Northern Highlights —Tromsø
Towards the end of 2018, my friend and business partner Ranga and I set out on an incredible adventure to the northernmost reaches of our planet. In addition to mind-blowing landscapes, psychedelic skies, and frigid oceans, we happily experienced the local food and drink, as well as music and people.
This is an account of our experiences in Tromsø, Norway — 350 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.
Written by: Ranga
Photography: Gautam
The weather in Tromsø was a pleasant 1˚C. We checked into our hotel and soon went exploring for dinner options. A sports bar in the city center seemed welcoming enough. We had a couple of beers over dinner and turned in early for the night.
October 31st, 2018 —Ølhallen and Storsteinen
“Any team but Chelsea”, said the barman at Ølhallen, the oldest pub in Tromsø.
It was a busy morning for us. We walked all around the city center after breakfast and made our bookings for a Northern Lights tour for the following day. So we had earned our beers at Ølhallen.
The place had a nice old-world feel to it and an amazing variety of beers. The Chelsea-hating barman kindly picked out samplers of local beers for us to taste.
They also had an unusual tipping system. Two tipping jars are placed side-by-side and you are expected to place your tips in one of the jars, thereby casting your “vote”. There were two such tipping options that day — one was “iPhone” vs “Android”, the other was “Liverpool FC” vs “Manchester United”. Tough choices, indeed!
In the evening, we headed out to Fjellheisen, the aerial tramway that shuttles between Tromsdalen and Storsteinen. From the top of Storsteinen, we were able to get a panoramic view of Tromsø.
Storsteinen also leads to Tromsdalstinden, a small but imposing peak that overlooks the city of Tromsø. We watched the majestic mountain as we treated ourselves to coffee at the restaurant at Storsteinen.
As we came down Fjellheisen, the lady operating the cable car lamented that the lights had been weak this year. We had just one more night to catch the fabled Northern Lights!
November 1st, 2018 — Lullesletta, Tromsø
“We’ll take you all the way to Finland, if necessary”, said Hannah, the guide on the Northern Lights tour. Tempting though the idea of going towards Lapland was, we were hopeful that we would be able to spot the Northern Lights well within Norway’s borders.
This is the day we had been waiting for. We had treated ourselves to a hearty English breakfast at Egon and rested in the afternoon in preparation for this.
There was a sizable crowd of people for the tour. As we went past the outskirts of Tromsø, Hannah explained the necessary conditions for viewing the Northern Lights:
- Darkness, which was in abundant supply in winter
- Clear sky, in search of which we were moving out of the city limits
- Solar activity, the unpredictable element, that could end up leading us to Finland
Another factor to be considered was that the lights are not easily visible to the naked eye. Hannah helped us with the settings on our cameras, which would help us see the Northern Lights in all their glory.
A long, two-hour drive took us to Lullesletta, a small hamlet on the outskirts of Tromsø. In the open clear fields, the cold speared into our skins as we set up positions.
The show began soon enough. The starry sky (nary a cloud in sight) lit up with the amazing hues of nature. The atmosphere was tinged with electrical charge (quite literally!)
The colours teased us, rising in intensity like the crescendo of an orchestra, before dropping off suddenly, and then starting again in another part of the sky. For the next two hours, we watched mesmerized, delighting at every little move of the solar activity.
Hannah and team offered us hot drinks and biscuits to keep the cold at bay. A magical night finally came to an end. But not before a sudden stop en route as the divine tease chose to show herself again, tantalizing us with one more glimpse before sending us back to our mundane lives.
November 2nd, 2018 —Tromsø to Brussels via Oslo and Amsterdam
“Pan-tone?” The store-owner’s Punjabi drawl made it seem like a swear word. After a day spent travelling across 3 countries in 2 flights and a train, we really needed a drink.
Read the 3-part series of our adventures in Svalbard here:
Northern Highlights — Svalbard Part 1
All Photographs are by Gautam Rao and are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
