Tromso, Norway

God dag fra Tromso!! Hello from the northernmost city in the entire world! It’s located 220 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and 1360 miles south of the North Pole. And unless I ever make it to the North Pole, can confidently say this will be the furthest north I’ll probably ever get. I also didn’t realize how large of a country Norway was. If you compared it to a map of the US, the southernmost part of Norway probably starts at Northern Florida, and it goes all the way up till you hit Southern Maine. To drive from Bergen to Tromso would take over 24+ hours. The more you know.

It’s a sleepy little town. It gives off the impression of not a very common tourist place. Where Oslo feels historical but modern and Bergen just feels historical, Tromso gives off the impression of like historical but forgotten if that makes any sense. Especially during the spring season. Tourists flock in winter time as it is one of the best places in the world to see northern lights and for summer time during peak tourist season, but spring is a very quiet time. It was also a brisk 30 degrees with rain/snow. Definitely says spring to me. Investing (they were $20) in fleece lined leggings for this city was the best purchase I made for this trip. Due to the smaller size, there’s not a huge amount of hotels to stay at. I stayed at the Clarion Hotel, The Edge and it was probably one of the nicer hotel options in the city. Would stay there again if I ever ended back up in Tromso.

I had less than 48 hours in Tromso and tried to make the most of it while I could. Weather was not on my side for most of it as for the one day I was there, it was a full on blizzard. I did get to go on a tour that explore the surrounding islands and was one of my favorite aspects of my entire trip. It was a very intimate tour just being myself and another couple from France but I felt like our guide was really able to pay attention to any of the many questions we had as we drove around. I learned more on that 4 hour tour about Norway then I probably did the rest of my time there. On this specific tour, we explored the islands of Kvaloya and Sommaroy while getting to see harbor seals, arctic dolphins, and reindeer as we learned all about the dos and don’ts of seeing the northern lights as well as the rich history of the Sami people. There are only 2,000 wild reindeer left in the Scandinavia area. The Sami people people own the remaining 500,000. I can also now say I have touched the Arctic Ocean and I would not recommend swimming in it. Brr! If you feel like you are someone who is constantly Googling while on a trip, I would highly recommend this tour as it felt like my guide was a walking Google database.

Things I learned in Tromso:

Tromso, like many other parts in Norway, have specific colors that all houses can be
The sewer gate covers are all different designs. This is something I noticed in all 3 cities
You don’t cheers unless the beverage is alcohol. Tried to cheers hot chocolate and was turned down
Would not waste your time on doing a currency exchange. I exchanged $100 USD for 900 NOK and still had 400 NOK to use at the airport
Half their roads are underground. Bit alarming when there’s a roundabout in the middle of an underground tunnel
A lot of public places will have you follow their Facebook in order to access their wifi
The roads are not great. Because they are covered with snow for 9 months of the year, they don’t often bother working on them during the summer months
They have 3 months of straight sunlight in the summertime and 3 months of straight darkness in the winter

Norway is a fascinating country with some very rich history. And if you get the chance to visit, you will be amazed in not just the nature appeal of it all but of the people of Norway as well. Though they like to keep to themselves, they are incredibly nice and approachable if needed. It’s a very safe feeling country and one that there were many times I felt like the United States could learn a little something from them. I hope you all get to experience this one day as it is hard to put into words how much this last week has impacted me. The only question I have is, where to next?