said it said something about the feeling of melancholy in being a modern human, constantly traveling, from airport to airport, and always feeling relaxed. The question mark is to encourage a sense of curiosity and open-mindedness towards the surroundings, and it places a question mark over what we think we know. Everyone can put their own meaning over what we think we know. There is no wrong answer. So, Bergen can be interpreted in many ways.

As you can see, it is a big modern airport, with so much room to expand. And like the artist said, a relaxed feeling. And it was. No sense of being hurried, enabling us to enjoy all that is Norwegian. Not exactly like flying in and out of Malta and Frankfurt.

And out to our rubber band airplane. Same one that cancelled on us two weeks before. By the time we started boarding, it was a downpour. A reasonably smooth, two-hour flight to Helsinki. Although Norway chose not to be a member of the EU, they are part of the European Economic Area. For tourists, it means you do not need to go through customs and immigration when coming or going from an EU country. (But you must still carry your passport or EU ID card.)

For those that were intrigued enough by this blog on our trip to consider doing it themselves, I would offer up this website to learn more about it. https://global.hurtigruten.com/destinations/norway/ This particular cruise is what they call the Coastal Express.

Being fortunate enough to have traveled to many wonderful locations around the world, I would state that the top two destinations (from our bucket list) were ten days in Tahiti, and the cruise up the Norwegian coast. But visiting Santa in Rovaniemi, Finland, was also great. Thank you for allowing me to share with you this wonderful adventure.

OK, that’s something different. Slept in late today. Since we had a good tour of Trondheim heading north, we decided to forgo disembarking this morning. On the walk to our breakfast, we looked outside, while at the dock. On the opposite side of the harbor, we saw this bit of graffiti. All I can say is, it sure does make one think. Most likely, the reason for it.

Yes, I do have a thing for lighthouses. The lighthouse keeper must have a large family. Notice the presence of trees in abundance again. Cruising well below the Arctic Circle will do that. From now on, there is a greater emphasis on farming and livestock than fishing.

And now it’s time for the demonstration that I have been waiting for since I first saw it listed in the cruise brochure. Today the Executive Chef, and a new would be cook will show us how to breakdown a fresh salmon, turning it into the best sashimi I have ever eaten. And the chef keeps an eagle eye on his new member of his staff. (for the full picture, don’t forget to click on each picture.) Just think how this fish is going to taste, caught within the past day.

Well, I finally got the salmon/sashimi out of my head. Just about an hour before we reach Kristiansund, we came across this stone church. As mentioned before, above the Arctic Circle, a lot of churches and other buildings are constructed out of wood, due to most buildings being destroyed during WW II, by both the Soviets and the Nazis.

And now we are coming in to dock in Kristiansund, at 4:30PM SHARP. It will be a one hour stay.

Kristiansund is actually made up of four large islands (each called land): Kirklandet, Innlandet, Nordlandet, and Gomalandet. They are each linked by bridges and ferries. A total of 20,000 people live in this town. It’s named after the Danish-Norwegian King Christian VI, who established a market town here in 1742. Many finds from the Stone Age have been discovered here, and the area was probably one of the first in Norway to be settled after the last ice age. Like nearby Molde, it too was bombed to destruction during WW II.

An interesting piece of information is about the shopping mall in Kristiansund. The middle picture is actually one building, with multiple shopping and parking levels. Good job!

A walk around the ship, admiring all the beautiful scenery, and we work up an appetite for dinner. Never mind we had already eaten a big breakfast and a lunch too.

The appetizer tonight is Roast Beef with honey roasted radish, whipped garlic and parsley butter and Jerusalem artichoke chips.

For the main course, my wife had the beef shank meat with boulangere potatoes and Capra chips.

For me, I opted for the lightly smoked halibut with dill stewed potatoes and capra chips.

For dessert, it was to be the black currant mousse with baked marzipan and meringue.

As we dock at mid-day tomorrow, this will be our last dinner on board. Sigh!!

But we were treated to some wonderful sunsets (or were they sunrises). The land of the midnight sun is something else. A great night for a cruise in a small boat. (10:15PM)

What a treat before nodding off to sleep.

This time I was awake to see us glide by the Arctic circle, heading south this time. Well, it was 8:50 in the morning. And it was time to head on to breakfast. I suppose if we took the cruise in December, it would look very white and icy outside. I much prefer August.

