TROMSO AND IT SEEMS LIKE WINTER

 

Monday 21^st June 2010

Tromso is cold and is the coldest place so far as best I can recall. Currently it is 7C but when I checked from Kirkenes this morning it was 5C then 6C. In fact yesterday, Kirkenes was the warmest location in Norway, despite the rain which was falling gently. Weather can be a funny thing. Because of the Gulf Stream you would expect a coastal location like Tromso to be warmer than say, Kirkenes.

After breakfast which again included marinated herring I spent time packing. Incidentally, I have had herring now several mornings. Not large amounts, just two or three pieces perhaps a inch or two long and wide. Because it is marinated in an onion marinade it actually tastes rather sweet, but has a sort of soapy feel to it. I am really not sure if I actually like it but as I am in Norway and this is part of their diet I am prepared to try it, for the experience.

I checked with the reception about the best way to get to the airport and they recommended a taxi, which just happened to have their office right outside the hotel door. Strange that. However, the tourist office was close down Sunday and I didn't have time to check this morning. So taxi it was and a 15 minute ride to the airport. On the way I noticed a flybussen returning to Kirkenes, so obviously there was a service available. However, it was good that I got there a bit early. There was a queue stretching out side the door and more arriving all the time – including a full minibus from Murmansk. Same bus I had travelled in. Inside the door finally and the queue divided into two lines to slowly creep towards the check in counters of which there were not many. There was a separate lane for self check in which was not busy. So I decided to give the system a try. I put my credit card in and up came my name and flight I pressed correct and the number of bags and out came the bag's ID strip. On the screen was a message no boarding pas required. OK I thought on we go. I was sure my bag was about 20 kg, a little under I would hope but the flight limit was 15 kgs. Not a question at the bag hand in. Perhaps my NZ passport helped but more likely it was just because the crowds that had to be processed. OK I moved on and snaked my way to security. Somehow I had got into the middle of an Italian tour group so it was like being in the frame of an Italian movie without the English subtitles. A very nice sounding language though.

At security I lost my bottle of water. I should have remembered and I had to remove bracers and belt but not my boots. I went through easily without a hitch and that doesn't happen all that often.

That process had taken just on an hour from leaving the taxi. I was pleased that I had given myself plenty of time.

We boarded on time and I found a double seat for myself. The plane was not full and behind me a woman was nursing a cat or dog in a plastic travel cage. The plane was a turbo prop and it was a Dash 8- 311 series. I have not been on a Dash 8 for quite a few years. This was larger with double seats on each side of the aisle. We took off and for a just a short time got some good views or the landscape. The effect of the ancient ice shield could be clearly seen in the shape of the rocks and the general evenness. There were small lakes and some fjord views before the cloud cover was reached. I managed to get some photos before the cloud blocked out everything.

Although Windroe is a SAS company, I was surprised to find that we got free coffee, in fact we got two cups of free coffee. Food alcohol and junk food did have to be paid for though. I had a oat bar from my NZ supply with the coffee.

As we got close to Tromso I began to notice brief gaps in the clouds through which I could see lakes and mountains with quite a bit of snow on them. I spied a road or two as well. I wondered if this was the road I would have been on if I had traveled by bus.

Getting lower coming into Tromso and we appeared to be flying above a fjord with a road along the edge. As we got closer to landing and lower there were more houses most likely farm houses and then we were touching down.

As I gathered my things together I noticed how every one – well almost everyone- had warm jackets on. I had packed mine away into my camera bag back at Kirkenes airport to get rid of the bulky coat and I carried my camera.

Getting down the steps from the plane and crossing the tarmac to the terminal was cool – well actually it was cold. But the warmth of the planed stayed with me for half the way and then for the rest of the distance I was deciding that yes I would get my jacket out as soon as I was inside.

Bags came quickly and then out onto the waiting SAS Flybussen. The ride cost 55 kroner which is a bout NZ$13. I checked with the driver about my stop and he said not to worry as it was the end of his run. We set off and dropped some passengers abs a big flash hotel and then carried on. Suddenly we were moving into a tunnel and I spotted a sign indicating that it was 1.8 km long. How exciting, the longest road tunnel I think I have ever been in. Certainly the only tunnel with a round about in the middle and roads from different directions coming in to it. Then there was a road junction where we had to give way. How interesting I thought. I could remember Robyn telling me in detail about going through even longer tunnels on her first visit to Norway years ago.

