Aurora Borealis, we are coming for you! Some people spend days to hunt the Northern Lights, some people are just unlucky as they couldn't catch it no matter how long it takes. The weather in Norway had not been pleasant to us until now with constant rain from Day 1. Hopefully, the clouds will clear up soon enough so that we could watch the lights dancing in the sky.
This is actually the second part of our adventures in Norway. If you haven't read the first part (Stavanger, Flam, Voss and Bergen), feel free to check it out here.
#Day 4: Bergen – Tromsø, Norway
Here we are at Bergen Airport. Undecided on what to eat for lunch, we ended up grabbing some pizzas, hot dog and a packet of snack.
This is actually the second part of our adventures in Norway. If you haven't read the first part (Stavanger, Flam, Voss and Bergen), feel free to check it out here.
#Day 4: Bergen – Tromsø, Norway
Here we are at Bergen Airport. Undecided on what to eat for lunch, we ended up grabbing some pizzas, hot dog and a packet of snack.
We took SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) to Tromsø and landed at Tromsø airport with a good weather! *clap hands* In Tromsø, the best way to get around is to rent a car because public transportation is not convenient unless you engage the northern light hunting tour.
After collecting our car, we drove to where we were going to stay for the next two days– Tromsø Camping! It was a nice, cozy, clean and well-equipped cabin. If you are lucky, you could even see northern lights from this place. We drove to the nearest supermarket – COOP, and bought our groceries for the coming 3D2N stay in Tromsø. What’s the best food to eat in Norway? The answer will definitely be Norwegian Salmon and it is usually priced around NOK 69 – 79 for four pieces. If you don’t mind eating frozen salmon, you could get these for about NOK 62. Besides being cheap, the frozen salmon’s quality is much better than what we have in Malaysia. It do not have any fishy taste/smell and you can taste the freshness by just seasoning (salt/pepper) it a bit.
What’s next? Northern light hunting of course and our first stop destination was Ersfjordbotn. At about 12.00am, we were able to spot some dimmed lights appearing in the sky. We stopped at a place where we noticed a lot of cars were parked there. As we got down from the car and spent some time configuring the camera settings, the northern lights – Aurora Borealis started to dance in the sky! No words could describe how excited we were seeing this for the first time! It was absolutely an amazing view which became our unforgettable experience in Norway!
The northern lights only lasted for about 30 minutes. We then continued driving to Grøtfjord followed by Tromvik to hunt for the lights. Unfortunately, the lights were gone and we believed that it was covered by the cloudy sky.
We reached Tromsø Camping around 2.00am and had a nice sleep with this amazing Aurora Borealis in mind!
#Day 5: Tromsø, Norway
Finally, we can say goodbye to the rainy day. *Hooray!* Woke up slightly late because our itinerary of the day was just to drive around Trondjord, Kvaloyvagen, Ersfjordbotn , Grøtfjord , Tromvik and Sommarøy for the stunning day view. Of course, we had our breakfast before departing and also packed our dinner as well.
In Tromsø, you may have problems locating washrooms or restaurants as the only attraction is enjoying the stunning nature view. Tromsø is all about mountains, seas and roads. So, plan well and make sure you have enough food and water in your car.
We didn’t pack our lunch because we took the local’s recommendation to visit Cafe@Bryggejentene in Ersfjordbotn. The exterior is a lovely white-colored cottage house but the inside is so warm with nice decoration items as well many products such as jams, sauce, cups, etc. for sale.
Looking at the menu, there is limited food choices. We were being told by the locals that their carrot cake is a must try! So, we ordered a slice of carrot cake, a hot carrot soup and a café latte for lunch.
With the temperature being only 6 – 8°C, most people will choose to have their meal inside. But, we were strongly attracted by the spectacular view outside the café and we didn’t care about the temperature at all! It was a very relaxing lunch with marvelous fjord view in a cold weather!
Besides the stunning view, their carrot cake is really yummy! It is definitely a must try if you visit Tromsø.
Cafe@Bryggejentene
Address: Ersfjordveien 55, 9107 Kvaløya, Norway
Operating hours: 11.00am – 4.00pm (Close on Sundays)
Facebook page: Bryggejentene
Email: bryggenjentene@gmail.com
We then continued our journey to visit the other places - Grøtfjord , Tromvik and Sommarøy. Look at the photos, you don’t need to be a professional photographer. Everywhere in Tromsø is just so beautiful and the photo you take doesn’t need much editing. Don’t forget to enjoy the view with your eyes before letting the camera to ‘enjoy’.
Our last destination of the day before northern light hunting – Sommarøy! It is a nice place to hang out. The Sommarøy Arctic Hotel has a cozy place (glass house with seats inside as well as outdoor seats) to allow hotel guests to enjoy the northern lights.
Other parts of Sommarøy.
We actually waited for the northern lights at both Sommarøy and Ersfjordbotn. However, the cloudy sky hid all the lights from us and it also started to rain as well. So, we decided to go back to our cabin, have our dinner and hunt for the lights again at a later time. We went out again around 12.00am hoping to catch the northern lights for the last time before leaving Tromsø. Unfortunately, nothing could be seen during the whole night.
Tips: Washrooms are available at Cafe@Bryggejentene in Ersfjordbotn & Sommarøy Arctic Hotel. Make sure to fully utilize the washroom before you move to other places.
#Day 6: Tromsø - Oslo, Norway
The city of Tromsø itself has quite a number of attractions for us to check out as well. Woke up early in the morning and filled our stomach with a heavy and delicious breakfast!
We started to visit some of the attractive attractions - Arctic Cathedral, Tromsø Bridge and Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden. There are no entrance fees and parking fees at Arctic-Alphine Botanic Garden. The garden is a place to check out the special plants in the Artic area.
Besides that, Fjellheisen is a must visit place because you can have a spectacular view of Tromsø by taking the cable car to the top of the mountain at 420m sea level. If you love hiking, you can also hike up the hill and this could save up to NOK 170 return cable car ride.
Fjellheisen
Address: Solliveien 12 , N-9020 Tromsdalen.
Operating hours: 10.00am – 11.30pm (Winter); opening hours varies for each season
Website: https://fjellheisen.no/
It breaks our heart to leave this wonderful view behind but there is still another part of Norway for us to explore - the capital itself, Oslo! Feel free to read about it here.
Pictures of northern lights are really amazing. I was also visited Fairbanks and saw the beautiful Northern lights in fairbanks .
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