I am once again reminded of just how solitary a life many Norwegians, prefer, whether choosing to live apart from most people, or choose to vacation in a location that lets them appreciate just how beautiful Norway is to one and all.

While cruising by this floating salmon farm, I can’t help but appreciate how deeply Norwegians are vested into commercial fish farming. In fact, you can’t go anywhere in the world without seeing their smoked or filleted salmon and dried cod. When you go above the Arctic Circle, fishing represents the large majority of their commercial activities. And it also reminds me that this afternoon we will be visiting a salmon farm to learn more about it.

Time for a very quick port call in Nesna. In fact, it is just barely 10 minutes in duration. In that time, the trucks will load their packages/ food/ mail on board. And to drop off mail, packages in return. And to take on board Norwegians heading down the line, to the next town or maybe even to Bergen. Nesna is a village of 1,300 people.

Shortly after departing Nesna, it’s time to mark our recent crossing of the Arctic Circle. This time it is rather subdued, and civil, with no ice water down my back, and over my head. Our certificates are signed by the Hotel Manager, the Captain, the Chief Engineer and the Executive Chef. The hotel manager, who is also the ship’s postmaster, stamps our postcards, signifying our crossing the circle. They all autograph the books we had purchased of our voyage. A very nice and personal touch.

With signed certificates in hand, we walk on by the special tank. This is the one that holds the live red king crabs that will grace our dinner plates. Nothing tastes better than really, really fresh! The crabs are harvested off the northern coast. As we saw in Kirkenes, the crab boats go out with 20-30 pots. Normally each pot catches about 100 crabs. From that, usually only 10 are kept. The rest are thrown back into the water. Each crab is tagged with its own QR code for you to scan, showing where and when it was picked. Guess that’s what they mean by the personal touch!

Next up is a 30-minute stop at Sandnessjoen. As you can see, most of the village is within sight of the Hurtigruten dock. While the mail, freight and food is loaded on and off the ship, the passengers are waiting to come on board. And overlooking it all is the Captain, keeping out a watchful eye. And minding the schedule, down to the minute. The Scandic hotel is another one of those ubiquitous signs of Norway. Throughout all of the Nordic countries, Scandic hotels, from very large, to very small, represent the largest chain. And as we depart Sandnessjoen, what could be more breathtaking than glancing at the sky. Whether sunrise or sunset, cloudy or sunny, day or night, viewing the sky is completely breathtaking. Another example of nature at its best, when and where pollution is kept at bay. In all our travels, there are so few places that present such a view. If only people could understand that you can’t just keep trashing the environment with impunity.

And the highlight of today’s journey, for us, is a visit to the Norwegian Aquaculture Center. Located on the edge of Bronnoysund, it is both an education center about salmon, as well as a large fish farm. We were quite interested in hearing all about the fish farms because fish farms in general have been coming for a tremendous amount of bashing for any number of reasons around the world.

As a salmon lover, I am used to buying frozen Norwegian salmon fillets and smoked salmon, no matter where we lived.

To enter the farm, we first had to put on life vests, just in case we fell in the water. Then, we had to step into a tray containing some chemicals so that we could not infect the fish with any contaminates we might have on our shoes. Then we walked out on to the docks. German speaking cruise passengers went one direction, while us English speakers went another way.

The first thing that caught our attention was the size of the containment pens. They were about 200 meters in circumference by 5o meters deep (in American, that would be about 650 feet by about 164 feet deep). Each pen holds up to several thousand salmon. When they are fully grown, about five kilos (11 pounds, they have been in the pens for 2-3 years).

The staff here went to great lengths to discuss how they raise the salmon, mitigating any harmful results. As an example, all salmon are hand vaccinated against salmon lice. And they discussed the superiority quality of the feed used, and the water conditions. I will admit that the conditions of the pens seem far superior to the ones we have seen in the States. And the feed does seem superior. Are they better than those raised in other countries around the world? I don’t know. Certainly, the water is far colder. Also, no antibiotics are used unless the fish are sick. Are farm raised salmon in Norway safer to eat than in other countries? They seem to believe this. Again, there does not seem to be one definitive answer. And as always, when salmon get free from their pens, they do play havoc on wild salmon, the world over.

I will say that they are very, very tasty. Better so than ones I have had back in the Seattle area. And because of their diet, inclusive of shrimp, they do tend to be red in color, as opposed to the pale color of other farmed salmon. So, after that informative tour, we tucked into some very delicious tasting salmon.

