Above the Arctic Circle
Kayaking in Tromsø, Norway
Tromsø, Norway feels like it is perched on top of the world. And, on days when the blue sky vaults overhead to infinity, the vastness of this Arctic land takes your breath away.
Tromsø, the largest urban area in Northern Norway, is home to a population of about 75,000 people, and is the third largest city in the world north of the Arctic Circle. Most of the city is contained on an island, Tromsøya, connected to the mainland by a long, arching bridge.
Aboard the Hurtigruten, the local cruise/ferry/postal boat, on our way all the way up to Kirkeness, in the very northernmost region of Norway, we had the chance to hop off of the boat for a day of kayaking. Even in mid-summer, the air temperature hovered in the mid-50s and the water temperature was absolutely frigid — about forty degrees Fahrenheit.
After being transported to our kayaking site via the underground freeway system (complete with traffic circles — quite an engineering feat), our guides…
