So cool, its Arctic!!!!

  Narvik, Norway
Friday, July 8, 2005

The train trip from Umea is nothing short of spectacular. The rolling hills, lakes and rivers of coastal Sweden slowly give way to the impressive mountains and valleys that separate Sweden and Norway. Somewhere on the journey, I cross the Artic circle. I'm seriously North now. Across the border into Norway and the mountains and valleys are so defined having been cut by massive glaciers just yesterday (in geological terms anyway). I get into Narvik - New town (it was levelled in WW2) so not much architecture to look at, but the scenery is brilliant, fjord on one side and rugged mountains everywhere else. This place is more of a stopover point than anything else, so I'm not expecting much.


Train from Umea to Narvik

I plan out the next few days as my experience in Umea tells me I haven't been planning ahead enough. I realise, that my flippant decision to go to Umea has put me in a tricky position. The bus timetables (up this far North, bus is the only option) are structured such that I can't do one big trip to get up North, but have to take smaller trips while staying the night in towns along the way. I should have thought this out better. Oh well, I'm sure I can find some mischief to get into.

Next day I check out the sights, some ancient rock-carvings, the harbour, and a War museum which was really interesting. I didn't realise how much fighting went on here. Although Norway wished to stay neutral in the War, their straegic position next to the UK prevented any chance of that and major Naval battles were fought in the fjords up and down the coast.


Fjord near Narvik

I catch the bus upto Tromso in the afternoon. Tromso has two features which together, make it a very attractive destination:

1. It is the northen-most University town in the world
2. It has the highest concentraion of Pubs per capita in Norway

How could I miss it?