Back on board the Richard With, we all met in the ship’s cocktail lounge to celebrate the company’s 130th anniversary, serving the entire Norwegian Atlantic coast, both as a post office, freight forwarder, long distance ferry for Norwegians, as well as a cruise ship. the captain talked about their heritage, and their success as a cruise line as well. Also, present were the staff that ran all the excursions, programs, and acted as guides. And the restaurant manager was also present. It came across as a quite a caring crew, with time for the passengers. Then, it was on to the special 130th anniversary dinner.

Heading off to the dining room, we paused to watch as we left Bronnoysund, with a view of the typical fisherman’s home, with its boats and docks. Talk about a relaxing view!

So, for dinner on this festive night, we started off with a cured meat appetizer, from the Host food factory in Steigen, and 6+ month aged Fjellbris ham from Trind on Stranda, pickled cucumber, and potato salad with Nyr from Grondalen Farm and Arctic Mustard from Beiarn.

The better half, who arranged this masterpiece of a vacation decided to have the Vegetarian Soup made from Norwegian green peas (as opposed to her favored Finnish green peas), with croutons gratinated with 5+ years aged Jarlsberg cheese.

And for our main course, we both had Braised Beef Cheek from Trondelag, with a confit of Trondersopp mushrooms and sugar kelp from Hurtigruten’s seaweed farm, potato terrine, and a red wine reduction.

We so jumped into our desert, that I forgot to take pictures of them. We had the Short-Travelled Cheese, from local producers along the coast, homemade carrot marmalade and a crisp Dinkel bread. I had the sponge cake and vanilla ice cream Solvaer, Andvika egg-meringue and Arctic cloudberries.

Walked up to the lounge for a nightcap. And before bed, we took a walk around the ship. And, after a short stop in Rorvik, we headed off to bed. But, before we did, I captured this view of the one of hundreds of lighthouses that we passed.

Sigh! Only two more days to go!

As we awoke early this morning, anticipating our arrival in Kirkenes, we peeked out our window to see our arrival into Vadso, a village of 5,000. Originally it was a major fishing village, but now the service industries and public administration are the primary employers.

We headed down for breakfast, as we shortly arrive in Kirkenes.

A colorful and picturesque sight, entering the harbor. This was followed by the observation of a Russian fishing trawler in the harbor.

For many years the Norwegians and the Russians have had a thriving cross-border trade between the neighbors that are only 15KM (9 miles) apart. Because both sides of the border up north have closely relied upon each other, Russian fishing trawlers still come here for maintenance. Up close and personal, livelihoods depend on this trade. So, in spite of sanctions on Russia, each small parts of the two nations still trade; tied at the hip by the fishing industry.

Finally, we dock and are able to walk out of the port. We will be ashore for three and a half hours. We plan to go for a good walk. I notice the scooter beside the sign. With as little vehicular traffic around, he pretty much can drive where he wants!

I ask the first “person” we meet for directions to the “city center.” He said: “just hoof it.” I got a dirty look when I asked where we could get a good reindeer burger. (All the reindeer in the Nordic countries are only owned by the indigenous Sami people.) They can track them with the attached devices they wear. It is most common that this far north they walk right by you, with no concern or fear.

I guess this one forgot the pass code to get through the gate.

On the way into the village center, we passed some of the homes of locals. This one clearly states it is the residence of a ship’s captain.

At the heart of the village “center” is the local parish church. The “downtown” was about 2 blocks long. After meandering around the village, enjoying the unbelievable temperature of 25 C (77F), the highest in Norway today(!!), we took the coast road back to the ship.

And now we see what the main industry is here in Kirkenes. This is the main harbor where crab trawlers head out to sea.

There were literally thousands of crab pots all over the place. The Red King Crabs originated in the Pacific Ocean. Fisherman brought some to the Soviet waters near Murmansk in the 1960’s. For the past 40 years they have migrated across the border thoroughly populating the northern waters of Norway. Although considered an unwanted species in Norwegian waters, the red king crabs are now an expensive delicacy and an important part now of the Norwegian fishing industry.

I can personally attest to the fact that they are very tasty!

Too soon, the whistle blows and it’s time to head back down the coast of Norway. We are at the halfway point. Our next stop, before dinner is Vardo. This is where the mind can really play tricks on you. As you all know, Norway is west of Russia. Or is it? Vardo is Norway’s easternmost town. And yet, it lies EAST of both St. Petersburg and Kyiv! It is on the same longitude as Cairo! 2,000 people live in this village. This is the only town in Norway with an Arctic climate. The average daily temperature never exceeds 10C (50F). But today, for us, it is about 20C(68F). And you will see fishing boats all over the harbor.

