Norway, Land of Raw Beauty, Valhalla Myths and Fjords. Stay 1: Lofoten

Why Norway?

The ice age created this wonderful unique landscape sparsely inhabited for eons by hunter gatherers the way the Sami people in the most northern region still do.

Sandee stated early on in our trip that she considered the South Island of New Zealand the most beautiful natural landscape in the world, but now she awarded the title to Norway.

You may ask why in October? Almost no tourists and we were hoping for Northern Lights. The lights turned out to be a disappointment, so we revisited our Finland blog to refresh our memories.

(Finnish northern light picture, something we hoped to see again but did not see in Norway)

We also tested a new travel schedule. As we are aging we wish to travel at a slower pace, staying in one place longer, venturing out daily less hours and returning to a comfortable home base. Not having to move too often, spending more time in the same place, will be a great new way of travel we concluded.

(Our Henningsvaer room)

In the 35 days in Norway we spent time in 7 locations, one of which was on a Havila ship from Bergen to Kirkenes. Havila is since 2021 a direct competitor to the Hurtigruten as they service with goods and travelers the 34 harbors between Bergen and Kirkenes. Cruise income accounts for about 40% of both companies revenue.

(Our Havila Pollux Ship)

We flew in from Amsterdam to Bergen after which Widerøe Haviland planes brought us via multiple stops to Leknes on the Lofoten Islands. Widerøe was our airline within Norway as we ventured between Lofoten and Alesund and flying back from Kirkenes to Bergen from where KLM returned us to Amsterdam.

We drove our rental car several hours in the early evening hours from Leknes Airport to our 7 day stay in Henningsvaer.

(Bryggenhotel in Henningsvaer, our base)

If any of you readers are traveling to Norway please visit Lofoten and consider Henningsvaer as a base, you will see coastal Norway at its best.

(There is a road with lot of bridges to Henningsvaer,

Part of the initial impression of Awe)

Since we are on the subject of traveler experiences in Norway:

Sea, Forest and Mountains carved by meandering fjords feature seafood (Cod, Salmon and tiny Shrimp and local meat, Reindeer, Moose and Lamb, smoked, cured or pickled, served with potatoes, Smørbrød, Cloudberries and Cream all year long. Alcohol is unaffordable but still consumed in considerable quantities. Reckon on US $8-10 for beer and US $50 plus bottles of cheap wine.

(These are the racks drying cod and surprisingly

also mussels used for umami in soups)

Be sure to keep your gastank halfull to full venturing out, Norway is sparsely populated in the country side with villages and towns that hardly see tourists to villages overrun by tourists spread over considerable distances.

(Travelling in Norway will get you on many ferries, true road connectors)

Ferry services are the connectors, traversing the many fjords. However be aware of schedules ahead of time as we found out the hard way. The mere fact that your map shows a ferry, does not mean that lining up for a crossing means actual crossing to be imminent. Some only cross 2 or 3 times a day, forcing us to retract our route 50 plus miles to another ferry.

So Why Lofoten: Breathtaking scenery on an archipelago above the Arctic circle with dramatic mountains rising from the sea dotted with picturesque red fishing villages. Below pictures of just Henningsvaer:

(View from our hotel window).

(Henningsvaer has about 450 inhabitants, with

fishing being the major source of income)

(The village stadium was on the high point of the village)

Rich Viking history and mild climate due to the tempering influence of the Gulf Stream makes the islands a tourist destination all year around.

You will find the worlds largest Viking longhouse (272ft/83m) in Borg. Now a museum:

The Lofoten also claim to have the first Norwegian town Vågan, and evidence suggest human settlements as far back as 11000 years ago.

Solvaer is the Lofoten capital, about 5000 residents or 20% of the total population of these islands.

(Solvaer had the largest fishing fleet)

(This little church all by itself against a typical lofoten sky background)

In the days we were on Lofoten we went north and South all the way to the bottom island and the village of Å.

(Reine village with typical red buildings which are fisherman cabins or Rorbuer in Norwegian)

When near Å one must visit the most photogenic town Reine with its famous Rorbuer cabins. These cabins were first built by King Øystein in 1120 to support the crucial fishing industry in his kingdom. The royal family lived in Bergen and ruled over a kingdom larger than the present size of the country with control over Iceland and Greenland as tax territories. They led a first crusade to Jerusalem and Leif Erikson explored America 500 years before Columbus did.

Back to Rorbuer cabins: these fishermen’s cabins painted red on stilts over the water served as housing and storage for cod fishermen during the winter season.

Nowadays vacation cabins.

We got a new habit on these islands ordering Hot Chocolate with Rum to warm our bones and found out that the alcohol laws in Norway require us to wait till after 1 pm as no alcohol will be served before that time.

(One of the larger bridge spans from the mainland to Henningsvaer)

(These are roads to and from Henningsvaer connected by bridges in true island hopping to the mainland)

And most bars will not open till 5pm, in which case you will have to wait even longer. Funny enough though having lunch before 1 pm could get you a beer or a glass of wine with your food, not any other form of alcohol though till 1 pm.

(Typical Lofoten view)

(Uttakleiv Beach shows a naturally heart shaped rock)

We started to love cod which we in the beginning had reservations about as we did not like cod in Iceland.

(We visited most of these sights)

The last day of the stay on these islands we took a fjord tour from Solvaer to the Trollfjord a few hour trip to a very short (2km long) narrow fjord, famous for its steep cliffs and the possible sighting of sea eagles.

We sighted one and took a bad picture see below: