The midnight sun in Tromso

Day 13
From Kiruna we pressed on further north and crossed the border between Sweden and Norway. The two or three carriage train that travelled between Kiruna and Narvik in Norway was packed with young school kids and we spent the journey talking to a friendly parent. There was some pretty amazing scenery along the way.

At Narvik we changed onto bus and made the three or four hour journey to the world's most northern University town - Tromso!

Tromso is a small town situated in the middle of some of Norway's most beautiful fjords, divided by a bridge and surrounded spectacularly by ice-capped mountains.

On our first evening we wandered through the harbour and crossed the bridge for some amazing evening photos. We explored the other side of town and returned shortly after midnight with the daylight still present. Being above the arctic circle at this time of year means 24 hour daylight and although we couldn't see the sun, at this stage, we had daylight right through the night. Bizarre but extremely cool!

Day 14

One of our aims in coming this far north was to make it to Nordkapp, Europe's most northern point. However we soon realised that to get there on the small roads winding around the mountains and fjords would take about ten hours...one way! The only consolation to us was that apparently there's not actually much to do at Nordkapp other than to of course say you'd made it there.

We settled for exploring Tromso and it's surrounding islands and we wouldn't be disappointed. On our first full day we bought a joint bus and boat ticket that would take us as part north-east as Skervoy. The 'coach' was actually part of the local public transport network so it was a bit annoying that initially Sheryl and I sat at opposite ends of the busy bus!

The bus crossed the water on a number of occasions via ferry and after arriving at Skervoy we jumped on the world famous Hurtigruten fjord exploring vessel and sailed down stream back to Tromso! As with most of the photos we took in this part of the world the views speak for themselves.

Day 15
Undoubtedly one of the most fun days of our whole two year trip was today. We hired a car early in the morning and set off to explore the region. It was the same type as what we'd hired in Iceland, but these wheels were big, black and boxy!

We made our way to the beautiful Summer Islands and had a picnic out the back of the car. The place seemed more like something you'd find in Fiji not northern Norway and despite calm winds and clear blue skies it was still bloody chilly too. Too cold for me to test out the water for sure!

On our travels we passed the world's largest troll. It was in the middle of nowhere and certainly quite random but they seemed pretty chuffed to have their name in the Guiness Book of World Records!

Sheryl was determined to make a proper snowman, we'd bought carrots and everything. Late in the afternoon we found a decent spot and pulled over. We didn't realise that what appear to be perfect powdery snow was actually crunchy ice - not ideal for snowman building, but no harm in having a jump and slide around!

In the evening we'd made our way back to Tromso and on our final night here ventured up the cable car at the foot of the mountain to catch a glimpse of the sun above the horizon at midnight. You could sense why the people in this part of the world feel uplifted at this time of year. Just don't mention the six months of pitch black!

And so shortly after midnight the sun, after having made it's lowest point, starting to rise again.

On the Hurtigruten...(it's a lot warmer inside believe you me)

Let's jump in the snow! (and try not to disappear)

Carrying on up to Kiruna

Day 12
We arrived in the small town of Kiruna, in the far north of Sweden, by mid morning and to our surprise a snow blizzard was passing through the town leaving everything a few feet under the powdery white stuff.

We made our way to the Yellow Guesthouse but despite warning the owner we were due to arrive earlier than initially planned the place was locked up and nobody expected to be on reception until the afternoon. We had lunch at a local burger joint and killed time in the Tourism Office before making our way back to the guesthouse.

One thing I can suggest, if any of you ever make it to this part of the world, don't stay at this place! Warning - the owner is an arsehole and quite possibly one of the rudest people we've come across in our travels! Talk about absolutely no interest in us staying there at all.

The biggest problem we had in Kiruna was that, contrary to 11 months out of the year, there was actually nothing to do! The world famous Ice Hotel is located nearby and there are dozens of winter and summer activities in and around Kiruna. But, very much unfortunately for us, the month of May is neither winter or summer and all of the tourist companies shut down for a month. D'oh!

Even a visit to the Ice Hotel was not going to be worth it as the melted remains of the structure were covered in snow from the blizzard, and the museum mentioned on their website is in fact not open. It was pretty disheartening but these things happen when you're travelling around.

After realising this we cut down our planned two night stay to just one night and spent our one evening in Lappland watching TV (it was pretty cold outside as you'd expect) and enjoying a bottle of wine.

Hey, at least the snow was cool.

Swede as in Stockholm

Day 10
From Tallinn we made our way back to Stockholm via the overnight ferry. Being a Friday night it was a lot busier this time but we kept a low profile and tried to get a decent night’s sleep this time.

Our hostel in Stockholm was located in Gamla Stan (Old Town) and just around the corner from the Kungliga Slottet (new Royal Palace). We spent our only full day in the Swedish capital exploring the many streets and side streets of Gamla Stan before making the trek around to the park Djurgården.







We made our way back toward the Central Station area and to the world famous Absolut Ice Bar. There are five Absolut Ice Bars in the world and Stockholm is not only the original but also the only one open all year round. We made our reservation and returned an hour or so later to get kitted up in sweet blue Eskimo-style coats with gloves!

