Norway in Spring 2011 (Part 1, Tromso, Alta, Nordkapp)

20 May 2011, The Journey Begins

Waiting for transit at Bangkok Airport

Preparing to land at Oslo Gardermoen Airport

A grueling 13 hour flight from Singapore to Bangkok to Oslo, and another 1.5hrs domestic, we landed in the city of Tromso inside the Arctic circle. The Tromso airport is a small airport with some check-in counters and a few car rental companies. Some of them will close their booth when they don't have any pre-book rentals. 

Tromso Lutfthavn Airport

 

So anyone wanting to rent a car has to book in advance to avoid waiting at the booth. The drive from the airport to the city was a short one. You can drive along the cost or take a short cut into the residential areas and down slope into the city centre. We took the one across the hills into the city centre where our B&B hotel is located. The city is on a very small island linked by bridges to the mainland and the surrounding islands. Norway is a land of fjords and many small islands linked by bridges and ferries. We were initially quite lost while driving to our hotel. With the help of my iPhone GPS, we got to the hotel after missing many turns. 

AMI Hotel near town centre

The hotel is well located near the city centre, just a few steps and we were right in the town centre where the cinema and the marina are. We spent the rest of the remaining evening time walking the streets and the only shopping mall, the Nerstranda which was still opened. It is a small town centre, and you can even walked across the bridge to the Artic cathedral in the near distant for a mere 20mins.

21 May 2011, A visit to the Polar Zoo

Today, we started our 1st visit to an attraction in the Artic Circle, the Polar Zoo. After having our breakfast at our AMI Hotel, a simple combination of bread and ham and some juices, we took our rental car and began our long drive from Tromso to the zoo near Narvik. 

Breakfast at AMI Hotel (Tromso)

Before leaving the city, we took a short detour to have a few photographs at the Polaria and the Polar museum from the outside. Well it was still close in the early morning. We crossed the Tromso bridge to the mainland where the Artic Cathedral is located, and then we just followed the highway E8 until Nordkjosbotn and switch to E6. 

Our car for the trip in Northen Norway

Arctic Cathedral at Tromso

On Google map, it was a 2hr 25mins drive, but with the speed limit and multiple speed cameras, it took longer than that, say 3hrs for us to reach there. To drive from Tromso to the Polar Zoo, it was a total of 187km and this was considered far when we had to drive back to Tromso, making it a 374km day trip. It was much closer for those travelling from Narvik. Too bad Narvik was not part of our plan as we had to head up north the next day to Alta and have to return to Tromso for the night

Along the way there were stunning views of the snowcapped mountains and for city dwellers like us from the concrete jungle of Singapore, we were all woohs and aaahs as we immersed ourselves in such beauty of the mountains and the sea.

View of the sea between Tromso and the mainland.

Snow capped mountains along highway E6

Along highway E6, we came upon a huge frozen lake and with end spring in season, the surface of the lake has started to have pockets of broken ice floor. This is lake Takvatnet from google map. 

Frozen Lake at Takvatnet

Another view of the frozen lake

At 12:45pm, we reached the Polar Zoo, just in time for the guide tour at 1pm. It cost 215 NOK per person for the ticket. 

After a long drive. At the Polar Zoo !!

We saw Wolverine (not the X-men) which looks like more of a big raccoon. Then there were the Lynx (looks like a big cat), brown bears (Salt & Pepper, name of the bears), wolves and some white polar fox. 

The Lynx

The European Wolf

Brown Bear

Polar Fox

From their website, it says that there are 3 polar fox which they have made to be sociable with humans. Well there were really just 3 of them. The crowd has minimal, just a say 15 of us. It was not the summer peak season but you get to have the whole place to yourself. The tour ended around 2:30pm and we hopped back into our car and started the long drive back to Tromso. We had our dinner at Peppes Pizza around 7:30pm as they were not much food places that were still opened. We ordered some wings and a pizza to share.

Dinner time

22 May 2011, The Drive from Tromso to Alta

Today was the first day we ventured out of Tromso in our rental car. With almost a full tank of petrol, I was confident that we had enough fuel to make the 322 km drive from Tromso to Alta. The shortest route of course from Google map is to take highway E8 to Fagernes and switch to route 91 to take the ferry from Svensby to Breivikeidet, and continue on this route 91 to Lyngseidet follow by another ferry to Olderdalen. Total distance to Alta will be around 309km. But we wanted to save on the ferry charges so we took the longer yet cheaper route even when fuel in Norway was expensive. 

