North of the Arctic Circle – Tromsø, Norway
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Tromsø is the largest city in Norway north of the Arctic circle. It has been inhabited since the end of the Ice Age. Most of Tromsø is situated on a small island and connected to the mainland by the Tromsø Bridge. The climate in Tromsø is surprisingly moderate for a city at this latitude thanks to the Gulf stream that warms the shore. Tromsø is home to the world’s northernmost university and is also one of the best places to see the Northern Lights being right in the middle of the Northern Lights zone. Unfortunately I was there at the wrong time (summer) and the sunspot activity is currently at it’s lowest so the chances of seeing the northern lights was pretty much zero.
I arrived late at night in Tromsø via a flight from Vilnius and stayed at a CSer’s place. It turned out the CSer’s father was an international diplomat and I had some great conversations with him. It also opened my mind to the other side of anthropogenic climate change as several scientists I chanced up during the trip told me that climate change was just a good way of getting funding for climate research but the situation on the ground (in Norway and Svalbard atleast) was different from what was being reported in the news.
Arctic Cathedral and Fløyen
The Arctic Cathedral is on the mainland and can be reached by crossing the Tromsø Bridge from the city centre. Due to it’s distinctive style and location it has often called the Opera house of Norway (alluding to the Sydney Opera House).
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The Fløyen is a mountain overlooking the island of Tromsø and it’s summit can be reached by cable car. It offers spectacular views of Tromsø and you can see the whole island looking northward. The panorama linked below was taken from Fløyen.
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View Larger Panoramic Version stitched from 8 photos
Other architectural Attractions
There are several interesting buildings and institutions in Tromsø such as the Polar Environment center built to resemble a stack of falling books, the City Hall, the Mack Brewery – a microbrewery which has been operational since 1877 and the Court building.
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