to the top of Tromsø

Looking north from Tromsø

We woke up to sunshine today - yahoo!  We had breakfast and then set to pack up our van into the two bags we brought with us - didn't do too badly, considering we seem to have gained quite a few new soft toys!

Mountains

We then waited for Tomasz to arrive to sign us off.  He was very thorough - took a good half hour going through the van to check that we hadn't added any bumps / dents / scrapes etc to it.  It was like taking a test and although we knew we didn't do anything to it - we were still a little nervous!  Anyway we passed - phew!  Tomasz then drove us back to the Radisson Blu.  We were all quite sorry to say goodbye to Bert, and although we have loads more room in the hotel, it felt wrong to go there! In all we drove 2,961km in Bert (1,840 miles).

Tromsø Bridge and the Arctic Cathedral

Looking Over the City

Anyway, we dropped our bags off and then walked along the harbour to the big bridge, across the bridge to the cable car which we got to the top of a mountain looking over Tromsø.  We had lovely clear blue skies and no wind so the view was AMAZING - we could see the whole island of Tromsø, turquoise waters all around, fishing vessels and cruise liners coming and going, the airport and planes coming and going and jagged snow capped mountains all around.  We couldn't have asked for a better view.  We stood taking it in for quite a while.

Nik and Tom enjoying the view

After a quick ice lolly each, we decided to climb to the top of the mountain, På Toppen.  It didn't look that far, but as tends to be the case with mountains, it is always much further than you think.   And it was hot.  And we didn't have much to drink with us.  Oops - we never learn!  Anyway, we set it as a challenge to ourselves, also because we haven't really walked much / done huge amounts of exercise this holiday.  We made it to the top.  The view was amazing, but we knew that.  We weren't the only ones doing it - there were lots of locals in Lycra doing it too - and who wouldn't on such a magnificent day.  All the shops and lots of restaurants and bars are closed on a Sunday, so you might as well.

We were quite hungry after all that exertion, so walked back down to the cable car station and stood in a long queue.  Managed to get 3 x hot dogs and a portion of potato wedges for £21 - a bargain and filled our water bottle with water 3 times to rehydrate (no point paying for soft drinks - they are extortionate in this environment (£5 each and that includes mineral water!)  The food was actually very good and we all felt much better.  We decided to walk back down the mountain - we headed to the Sherpa Steps and headed down.  There were 1,200 (ish) steps (built by real Sherpas from Nepal last year) and they turned your legs to jelly.  Down, down, down they went jarring your knees as you went.  It was a relief to get to the bottom.

Hurtigruten boat arriving

We then walked back over the bridge to the hotel for a much needed shower and relax.  Matt was in need of a visit to a bar and next door to our hotel was Rorbua, which apparently is Norway's most famous bar, not sure why?!  Anyway we had a pint each and Tom an apple juice - it came to £31!!!!  Was good beer though and strong!

We then went in search of food.  Our first choice was closed for holidays, so we went to our second choice, Huken Pub which was very funky and quite small.  We were worried initially that they might not do food, but the kitchen was open - yay.  The prices were reasonable - double yay.  Matt went for a burger and chips, I went for a taco pancake and Tom for a blueberry and bacon pancake.  We were all very happy with our choices, it was all high quality and very tasty.

We then went for a walk around the harbour - looking at the various boats.  A very pleasant evening after a very lovely day.  Home tomorrow - humph!