Junction at Fagernes

In the end it was about 5hrs of driving covering a total distance of 403km.We woke up around 7am for our breakfast at the AMI hotel we were staying. It was a simple yet filling breakfast complete with ham, egg, breads, juices and milk. We took our time to fill our stomach for the long drive to Alta. It was Sunday and the town was almost deserted, we drove around town without any traffic before crossing the bridge that connects to the mainland.

Morning at Town Centre (empty street)

A hut by the sea along highway E8

We left Tromso around 8am and off we hit the E8 highway to Nordkjosbotn, skipping the turn at Fagernes for the ferry route of 91, and continue on E8 towards Skibotn. From Skibotn onwards we were driving very close to the sea, enjoying the scenery of the mountains, blue skies and the ferry making its crossing from Lyngseidet to Olderdalen. At the most northern tip of the road, we drove inland to the south away from the coast, all the way inland just to follow the seaside route. 

 

Snow mountains in the water

This was a less crowded route, only to be met occasionally by truckers taking this route. The route continued all the way to village of Kafjordbotn before turning northwards again towards Olderdalen. At this point of the drive, we started to feel closer to Alta as we were really moving northwards. With the many stops for photo taking and enjoying a cone of ice-cream, we reached Olderdalen by road around 12noon. Since it was Sunday the supermarket was closed at Olderdalen. We actually wanted to grab something to eat. We continued the drive northwards. As we started to climb some of the hills, the landscape changes and we were greeted by snow covering parts of the landscape. 

Rest point along a hilly road.

We stopped along the mountain road, parked our car and walked around to enjoy the snow on our feet. It was a short break and after which the road went downhill and we reached a fishing village called Hovedvegen, with boats in the habour. A small supermarket (joker) was opened and we parked our car outside the store and went into the supermarket for food. Good enough there was a burger snack counter within the supermarket. We ordered a crispy chicken burger with fries and Coke. This was enough to feed our stomach and we rested say 30mins here while munching in our car. 

Supermarket called JOKER at Hovedvegen (Hungry !!)

As happy as the wrapper's facial expression.

It was a further 10mins drive and we entered into a small town called Storlette. The choice of food here seemed to be much better. Fuel stations are available at this town and when we passed one of them, the rates didn’t look attractive and after looking at the fuel gauge, we should have enough to take it to Alta. From Storlette, it was a long and lonely road with no town all the way until we reached Sandbukta on highway E6.

Entering Nord-Troms region

The landscape started to change as we climbed higher into the mountains. We were actually a few hundred meters above sea level and the scenery changed from lush greenery to pure white fields of snow. The view under the afternoon sun was the perfect weather to drive across the snow fields with the blue ocean below us. We stopped for quite a while enjoying the snow and snapping our cameras all around us.

Enjoying the majestic view

Only thing that is not covered by snow

Trustworthy car you need

Stopped again just after drove for another 1km

 


It was a downhill drive from this high viewpoint all the way down to Alta. Before we reached Alta, the mountain roads were quite narrow at places where only one big vehnicle can pass. So it was a careful drive down the steep mountain road to reach the town of Alta. Alta is actually on a big flat plain of land with lots of commercial and residential buildings. But since it was Sunday, it was quite deserted even at the town centre with people gathering around a pub that was opened at that time. It was about 7pm. We checked into our 2 night accommodation at the Barstua Guesthouse just located along the E6 highway.

Barstua Guesthouse at Alta

Just park beside the house

Luckily it wasn’t that noise because of the speed limit of 50 km/h impose. We got some fish and chips from one of the only food outlet that was opened on Sunday evening and went back to our rooms to enjoy our dinner. It was a tired drive covering 400km, but we got to experience every bits and pieces of the entire E6 highway from Tromso to Alta.

23 May 2011, A visit to mainland Europe most northern land, the North Cape Norway.

It was raining lightly today and we let our sleep to make the call for us to wake up. It was a very good night rest at the Barstua Guesthouse at Alta. It is more like those clean and tidy motels that you find in NZ. Around 8am, we drove to the nearest supermarket to get some breakfast and dinner groceries. Very expensive to eat out in Norway. Just cannot accept the fact that a burger cost 3 times more back home. After packing our groceries in our room's fridge, we set off the long drive from Alta to Nordkapp. 

