My Musings: The story of unforgettable solo trip to Tromsø

This year, the new year’s weekend had 5 days. The borders were (and still are) closed. I could go visit someplace else, but then I would have to quarantine after coming back! I wanted to travel and visit someplace beautiful. Also, the sun is getting out of the quiet phase, so there would be a chance to see the northern lights! Decided! I was going to Tromsø. My first fully solo trip! For hunting the northern lights!

The most spectacular experience of watching aurorae dance on our heads!

There’s a short side story, that I forgot to carry my passport! I realised it after reaching Oslo Airport and I thought that I would just go and see what happens! What else could have I done! The journey started without the passport and a little disappointed voice scolding me constantly in the back of the mind! But she will get around! You will see.

Tromsø: the island city, seen from Fjellheisen

After taking the bus from the airport to the city centre I kept my bag in my cosy Airbnb. The first impression of this small city was that it is pretty laid back and the hosts are amazing. So this day is for the other island. A little info: Norway has over 220 islands. Tromsø city is a collection of islands.

Arctic Catherdral or Ishavskatedralen

The Tromsø bridge connects the two main islands. I walked on that bridge to get to the Arctic cathedral. It is a triangular church built in the late 20th century, looks like the fjords in the area. Fjords are basically long, narrow inlets of the sea with steep sides or cliffs, created by glaciers. The church has beautiful tinted glasses and a very simple interior. The next destination was Fjellheisen: one of the highest point in Tromsø. They take us there by a cable car and it has an amazing view of the city. This was it for the first day. I had a big day ahead!

The Midday Full Moon shining on the Fjords seen from the cruise

31st December, this was one of the most memorable days! I started early. Our cruise left the city at 8AM. We were headed to the outer fjords of the Norwegian Sea. This cruise was semi-electric. So it had a diesel engine as well as the electric engine, which does not create much turbulence and pollution. After going for 2 hours steadily and 10-15 minutes on turbulent waters between the mountains, we reached the open waters where the humpback whales and Orcas would be seen. Obviously, the scenes were stunning. I could not take my eyes off the fjords and cute towns on the islands. We crossed one town with a total population of 7. Yes! 7! Yeah, I should mention. Tromsø is (kind of) second capital of Norway. And the total population of this city, including suburbs, is just 78 thousand.

The first sight of the precious humpback whales was quite surreal. These deep black animals are seen near the crusts of the waves. They come up for breathing and in that process, they make small fountains each time. Their jumps in the water are magnificent. Also, we saw Orcas. These are the wolves in the sea world. The sea birds and sea eagles circle around orcas in order to get food. There are many mythological stories intervened around these animals and sea gods. Being lucky enough to get to experience these amazing phenomena under the full moon was an enchanting experience.

I met a geophysics professor from the University of Bergen during this cruise trip. She has seen these creatures many times and she was guiding us, newbies, to watch these whales. We talked a lot on our way back. She was Australian. She was full of life and she lent some words of advice for an early career researcher like me. She gave me hope. And I think that that was one of the best parts of this trip.

So! I was supposed to go on northern lights trail on the next day. But since the weather conditions and solar activity was better, Northern Soul Adventures asked me if I could shift one day before. So, we left Tromsø centrum at 5:30 in the evening heading to one of the Arctic beaches. The first place we went was very windy and chilly. So we had to go someplace else. But first, we all wore those snowsuit onesies!

Below the dancing Aurorae!

After reaching the less windy beach in the snowclad mountains, where we settled down. Our trip organisers lit a cosy bonfire, took out foldable stools and we faced north awaiting for the lights to show up. It was a full moon night. I spotted some stars and ISS (International Space Station) and some major planets. The organisers gave us some warm soup and the wait continued. At around 8:30, while clicking photos in front of that soothing background, we saw a little tinge of green in long exposure shot. And just like that, everyone got excited! We were very uncertain whether or not would we see any colours. For the past many new year’s eves, they could not see any lights. But I saw the whales and orcas and their dance in the water and I was feeling lucky!

