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This page is our view and experiences of Nordland area of Norway as we have passed through this region. We didn’t stop at the entrance to Northern Norway, but obviously it was important to others as there was a huge arch over the road announcing your arrival, as well as a tourist shop where we are sure you could spend all your hard-earned kroner on all kinds of tourist schlock.
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One of our first stops was near Dovre, an area where there wasn’t much flat land, so all the farming was on the hills, as in the picture to the right. All the arable land is divided into these plots for fields, each surrounded by trees. A farm house and barn accompanies each plot so the green is studded with bits of color from the buildings. One thing we have noticed is that all barns appear to be red (perhaps this is where we Americans get the notion that barns should be painted red - the Norwegians brought that idea with them). The houses can be white, yellow, blue or red, but the barns are always red.
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Traveling further north, we find more and more lakes. One day it appeared that just passed from one lake to another, each more striking than the last. Unfortunately, it was a day of rain, so it was not the best day for pictures, so the picture at right is a bit dull, but provides a view of the granduer of the region.
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On the ferry to Jektvik, we got some great views of the surrounding area. At left, the buildings near the water give perspective to the size of the nearby mountains.
At right, a spectacular view on the way to the Kilboghamn ferry. In this area, you drive around the fjords, around the lakes, or take a ferry across them. But all travel is dictated by water. In the picture at right Jim is taking a panoramic view looking out to the Norwegian Sea, and the result is shown below.
While on the ferry, we crossed the imaginary line of the Arctic Circle. This was marked by the globe on a stand, barely visible to the right of Jim (in picture below left).
One of our stops was at Mosjoen which has worked to preserve the old village of timber cottages from the 1800s. The one at right was one of the better preserved and actually one of the larger ones. Many of these weren’t much more than a couple of rooms and the front doors were probably only about 5 feet tall.
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Just south of Bodo is Saltstraumen, the world’s largest tidal current (left). 400 million cubic meters of water flow through Saltstraumen in about 6 hours. The result are these fantastic maelstroms (whirlpools), each of which can measure up to 10 meters in diameter and reach speeds of 20 knots. Visitors can view these from the safety of the bridge above, as we did.
The Lofoten area of Norway is the archipelago to the west and north of Bodo. The picture of the mountains (below) was taken from the ferry boat as we approched the ferry port in Moskenes. They appear to be a coninuous range of mountains but in reality they are on seperate islands which make up the Lofoten area.
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The picture below right was taken just north of the town of Hamnoy. The photo below left is obviously not taken at the same time but we could not resist using it. We found it on a post card at the visitors center. While not of the same exact place it does offer some insight into the differences between summer and winter in this area.
We noticed lots of wooden racks near the villages we passed and this picture solved the riddle as to their use. Between February and April the fishing industry is in high gear for cod. The racks are used to sun dry the fish.
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