We disembarked the Venture at about 8:15 AM. One of the most remarkable things about this cruise was we would encounter crew members that we had never met. Yet they all knew our names. That was our experience as we scanned our cruise card for the last time and headed down the gangway. Two crew members approached us and carried our luggage down the steep stairs, calling us by name. That was a nice way to end the cruise.
As we walked outside on the pier, what looked like a food truck was directly ahead. Would we be ordering Norwegian breakfast tacos? It was actually an immigration van. Norwegian immigration officials were inside at two different windows. Very easy process. We then headed along the waterfront for the short walk to the Clarion Edge hotel where we'd be staying for the night. Our room wasn't ready but we were able to store our luggage in their secured luggage room. This hotel is used by Seaborn and other expedition cruise lines as the pre-cruise hotel. So the lobby was quite busy with all the new guests waiting to head to the ship. We were able to grab a couple.of seats and just relax for a few minutes and come up with our game plan for the day. At about 9:30 we walked along the waterfront and explored the harbor area of Tromso. I'd equate this town to be a slightly more upscale Ushuaia of the Arctic.
Where Ushuaia is the gateway to Antarctica, many expedition ships use Tromso as a gateway to Nordkapp, Northern Lights excursions and the polar regions. So many restaurants and bars. They are definitely ready for tourists.
We were heading to the Polarmuseet!! I wasn't expecting much by looking at the building, but it was impressive inside. Lots of small rooms filled with artifacts that had been found from the early explorers. And much about the history of trapping and skinning the animals that inhabit the Arctic region. They are certainly not embarrassed by the dark history. Some impressive collections!! And also some creepy mannequins. After exploring all the rooms, we headed back to explore. We backtracked towards the hotel but on the upper streets away from the waterfront. We actually passed by several guests we knew from the ship as they were taking an escorted walking tour of Tromso. We eventually found a park bench where we took a little rest. The weather was remarkable!! I needed a snack so I went to the nearby 7-11 and got a couple slices of pizza.
This was reminiscent of the kind you'd have for school lunch on Fridays. Unremarkable but very tasty!! And only 60 NOK ($5.56 USD).
It was about noon and since we were right near our hotel, we decided to check on our room again. It still wasn't ready so we waited another thirty minutes and then decided to head to this beer bar Angie and I both had on our list. Olhallen had about seventy beers on draft plus more in cans and bottles.
My favorite was the Lindheim Sour Cherry. Angie liked the Orange Velvet IPA which was made with lactose so it was like a creamsicle milkshake. Both very tasty. When you come to Norway, be prepared for things to be expensive. Especially alcohol. The beers were 330 NOK!!
We then needed some lunch. Angie found a pub where we had some delicious burgers and dirty fries. The food on the Venture was mostly very good. One consistency was that dishes were under seasoned. Perhaps that goes to the traditional Seabourn guest. It was nice to have some really well seasoned food!! Especially the fries. They were freshly fried and dusted with a spice mix that was the combination of kosher salt, Old Bay seasoning and smoked paprika. Probably other spices. Then topped with pickled red onions, bacon and a spicy sauce!! So good and satisfying. It was about 2:45 PM and we headed to the hotel where our room was ready!! It was definitely time for a mandatory rest period. We each slept for about ninety minutes!!
Soon it was time for our evening adventure. Angie had found a Midnight Sun beach excursion where we'd have a campfire meal at a fjord. We were picked up by our guide Afghani at 8 PM who drove us about an hour to a beautiful beach along a fjord. We then set up camp including a campfire.
And Afghani started preparing some ratatouille. He also had brought along some bread dough for making Pinnebrod. You took a piece of yeasty dough, wrapped it around a skewer and then roasted it on the fire like you would a marshmallow. Make sure you're following Angie's FB page Trips with Angie for more details on this experience along with pictures. It was an amazing experience. So hard to believe that we're sitting by a Norwegian fjord at midnight. With mild temperature and the sun shining. We both had prepared for more severe conditions. But we probably should have worn our bathing costumes underneath our parkas.
One more remarkable thing about Tromso is the tunnels they have that lead from downtown. They were originally built into the mountains during the Cold War to be used as bomb shelters. And then modified to become means of transportation. And other runnels were added as it became a popular and necessary means of travel. It was truly like being in an underground bunker. We got back to the hotel at 1:15 AM and it was like it was the middle of the day. Most businesses were closed but you felt like you should be doing something. But we weren't going to let the daylight trick us and headed straight to the hotel. We'll check out of the hotel today. Angie has some work to catch up on. Then we plan to visit the Troll Museum!! We've seen a Troll penis in Reykjavik at the Icelandic Phallological Museum and also ridden in a Troll Car at Briksdal Glacier so let's (hopefully) see a complete Troll. They are real. Then some lunch before we head to the airport for our 6 PM flight to Helsinki.
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