At the harbor entrance, the ever-present lighthouse.

In this sunlight, the harbor is so bright and brilliant. One important reason is that the air is so clear here, free of most pollution that surrounds us all on a daily basis. No doubt, during the dreary winter with its long days without sun rising above the horizon, having brightly colored houses can cheer you up, and help you find your home! And they are pretty too.

Have to appreciate their sense of humor.

For a post office, the MS Ricard With turns out to be an excellent cruise ship as well.

Hey, what’s going on here. I didn’t notice this coming into the harbor! I must have been on the other side. I thought this was a fishing village. Well, it is that, too. But it is also a radar system, called GLOBUS-III, established by the U.S. and Norway, less than 40 miles from Russia’s Kola Peninsula, where a series of Arctic naval bases host nuclear submarines that serve the strategic Northern Fleet. Guess there are all kinds of fishing!

Well, with all the activities of the day, we have worked up a good appetite. Time for dinner.

The appetizer we choose for tonight is Sami Laibi. This is a traditional Sami bread. It is topped with marinated herring, whipped sour cream, boiled eggs, potato and pickled onions.

I may kid around, but we got our reindeer for dinner tonight. It is Finnmark reindeer, along with reindeer sausage, mashed potatoes with celery root, fried broccolini, red wine sauce with finely chopped mushrooms.

And for dessert, we went our separate ways.

The better half had Raspberry mouse, with blackberry couli and almond brittle.

Since we are near the Russian border, I chose to have the Russian honey cake with butter cream and salted caramel sauce. The entire meal was excellent!

A spin around the deck, with the background of the most spectacular sunset at 11PM . Tomorrow will include Hammerfest, the most northern town in Norway.

Welcome to the North Cape. Harsher weather the year-round. While fisherman live throughout Norway, this far north it is almost exclusively the domain of the fishermen. These lonely cabins, here and there, are probably summer homes, most reachable only by boat. And when we speak of fishermen, we are not talking about subsistence -level.

As I said, we are cruising further north, which accounts for the change of scenery. Note the latitude.

The sign reads: “Mehamn, the world’s northernmost Hurtigruten port.

When you get this far north, everyone cashes in on Santa. The sign indicates that this is Santa’s house. My better half scoffs, saying Santa actually resides in Korvatunturi, Lapland in Finland.

No matter where you go in Norway, every town, village or City has at least one church. In Norway they are more ubiquitous than McDonalds!

I had a funny thought; we haven’t seen many restaurants. Passing through these latest villages, no more than 2,500 people, I wonder what they were eating for dinner tonight, fish or pork maybe? Probably not likely a gourmet feast, as we had onboard, while traversing the North Cape.

For our appetizer tonight, we both had the Pork Terrine, with pickled red onion, crisp bread and pea puree.

For our main course, we both chose the Pork Neck Confit, with parmesan cheese, roasted broccoli, and port wine sauce, topped with raw marinated red cabbage.

I’ll skip mentioning the dessert, as it was truly decadent!

A nightcap, and a walk around the ship, prepared us for sleep. When we wake up, we will have arrived in Kirkenes, where will stop for 3 1/2 hours, before heading back down the coast. This time we will visit the towns that we slept through on our way north.

Slept in this morning. It felt good. After a great breakfast, we casually walked down towards the stern, and sat down and watched Norway unfold. The ground fog was lifting, affording us a well framed series of mountains.

Just before 11AM, we entered the harbor of Finnsnes. Another beautiful small town, on several islands, connected by the usual architecturally stunning Norwegian bridges.

The local townspeople arranged a very short concert for the passengers at the local library, which is located just above my left big toe, towards the end of the dock. It had to be a short concert, as our stop was to be exactly 30 minutes. We were too comfortable to head on over. As the departure whistle blew, three passengers dawdled, and had to run before the gangplank was raised. This ship stops for no one! The next stop, Tromso, at exactly 14:15. It would remain until 18:15.

Tromso is considered the gateway to the Arctic Sea and the North Pole. It is a town of about 40,000 people, with an additional 35,000, living on adjacent islands. It is the most northern town in Norway not to have been destroyed in WWII. Like most locations on the route of the Coastal Express, Tromso is a concoction of multiple islands, connected by bridges and ferries. The small dark orange (next to T) on the map is the heart of the town, where we docked. From there, we went by bus through the town, much of it still original buildings, until we got to the Polaria, a very modern-designed building, inspired by the Arctic ice floes. In there we saw many live species of fish, seals and other animals.

