Continuing on with the rest of our cruise, Day 5 took us to Tromsø. My mom has waxed poetic about Tromsø for years so I was overly excited for this stop. We only had 4 hours in port, but that was enough time to see everything we wanted. However, the main bridge over to the Arctic Cathedral was closed turning a short trip into a 30 min drive each way. Taxi prices were ridiculous and never came down so we never got over there. Kind of a bummer, but at least we got great views of it from the town and boat.
Downtown Tromsø:
We got some great views of the town as we departed:
The landscape kept getting more and more stunning as the evening progressed. We crossed the 70th parallel North and it just took my breath away:
Around 10pm we arrived to the picturesque town of Skjervøy. Just gorgeous.
Yet another incredible day in the books!
Day 6 took us to North Cape which is the Northernmost point of continental Europe and sits at 71° N. Our excursion took us on a 45 minute drive from Honningsvåg to the North Cape Museum (Nordkappmuseet). Once again we had rainy, dreary weather plus it was pretty cold so it wasn’t very enjoyable outside. This meant we missed out on the great panoramic views. It was still cool to see though.
North Cape:
On our drive back to the ship, the skies cleared up and we saw reindeer!
Later that afternoon, we passed Finnkirka, a famous cathedral-shaped sea cliff. The seas also started getting quite choppy here.
After dinner that evening, my mom had a little early birthday celebration for me. She had the ship make a Bløtkake, which is a Norwegian Cream Cake, and something that my mom makes frequently back home. It was delicious and such a thoughtful thing to do.
Our last morning, Day 7, the sun finally came out! It was wonderful seeing the landscape with sunlight. Around 9am we arrived to Kirkenes, our final stop and departure point. Kirkenes is about 9 miles from the Russian border and the street signs were in both Norwegian and Russian. We didn’t do any excursions here, but just headed to the airport for our flight to Stockholm via Oslo.
And with that, the Norwegian leg of our trip was over. We flew to Oslo with my brother and sister in law, then parted ways before continuing to Stockholm with my mom.
There really aren’t enough adjectives to describe this fjord cruise. The scenery was magnificent, the food was so fresh and delicious, the ship was comfortable (aside from the room debacle), and the overall experience was top notch. Sure the weather could’ve been better and next time I’d ask to switch cabins, but these are quibbles on an otherwise great trip. But of course the best part was experiencing all of this with my mother and brother!
