Visiting Tromso Norway

We docked in the port of Tromso on Tuesday afternoon, September 3, 2013.Tromso is the gateway to the Arctic Ocean and seems very prosperous. It is called the Paris of the North (because the women dress fashionably?) A bridge links the old town to the mainland and there is also a tunnel to help alleviate the traffic congestion. The city is a seafaring town, but also a trade and service center for the area.

 We dressed in our warm clothes to take a bus tour of the city. Our first stop was the Polar Museum. It is located in a beautiful wood building, formerly a customs warehouse. It features exhibits from Norway’s polar history, including hunting of seals, polar bear, whales, etc. and a wonderful display about the Roald Amundsen, and Fridtjof Nansen expeditions and others.

We drove by the small glass building where a sealing vessel called the Polar Star is displayed. We also drove through the tunnel, but it took forever because of traffic! Our next stop was the Tromsdalen Church; also known as the Arctic Cathedral. It symbolizes the dark period and the Northern Lights. It is built in a triangular shape, all white with lots of glass. In fact, there was so much glass that people were disturbed by the light when they were in church, so they replaced some of it with one of Europe’s largest stained glass windows. 

Our last stop was the city center where we could do some shopping. We went to the Salvation Army store which was just like home. The merchandise was very well organized, clean, and expensive! We walked back to our ship and enjoyed the amenities of the ship for the rest of the day.