London and 14-Day Arctic Circle Crossing: Edinburgh Evening Stay Holland America Cruise: Day 13 Tromso, Norway- Tromsø By Land and Sea May 24, 2025

Thankfully, last night was a better night. We got up at 6:10 and looked outside to see beautiful snowy mountains on the other side of the strait, which rise above the buildings of Tromsdalen that stretch along the coastline.

I stepped out before 6:30 to get that shot and a couple down toward the city of Tromsø, which is on the island of Tromsøya, which is on the other side of the ship. The bridge down there is the Tromsøbura. Man, what a view!

My husband K was ready before I was and headed up to the Lido deck to secure seats at 6:45. When our daughter J arrived, I grabbed my coat and other outerwear and we went up at 6:55. Since lunch would be late, we all ate a good breakfast.

From our vantage point on the Lido deck, we could look out over the port area. We saw more and more cars starting to move. Some went into a tunnel in the hillside. It took me a bit to realize it, but the white on top of the hill was actually a higher, snow-covered peak behind.

At 7:32, we hurried down to deck two and went to the restroom. We were to be in the World Stage at 7:45 and we were actually 3 minutes early. We settled in to wait for "Tromsø by Land and Sea" to pop up with a notice that it was time to depart. 

At 8:10, we were  standing in line for bus 23, while it was spitting. Our guide Carlos got everyone checked in and we were on the road at 8:15. It was very overcast.

We headed for the city and crossed the Tromsøbura, getting nice views of the mountains beyond.

 

As we went, Carlos, of course, told us about the area. By the way, like the guide yesterday, he, too, is a transplant who fell in love with the area. For him, the starting point was Spain.

The island of Tromsøya (from an old Norse word for "strong currents") has 40% of the population, but the main part of the town is on the island, while the rest of the population is on the continental side. This bridge is the main one. The town has the northernmost McDonald's in the world. Tromsø has the highest number of wooden houses in northern Norway. Their university in the world's northernmost at 65°40'33"N18°55'10"E.

The Arctic is shared by the US, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden,  Finland, and Russia. The Arctic starts at 66°30'N.

Norway has 101,000km of coastline with 6 times the ocean compared to the land.

They take cod liver oil every morning in winter. (That used to be a thing in the US.) In the winter, there are whales and skiing. They have a Dark Season Bun that is vanilla inside and dark chocolate on top. Sun Buns, which are eaten starting January 21-the day the sun returns-Sun Day, are vanilla inside and sugar out. 

Our first stop at 8:25 was on the other side of the bridge at the so-called Arctic Cathedral. We couldn't go in, but we were among those willing to get out in the iffy weather and to climb the steep drive up to the lot in front of the church. Besides photos of the  church, there were selfies, cowslip, views of the strait-including our ship, a civic center called Kulta, and a view of the two lane road that goes on the bridge.

 

 

We were back on the bus at 8:33, having not been rained on. Seven minutes later, we headed back over the bridge. Outside the Hålogaland Teater (theater), we saw these unusual sculptures. They would not be the last of the day.

We passed Polaria, the main part of which looks like ice floes piled up on the sure. Very cool.

So, that was the land portion-other than what we would see after the whole tour. We were off the bus at 8:55 to go to the boat. K, J, and I found seats near the front inside on the bottom level. There were nice big windows in front of us. Just before we set sail at 9:11, I saw this gull perched on a trashcan just watching the world.

We sailed out into the Tromsøysundet strait and around to the Sandnessundet strait on the other side of the island to circumnavigate Tromsøya. The views were simply gorgeous.

Evidently, besides simply skiing, they like ski jumping here. These look terrifying.

You don't get the feeling you are near mountains until you see how much snow there is. Oh, and here are some of those wooden houses.

This view is on the other side of the island. It is the airport.

On that side of the island is the Sandnessundbrua, which I caught with this bird that may or may not be a kittiwake. Good photo, regardless.

This view is of Håkøya from the Sandnessundet strait not long after we went under that bridge.

We were now in the flight path of the airport, as evidenced by this photo. As we rounded the island, we passed Telegrafbukta, a park.

A great thing about cruising around the island was that besides letting us see magnificent islands, we had good views of housing.

 

We were now coming up on the other side of the Tromsøbura and could see the side view of the Arctic Cathedral. The triangles that made up its shape were not all the same size.

We also got an interesting view of Polaria.

We were now coming up on the dock, which we would reach at 10:27. In the meantime, we had a good view of a floating sauna and the area marked off for a cold plunge after. We even saw folks using it.

 

When we disembarked, I got this shot of the boat. It was now 49°, but felt like 47° and was still cloudy.

With the end of the cruise, we were left to our own devices. There was a free shuttle that we could take back and Carlos had helpfully pointed it out. But, we were in no hurry to go back. I, for one, wanted to find the Hard Rock Café and J and I wanted souvenirs. I was also hoping to find the Catholic church. With no priest on board, there was no point to our going down to the room the ship had set up. I wanted to at least duck in and say a prayer.

The first photo I took of town as we headed out turned out to be one taken from a rather popular perspective on the internet of the Protestant Tromsø Domkirche, which is the same as the German word for "cathedral".

This establishment answers the question of what fun things can you do in this area.

We soon found ourselves at a square or "plass", which seems related to the German "Platz". This one was dedicated to the man whose statue stood in the center- Roald Amundsen, the polar explorer. Why here? He and his Norwegian pilot and 4 Frenchmen were lost in an assumed plane crash, while on a rescue mission in 1928. A couple of pieces of the plane were found near Tromsø.

