Pest to some, but still King of the Sea

Description

We are getting so full. If ever anyone is told that they need to eat more, may we recommend taking a cruise.  All you seem to do is eat!  We opted not to have breakfast, but to have an early lunch. Same offerings as other days - there is variety in the hot dishes but we are skipping them for salads and cold salmons and meats, cheeses and crackers, fruit and dessert.
Today there is no cider available - sacré bleu!  So we tried a Mack Ginger Beer - nice enough, but not a patch on the cider for lunch.

Tromsø is the Arctic Capital.  We begin our shore excursion here with a trip high above Tromsø in the cable car to a mountain ledge at Storsteinen, 471 metres above sea level.  It is from here that most of the trips to see the northern lights depart.  No chance of us seeing them as we are coming out of the time of the midnight sun, with the sun setting just in time for the moon to shine for a few hours.  Last night, just before we travelled through the Trollsfjord, Donna managed to get a lovely photo.

As we are travelling further north towards the North Pole, there is more and more permanent snow visible on the mountain caps.  Doesn't matter that the altitude is low, the latitude is higher and higher.


Tromsø's old town is characterised by old timber buildings while its recent (1965) Arctic Cathedral dominates the low skyline. Tromsø sits on the island of the same name and until the 1960's almost all development was contained on the island. Across a small channel, on the mainland, there was farming. By the 1960's the population was swelling and as the island is sea-locked, development had begun on the adjacent mainland areas, although access was not practical for work, school or shopping. By then, there were sufficient numbers on the mainland and demand for more development and so a bridge was built.
Even today, Tromsø struggles for land for development and down near the harbour there is active land reclamation going on. Our guide explains that half of the land on which the port is sited was not even there two years ago.

We leave the boat and catch a bus through the centre of town, detouring because of a major music festival that starts tonight, and dodging roadworks before entering a tunnel that OMG has roundabouts in it!  Sarah (guide) explains that much of Tromsø's road network is underground to ensure access in the winter months and that the network runs north-south and east-west, hence the need for the roundabouts.  She also explains that it takes much of the traffic off the inner city streets. Up through narrow residential streets the bus travels to the cable car station.  A number of times, cars need to reverse to allow the bus access - must annoy the locals during the tourist season.

The actual cable car ride is only short.  The views from the top looking down on Tromsø, its ski jumps and other sporting fields, the long fjords and waterways where cargo ships are miniaturised and the mountain chains under snow and cloud stretch as far as the eye can see.  It is postcard perfect and one of the views that often grace Norway tourist pitches.

On the way back into the city, we stop at the Arctic Cathedral, a Lutheran Cathedral - very sparse and sombre on the inside without the stunning stained glass window behind the altar - and this was only put in because the sun was blinding worshippers!

Our final stop is at Polaris - an aquarium plus educational centre that is attached to and benefits from the adjoining multi-national Arctic Research facility. Kind of twee, although they showed a panoramic movie of the areas of the northern Arctic that are almost impossible to visit.  More Oh. My. God. scenery and I wish that I could be looking at it with my own eyes in nature.
The other attraction here is the seal feeding pool where they have two small leopard-spotted Harbour Seals and two Arctic Fur Seals that are about four times the size. Like all these feeding operations, the seals do tricks for their dinner and these were no different. Cheeky and a bit of fun. 

We arrive back on the ship just before 6pm and tonight have a booking in the Kysten A La Carte Restaurant for a King Crab Meal.
Prosecco on arrival, 500 g of red King Crab with hot melted brown butter, charred lemon halves, a dill mayonnaise and a chilli aoili.  Served with bread and butter and a pineapple and melon salad.  SUBLIME.  We washed it all down with a French Chablis.  Ended the night with a Cheese Board - Camembert, Hard Goat Cheese, and a delectable Norwegian Blue paired with Cloudberry syrup, Carrot marmalade, fig relish, toffeed nuts, strawberries and raspberries.  We finished with Coffee and Cognac.  Wonder what the poor people are eating tonight?!

Died and gone to heaven!  
Talk about King of the Sea!!