Norway - Tromso - Cable Car & Mountain

June 2006

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After going to bed after 2 AM we only just made it down to breakfast in time. We decided to spend our first day in Tromso just wandering around the town and to make plans for the rest of our time in Norway. With all the shops, cafes and restaurants open and people on the main shopping street it was a much livelier place. We made our way to the Tourist Info to book our main excursion, a coach and boat trip to see the mountains and Fjords of northern Norway. We would be going on that the next day; it only left at 4 PM in the afternoon, returning at midnight, but still in the light! We spent some time exploring the shops and having a late lunch at one of the oldest cafes, (an old house that was originally a butchery and, to save it from being closed down, became a great café) in Tromso where I sampled the locally brewed Mack's beer from the world's northernmost brewery (we planned to go on a tour of that too :-) By early evening (after a quick afternoon nap) the clouds had mostly been burned off by the sun so we walked across one of the bridges that connects Tromso island with the mainland, walking past the iceberg-shaped Arctic cathedral and caught the cable car to the top of the Storsteinen mountain, 422m above sea level. At the top we sat and looked at the view of Tromso which is set on an island, for a while and then went wandering around. The views from the top were quite spectacular with all the snow and ice on the surrounding mountains. We also got to walk on a really small glacier which, considering that it was the Summer solstice, was quite weird. Other weird mountain-top sights were finding a Tepee (called a lavvo in Norway) at the top of the mountain and, hearing some music outside the café we went to investigate to be greeted with the sight of the Tromso Swing Club having an organised boogie at the top of the mountain. It was hilarious and somewhat surreal to watch this daylight outdoor dance club and, at 11 PM sharp, they packed up their music and headed back down the mountain! We also saw a few crazies hiking all the way up and back down again and a bunch of Kamikaze mountain bikers going flying (literally) down the mountain! Tthere were also a bunch of para-gliders flying off the top of the mountain at midnight, what an experience that must be. But the most amazing part of it all was the sun coming out from behind a cloud just before midnight and seeing the beginning of the Summer Solstice in bright sunshine!!! We went down the mountain at around half past midnight and walked back across the bridge to our hotel, wearing sunglasses at 1 in the morning!