 

In spite of the seriousness of the site, there were whimsical animal sculptures arranged at the edge of the outer area of the square's upper level where the statue was.

 

Across the street was a very thorough gift shop, where I made enough purchases to get the Global Blue form. Then, we walked across Kirkegata to the shop that was across the street from the yellow building above. This one had nifty black tubes outside a la a ship's smokestacks. Inside, they had a deal on coffee, which let me get gifts and another Global Blue form.

If you were observant, you had to have noticed the word "Kirke" in the name of the street. That should have rung a bell. Like the German "Kirche", the word means church. Just up the street was the Domkirke.

 

I really liked the mother and child statue out front. I was less than thrilled that the church was closed, but hoped that did not stretch to the Catholic church.

Across Kirkegata, we were surprised to find a 7-11. Nearby was a nice manhole cover.

We were now killing time, because the Hard Rock, in the opposite direction of where we were, would not be opening until noon. So, we wandered down to the world's northernmost McDonald's and did what one does- used it as a pit stop. We also took a look at their offerings.

  

As we headed west on Strandgata, we noticed this sandbox, which we'd never have a need for in Florida. The trashcan caught my eye, because "Abfall" is trash in German.

This whole area was a pedestrian zone.

It was getting on towards noon, the opening time for the Hard Rock Café-the northernmost in the world. The exterior was none too fancy, but I've seen plain ones before.

Surprisingly, there were quite a few people who rushed into the shop immediately. And it was small! I had to really work to get to the pin display. Then, I got in line and it was moving incredibly slowly. There was a new guy working the register and it was using a new program and not very well. I saw K and J at the door and told them to just go on to McD and I'd meet them there. Meanwhile, I stood in line, unhappy that their only guitar pin was not the city symbol ones I collect, but just a generic guitar with "Tromsø" on it.  It took over 15 minutes to pay for it. When I came out, I was surprised to see that K and J had waited for me.

While waiting at the corner to cross, I noticed the buildings on the other side of Storgata- they all had little fences on their roofs. These were the first I'd seen here in Norway. They are to keep the snow from just falling from there.

When we reached McDonald's K was going to get us that Biscoff McFlurry, but they were out of it.

A bit farther down the street we looked up a side street to see a very modern building. It was the library and city archives. Looked neat.

When we reached Erling Bangsunds Plass, we looked up the hill and saw a pro-Palestinian protest. They were even chanting in English.

Our next stop was the Church of Our Lady, the Catholic cathedral. It has the distinction of not only being the northernmost Catholic cathedral, but also the northernmost Christian cathedral in the world. And it was open!

We were not the only folks stopping in, which was nice. It wasn't the biggest cathedral I've ever been in, but it was nice and bright.

  

   

In the back of church, there were two things I found of interest. One was what seemed to be the confessional. The odd thing was that there were holes in the door, albeit in the shape of a cross, but holes nonetheless. That would seem to cut into the sanctity and privacy of the confessional. The other thing was a couple of boxes of kids books, obviously to keep little hands busy and the child quiet. And, at least one of the books was not in Norwegian!

 

Before we left, I picked up 3 postcards and left 50 kr. Outside, we found a plaque that explained about the changing of this from a parish church to a cathedral.

As we headed downhill to the street to get to the shuttle bus, we had a nice view across the fishing port to the Arctic Cathedral. There was a good sculpture of a fisherman. We also had a good view of the sauna and this side of the bridge.

  

When we reached the shuttle lot, there was a woman who seemed to be scanning tickets.  We had asked about them, but were never given any. She said we were fine and we boarded at 12:42. The ride to the port took only 13 minutes and we were in our cabins getting rid of outer layers by 1.

Lunch was still going on, when we got to the Lido deck 10 minutes later. It was now 54°, but felt like 53° and it was partly cloudy. I got a salad and we split vanilla with raspberry Swiss roll and chocolate bread pudding.

 

We sat there looking at the hillside with all its traffic, including what seemed to be a tunnel to the other side of the island.

J and I picked up the crossword from deck 12 and repaired to our veranda to do it, but it was too cold. This was the view, though.

We finished up at 3:30 inside the cabin. J went off to the crochet group in the art room at 4:30 and K went to the port talk. I relaxed and did some games and needlework.

At 4:51, as we were sailing, I noticed how bright it was and went out to get this.

At 5, it was time for dinner. I got a Strongbow Cider, J Fanta, and K Conundrum White. For appetizers, I got French onion soup to split with J who got Thai beef and pickled papaya. K went his own way and got seafood and artichoke bouchée.

  

My entree was coq au vin and J's was fettuccine with beef short rib Bolognese. K got fresh grouper with asparagus.

  

All the desserts were sharable: Black Forest Cake, mixed berries trifle, and tropical fruits cheesecake.

 

When we finished around 6:50, we had this view looking back to Tromsø.

We listed to a little of the classical concert before going to the 7:45 Effy event. K won the the blue chip pendant tonight. 

Afterwards, at 8:20, we went to the cabin to waste time, while J went to her own for the night. 

9 found us in the World Stage to see Tom Crosbie "Performing Nerd". He was brilliant and hilarious. His ability to memorize is prodigious and he is a whiz with a Rubik's cube. He told us that the word "nerd" came out of Harvard, where you were either DRUNK or KNURD (sober and studying all the time). That actually is one of the theories for the source.

When we got back to the cabin at 9:55, I called J, who had declined to go, and told her, "He is one of us!" And I insisted he go, when he performs again in a couple of days. K's going to look him up on YouTube where he stumped Penn and Teller.

The phone counted 7,715 steps for 3.1 miles. It lied and claimed I climbed no stairs.