The lights seen have a very fascinating origin! The electrons travelling from the sun as solar winds or coronal mass eruptions are trapped in the magnetic field of the earth and hence they travel to the magnetic poles, where due to saturation they change energy levels emitting light: Aurorae!

With an apparently angry bear

These started as a band like a rainbow and then they started to diversify. The band became thicker and became a sheet. The sheet started to move eventually and voila! We were very lucky to witness the northern lights dance. We clicked many pictures and were completely awestruck to see this rare and unique natural phenomenon. We shouted and jumped and danced and celebrated the last day of this unique year!

We went back to the city after two hours of this auroral dance. We were in time to see the new years fireworks in the city centre. Along with the usual sky flowers and different fireworks, there is this unique way of celebrations in Tromsø. The tradition is that, on the Fjellheisen hill, they would light 2020 in firework and at midnight the fireworks would be converted to 2021! We welcomed 2021 with a very fulfilled heart!

With a swimming seal!

On 1st January most of the places are closed. I find the concept fascinating that the first day of the year, also touted as new beginnings and whatnot, is the day people decide to take a leave. Anyhow, I visited the polar museum, which accounts many expeditions to the north pole and a few trips to the south pole in detail. In the 18th-19th century, bear hunting was a quite popular activity in the arctic and polar summers. So there were many stuffed animals: different kinds of seals, walrus, polar bears, grizzly bears and arctic fox, to name a few.

Except for some local monuments, this was a rest day. I had a long day before and after!

Next day was a total museum day. First I visited Polaria, a polar aquarium. Where I got to witness seal feeding session. These are very unique animals, with small fins and big bodies. I saw sea urchins, starfish, huge crabs, some sea birds, and these amazing seals!

The sketches of Sami houses

Next destination was Tromsø university museum. There are four sections in this museum. Biology, where evolution is explained in simple illustrations. Also, there are these immigrant animals and how those change the diaspora of the local ecologies. Secondly, there is this geophysics section. The evolution of the earth from the accreting hot sphere is shown and there are some fossils and ores and oils from Norwegian wells with local differences. I saw a short movie about glaciology in that section and moved to the next. In the third section, they have working models to explain northern lights and some simulators for that. I believe that it is a very interactive way of learning. The next section about Sami culture and Viking archaeological findings, I felt at home. For maybe two reasons: firstly, their culture and ethnicity are uprooted from their own land by some external invasion, and more importantly, the basic structures and thought processes in all parts of the world seem to be the same, living near a water source, saving ourselves from external weather and carnivores, finding food and the evolution of arts in flourishing cultures seems a thread going through all olden civilisations!

Chat Noir by the Artiste

Then I visited Perspektive museum, a neoclassical art museum, which was under renovation. So, I could visit only one floor. That gallery was dedicated to a painter who went to Paris to learn the art and came back to Tromsø with her Swedish husband and son, but had a very hard time during WWII, took a journalist job for survival, but always felt that “ink and paper are very restricting medium as compared to her canvas.” Her passion for her work was very inspiring!

Art made of different fabrics and fibres

Next was the Nordnorsk Kunst museum. This is a modern art museum. The theme for presentations this time was 2020! Artists had used different media from fabric, clothes, metals, glass, leather, soil and what not! It was something very different! I tried to go to the WWII museum, which is just a barrack, but it was closed! So I had some food and went to the Tromsø catholic church to see how mass in this place happens. To my surprise, I found it very similar to Hindu rituals! They offered Him water and bread, and after some chanting, the offerings were distributed by the Father. I called it a day!

Oslo Domkirke with fjords in the background

On my last day, I first went to the Tromsø Domkirke. Luckily, I got to attend the mass. For the new year, the first mass was like a musical of His birth. I got to interact with some folks there and the Father. They told me that this church is the only church in Norway which is entirely made of wood! The last trip was to the lake called Presvannet. It was totally frozen and people from all age groups were skating on it. Some groups were also playing ice hockey matches on the lake. I walked around the lake and the forest for a while and went back to my Airbnb.

The landlords were very friendly, I can surely say that my trip was a successful one and I have ticked two items on my bucket list! Solo trip, check! And northern lights, oh yes! Check!