On the E6 highway just outside Alta

Enjoying the warm comforts of the car

Following the only highway E6 from Alta all the way to Oldefjord and taking the E69 highway till Nordkapp. The journey from Alta took about 30mins and we can see a change in landscape. Snowfields were starting to appear before our eyes as the temperature dropped. We realized we are actually climbing up the mountain flatlands cutting into the northeast mountains. It was a cloudy and rainy morning and the wind was strong and cold. Along this E6 highway called Stokkedaisveine, both sides of the road was almost covered in snow even in spring. But with the road is good condition, no snow tires were needed and we just drove like on normal roads. The roads were always kept in working conditions by the authorities. 

Still a long way to reach Nordkapp

Church surrounded by snow (where is the way in?)

The view along the road was stunning and at times, it was complete whiteness of the nearby hills, only dotted with a few power lines that show people are actually living in this cold harsh weather condition. We spotted some reindeer along the way, feasting themselves on the grass that spring brought along. We actually lost track of time, being not in a hurry. 

Entering the Finnmark region

Taking the E69 to Nordkapp

Once we reached the small town of Oderfjord we just switched to E69 that runs northwards along the beautiful cost. The road goes up and down along the hills by the coast. It was a quiet drive on the road, only to be greeted by a few cars coming from Nordkapp and Honningveg. Finally we reached the 6.8km undersea tunnel that links mainland to the island of Mageroya where Nordkapp is located. 

Following the maintenance truck on 6.8km undersea tunnel

 
At the end of the tunnel which surfaced on the island, there is immediate toll booth that collects payment for the usage of the tunnel. It was 192 NOK one way, meaning the return trip will cost the same as well. Norway is very advance in cashless system. In such remote place at a tool booth, you can make your payment with credit card. Not to mentioned, the cellphone sign reception was remarkably well. Even up in the snow mountain pass where you can only see 10m of road visibility. 

Toll gate just after the 6.8km undersea tunnel

A brochure given by the toll gate operator.

 
After leaving the toll booth, it was a lonely drive with little traffic all the way to the most northern tip. The town of Honningsvag is the most northern large town in Norway. Equipped with supermarkets and petrol station, this is a must stop for long distance drivers to fuel up their cars for the long drive back to Alta. Not sure if anyone drive from Alta to Nordkapp and back in the same day.  There are of course accommodations closer to Nordkapp like camp sites and cabin hotels but these accommodations may not be open in spring until summer. Even if they are opened, it will be just you alone staying in the entire campsite and it gets real cold out there. Since we had to get back to Tromso, we based ourselves in Alta to visit Nordkapp.

The road leading to Nordkapp. Climbing over the mountains.

20km more to go

Limited visibility. Driving slowly.

The last leg of the drive from Honningsvag to Nordkapp was very challenging. The weather was bad, heavy cloud and fog on the road. It was like driving in those 80s video game where you can't see what is more than 10 meters away. And the ticketing booth for Nordkapp suddenly appeared 10meters away and i had to drastically brake to slow down. Entrance fee was 235NOK person. Quite pricy just to see the attraction on a cloudy and bad weather day. Once we parked our car, initially we could not find where the entrance was as the weather was bad. Cold strong winds and heavy thick fog. 

At the Nordkaap Hall entrance

Once inside the building, it was warm and toasty. But the icon of nordkapp is out in the open and exposed to the elements. We put on our gloves and equipped with cameras and videocam, we braved ourselves into the chilly high wind fog and walked to the metallic globe structure. Couldn’t find our way initially, the cloud was just too heavy to see anything at all. 

Pointing to where the globe is. Can't see in this weather

The iconic globe

There was a cinema show down the basement on the building, hourly schedule. We were on time for the 3pm screening which shows the lives of people living in northern Norway. The sights and sounds of the midnight sun and northern lights. Cinematography was of that IMAX standard. Maybe somewhere in the world it was actually an IMAX movie but it could be too short for such screening. 

Inside the Artico Ice Bar in Honningsvag

The bar counter

After that we left Nordkapp through the heavy fog road downhill to Honningsvag to visit the Artico Ice Bar, the most northern ice bar in the world. The entrance to the ice bar cost 130 NOK with 2 non-alcoholic drinks. There was an igloo, 2 round tables like those pubs back home, and a few dog sleighs that can be used in winter over snowmobiles.

We left Honningsvag satisfied with our achievement for the day and started the long and arduous drive back to Alta. Took a wrong turn after leaving Honningsvag and ended up driving up the hills into Nordkapp, turning around halfway before reaching Nordkapp again. Don't know how come we took the wrong turn in the mountains when there are just 2 routes only. We finally reached Alta back at 9:30pm and had to prepare dinner.

Reaching the town of Alta

Let's move on to Part 2