After all too short visit, it was back on bus, and heading across the bridge, to take the cable car to the top of the mountain. And some spectacular views of the town, the harbor and the bridge. And if you look closely, you will see the Arctic Cathedral from the cable car as we descend.

And now the highlight for most tourists to Tromso, The Arctic Cathedral. (The official name is the Tromsdalen Church. It was built in 1965. It was designed by the architect Jan Inge Hovig. When it was completed, everyone was amazed at the beauty and strength of design. In short, it was loved by one and all. Until that was when services started being held. At that point, the parish priest started wondering why his parishioners all took to wearing sunglasses for services. Took a while until the priest understood – the soaring glass windows behind him were clear. And the church faced to the East. So, the sun shined through, blinding the parishioners, while the sun was behind the priest. It was decided that the clear glass would be replaced with stained glass windows (completed in 1972). That solved the problem. But the architect never went into the church again.

Time to head on back to our ship, clean up and have dinner. A special treat tonight (must have been designed with me in mind). A huge seafood buffet with all the crab (four types) I could eat, along with shrimp, clams and mussels, and as much smoked salmon I could eat. (King crab to come on southern leg.) My only concern was that the plates were too small.

By now you know that we can’t disguise our complete enjoyment with this cruise. And much more to come. Hope you enjoy it, too, as we head to the top of the world, by cruising in the Arctic Sea.

And late breaking news. We were just informed that we would get our money back on our cancelled flight from Helsinki to Bergen. Nice!

Have to admit it. We slept through crossing the Arctic Circle. Hey, it was at 7:30AM, somewhere between Nesna and Ornes. (But we made up for it by being awake when we crossed it coming back a few days later.) To be precise, it is at 66°34′N 12°3′E (where we crossed it). There was a pool to guess the actual time. It was 7:30, and a couple of seconds. The winner got the Norwegian flag, with the Norwegian Post logo, signed by the captain.

Just to give you an accurate understanding about what the Norwegian coastline is like, check out this chart image. We kept going in and out of the fjords and around many, many islands. The only time we were in the open sea was when we traversed part of the Arctic Sea.

While there is no dotted line when crossing the Arctic Circle, there is this very large monument placed on a deserted island that we passed by.

Two other things happened later in the day, after you cross the circle. For this, we were awake. There is a ceremony commemorating the event. It wasn’t thrilling. It was chilling. For those brave enough, you had ice and water placed down your back, and on top of your head. (At least I got a shot of schnapps for my bravery.)

And we each got a signed certificate.

At precisely 13:05 we docked in the town of Bodo. Having read up on this town, we headed on off to the salmon museum. (What else would you expect in Norway?) And to peek into shop windows, as most places closed on Sunday.

A model of the typical new generation salmon fishing boat. Some flying salmon. And a sign that says the Norse take care of things. Even to coming up with a new type of handbag.

We had one more stop to make prior to eating dinner. We slowly entered the very small fishing village of Stamsund, for a short 25-minute stop to deliver the mail (even on Sunday). Dried Cod, natures gold in Norway. Most fish caught wind up being dried on racks like these.

After having a relaxing dinner, we walked around the ship to find the best possible positions to watch the MS Richard With enter and traverse the Trollfjord sound. At 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) in length, its most narrow spot is about 100 feet across. It sort of resembles a tube with a bulb at the end. The Richard With is 121.8 meter (400 feet) in length. Its beam is 19.2 meters (63 feet). So, cruise ships carrying several thousands of passengers will never make this journey.

This is what it looks like on a chart.

At the bottom of the fjord, the mountain along the water is about 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) high. And you can almost reach out and touch the mountains. As for describing it, I would say awe-inspiring, downright scary, not to mention breathtaking. See for yourself. As for the captain, he told me that he doesn’t always enter the Trollfjord, if the conditions are not just right. So, on the return trip southbound, we did not enter. As a point of reference, it was about 10:30 PM when we entered the fjord. Getting a little bit more out of each time when the sun shines 24 hours a day.

In the distance you can see a very small fishing camp. About there is where the captain turns the ship, literally on a dime! From there, it’s back out to the “normal” fjords. And for a us a good night cap and a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow we will visit the city of Tromso.