Norway Trip - Part III (Tromsø Walkabout)

Really, I just wanted to show off the rest of my photos, just kidding. :p Tromsø is such a nice city, of course I need to share our general impression of the city and some useful tips, if you also decide to visit someday.

Tromsø is an island city, probably the only flat piece of land in the area big enough to have an airport. Lol! Therefore, the airport is only a 5-min drive from Tromsø Sentrum where all the hotels are. You can take the express bus that costs 90 NOK p.p. Or if you're travelling with more than 1, taxi fare is only around 160-190 NOK depending on the time of the day. *Notes: There are no bank ATMs, but some 'foreign exchange' machines at the airport. The rate is actually quite decent, and you'll need NOKs to buy the tickets on the bus, or from another machine. Our tour guide told us if you download their transport app, then you get discounts on bus tickets. It's a good idea to do that since the fare is ridiculous! 50 NOK for a single fare, which is about 5 euro! Since the city is so bloody small, it's not hard to walk between all the attractions.

As I mentioned in my previous post, winter boots are a must if you're visiting in winter! Duh!! I don't own any, and it really helped with keeping my feet warm and dry despite having 3 layers of socks on. Meanwhile, poor Graham got his feet wet when walking/playing in snow too much. :p The city centre is a little boring, given how small the city is. It still has everything you need though.

I think you get the idea, boats are everywhere! 

We really wanted to walk across the bridge to get to the Arctic Cathedral. I always come up with stupid ideas like that and think it would be fun, but I'm really really afraid of heights, and you can guess how well that went. The bridge is not that long but is quite narrow and curved. My main problem was that it did not feel safe at all; it shook every time someone else walked by, and the railing looked slightly thicker than chicken wires... Anyway, I died, so Graham took most of the photos for this leg of our trip.

Me staying as far away from the edge as possible! I think this was the halfway point.

Tromsø harbour close up

The other side is called Tromsdalen, our next destination is on top of that hill.

The Arctic Cathedral somewhat reminded me of the Sydney Opera House, they are both white with glass panels and pointy tops. Lol! We didn't go inside, but the organ can be seen behind the glass and is really tall (how it should be).

I guess pointy white things somewhat translate to 'Arctic', like glaciers, snowy mountains, icy tundra and polar bears?

The crazy bridge that I do not want to walk across again!

I don't really know why I keep going to places that'll make me sick, but our next stop was the cable car (Fjellheisen) that goes up the mountain with a cabin that sticks out over the cliff! It is about a 10-min walk from the Arctic Cathedral, there's also a nearby bus stop, which we had to take on the way back. Not exaggerating, I got so sick after all this I had to throw up and take heaps of tablets before we headed out for the evening's aurora hunt! >.<

I don't know, is the view worth all the puke and headache I had to deal with? You can be the judge.

The snow-capped mountain tops look like fluffy whipped cream! Yummmm! XD

The islands behind Tromsø we drove to the day before, not sure if anyone lives on the tiny one one the left.

Of course, these photos were taken by Graham on the edge of the viewing deck while I hid somewhere safe far behind.

There's outside area where you can walk along anywhere on the mountain behind us. There's a ski resort (Tromsø AlpinPark) not too far away from here, but you can totally just cross-country ski here or take your dogs for a fun walk! I think having a dog (or any pet really, since I prefer to walk my cats) in this part of the world is probably a must to keep you sane in the dark winter days.

I know the viewing deck doesn't look that scary, but the wind made it worse. Lol, I'm just weak!

Someone really likes the snow, I mean these mountains are pretty fantastic for snow sports. 

Never ending snow.  ^^

I mean Captain Squeaky is like the national mascot/food here, but I think he prefers travelling the world to getting clubbed...

We can't emphasise on how much we enjoyed this holiday and how much we like snow! Hope you enjoyed it through our photos and my silly/long winded commentary. Or if you're a fan of the Captain, he can't wait to show you all the other places he's been to in the future, so stay tuned.