The downtown streets of Tromso looked cold and bleak. Quite a winter's look with everyone wrapped up warmly. But the narrow streets were crowded with vehicles and people.

After a few more hotel drop offs I was the only one left. The driver checked my hotel name and then proceeded to drive my right up to the front door. I did not have to walk through a park as I had expected from the hotel's Internet description.

The hotel is a older building as they al are in the area. It looks out over a small park and over the town harbour and settlement on the opposite shore. Obviously it is on a hill and quite a steep hill at that. I climbed up it latter.

This is a great little hotel. My room is spacious enough, has flat screen TV, a fridge, a telephone with free land line calls throughout Norway. There is a desk and chair, a coffee table and an office easy chair with a separate foot rest. There is a hand basin but the bathroom and shower is down the hallway.

What I like is that breakfast is included, that they leave a collection of basic food items out for you to perhaps use for lunch or tea providing you pay 20 kroner. There is a coffee dispensing machine which we can use at any time and not only does it give a full selection of coffee types but it also has a couple chocolate choices. I think it produces the best chocolate that I have ever had from a machine of this type. And that is all free. We can use the hotel kitchen dinning room and there is a small lounge. The wifi works in my room. I read that they have 17 rooms and have 35 beds. It is a family run business.

After settling in I wandered down the hill to the shopping street which has been closed to traffic

for much of the shopping length. A fairly straight forward mix of the usual shops but none that I looked at or went into are very large. Well I didn't go into H and M and I suspect that this will be larger.

Most of the buildings with shops are single or double story and some have quaint shapes. There is a market square on a couple levels of the hill side. There were several stalls but they were not busy even with the tourists from the Hurtigruten (the daily coastal ferry boat) wandering around. A bit later as I wandered along the waterfront, I actually saw my first Hurtigruten. I had sort of assumed that it would be a bit like the Alaskan ferry I was on last year. But no, this was like a medium sized cruise ship that just happened to had a door along its side for cars to drive in and out of. All the deck space is fully enclosed.

The Dutch tourists I went up the Pasvik Valley with yesterday had just done the cruise and were commenting that you didn't have to dress up for dinner each nigh as you would on a normal cruise liner. But it seemed that people did change into tidy (and flash?) casual clothing for dinner.

I called into the Tourist office first to thank them for sending me broachers earlier in the year and then to talk about tickets on the steamer. So as a deck passenger there will be no problem and as I am past 67 I will get a 50% reduction. So the 17 hour voyage I have planned for in a week or so will only cost me around 550 kroner which will be about NZ$125. That's good because everything else is so expensive. My microwave sweet and sour meal for one tonight cost 59 krone which is over NZ$12. I did taste nice though and much nicer than similar NZ packets.

While I was shopping I was surprised to find only alcohol free beer on sale. Behind curtains I could see the normal stuff. So I asked about that at check out and was told that after 6 pm on week days and 4 pm on weekends, they were not permitted to sell alcohol. I found that interesting and wondered how our NZ supermarkets would accept that.

By 5 pm the town was empting out as folk started heading home and tourists to the boat. However, the sightseeing buses continued to drive slowly along the roads. The town had a decidedly wintery feel, like in the UK or Dunedin. By 6 pm you were really convinced that it was time to go back to the hotel.

Actually with my down jacket I didn't feel the cold so much. Also a pair of long johns has kept my legs warm. I thought that this would be a good test for Longyearbyen.

Tromso is situated on a fjord harbour. There is a strikingly high curved bridge linking both sides of the harbour. On both sides the town climbs up the hill sides. I can see the modern cathedral across there and the cable car to the mountain top which I plan to do tomorrow. Bus 26 goes all the way to the cable car terminal. So I shall ride over the high bridge.

Quite a few people have described the city as a pretty little place and I think I would go along with that. The hills round about have ;opts of snow patches across them. Any depression still has snow. Across the harbour where the hill drops a bit I can see a snowy mountain in the distance. A bit like Alaska actually.

There are a few fishing boats and down on the wharf by the Hurtigruten bow I watched a couple of men fishing. One pulled up a length of thin rope but the other caught a fish a good 600 mm long. I it would make a good meal. Then I noticed that he already had several in a plastic shopping bag at his feet.