The entry price included a drink, served in a glass made of ice, which was some kind of concoction involving Absolut Peach and Blue Curacao. Everything in the bar, including the bar, was made of ice. There were various ice sculptures in the room and even an ice-couch covered with reindeer skin.









In the evening we chilled out, albeit not at five degrees under, back at the hostel common room.

Day 11
Our overnight train to Kiruna in the northern part of Sweden wasn’t until tea-time so it left us the morning and early part of the afternoon to fit in a few more activities.

We returned to Djurgården and to Skansen, an open air museum that is Sweden’s most popular attraction. At Skansen you can see examples of old Swedish folk buildings and houses, and people dressed in traditional costumes go about their daily life as it would have been then. As well as aspects of Sami culture, Sami people being the indigenous people of Sweden, there is even a zoo that houses a number of species of Scandinavian animals including reindeer, elks, wolves and bears.







Our night train left Stockholm at 5pm and was due to arrive in Kiruna at 10am the following morning. We had reserved two beds in the slightly crammed six-berth carriage. We’ve learnt from previous experience on long-haul train journeys that getting a decent night’s sleep in a seat just doesn’t work out.

That said if you end up getting someone in your carriage with a horrendous snoring problem then you may as well have not bothered paying the extra! We didn’t endure that problem but instead an old Swedish lady with a farting problem in her sleep. Our Lonely Planet guide book warns travelers of the increased danger of gassing on overnight trains – we didn’t realise this is what they meant!

From Tallinn to Helsinki, and back again

Day 8
We spent two nights in the medieval style Old Town of Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, and after a week on the road it was a return to financial normality after the expense of Iceland. While we didn’t exactly go crazy it was certainly a chance for us to enjoy eating out a couple of times and perhaps even slip into a pub one evening.

Our hostel was one block away from the main square of the Old Town and after walking up from the ports and dropping our bags off we spent the rest of the day exploring the town through its maze of cobbled streets.



We walked along a section of the old defense wall and clambered up three small old towers that have been kept in tact. There were plenty more stairs to climb later when we enjoyed the best views in town from the 13th century Oleviste Kirik (St Olaf’s Church – originally one of the tallest buildings in the world). The stairs were steep, narrow and seemingly never ending. The views from the 124 metre high church were well worth it though.



In the evening we treated ourselves to a meal out at a medieval themed restaurant called Peppersack. I can’t remember what we had but it sure beat everything we’d eaten to date on the trip!



Day 9
Exploring the Old Town of Tallinn is definitely do-able in one full day so we had already decided to make a day trip to Helsinki across the Gulf of Finland.

The journey only takes a couple of hours by boat and after arriving in the Finnish capital we jumped on another boat (a ferry, this trip only took 15 minutes) to take us out to Suomenlinna, one of Helsinki’s main tourist attractions.

Suomenlinna is a World Heritage listed fortress located on a small cluster of islands just out from the main harbour of Helsinki. The fortress was built in 1748 to protect the country (part of Sweden back then) against the Russians.

After returning to the mainland we gave ourselves a couple of hours to do a brief walk around some of Helsinki’s main attractions such as the impressive white Tuomiokirkko cathedral. We also had the chance to put our heads into a couple of those enlarged photo boards with the faces cut out. Always got time for those.

We got back to Tallinn in the evening and headed to a place just around the corner from our hostel called The Pub With No Name. After dinner we tried the popular Estonian spirit called Vana Tallinn which, to our disappointment, basically just tasted like Southern Comfort. It was better mixed with ginger ale but still a little too sweet.

It seemed to be some kind of student night in the pub and they were running a Fear Factor style competition. Everything was being said in Estonian (as you’d expect) so we weren’t too sure of the finer details but, as they say, actions speak louder than words. They definitely did in this case as, one by one, the guys and girls striped down to their undies and sprint out of the pub and down the street. Thirty seconds later they’d return to the bar with a beer in their hand and knock it back in one go on the stage. Bizarre!

Even funnier than watching half naked young Estonian people run down the street was the reactions of passers by.

(We scored a free helium balloon and disposed of it in the appropriate manner!)

All aboard to Tallinn

Day 7
We started early on Tuesday morning to get from Copenhagen all the way across to Stockholm in Sweden to make our tea-time ferry crossing from Stockholm to Tallinn in Estonia, our next port of call for two nights.

Our train from Copenhagen to Malmo, a relatively short journey across the bridge joining Denmark and Sweden, ran 20 minutes late. Not a great start! But we made our connecting train to Stockholm ok.

It was late afternoon by the time we arrived in Sweden’s capital and the central train station was difficult to navigate amid the thousands of tea-time commuters. We eventually got ourselves on the underground, and connecting bus, in the right direction of the ports and checked onto the M/S Victoria I with some 30 minutes to spare.



The overnight ferry left Stockholm at 6pm and was due to arrive in Estonia the following morning at 10am. Our ensuite cabin was on the top passenger deck and after dropping our bags off we went to explore the rest of the vessel.



The 2,500 capacity ship boasted a two storey cabaret bar and casino, a pub, a nightclub, two restaurants, a fast food restaurant and a duty free shop that caused mass excitement amongst Estonian travelers. I’m talking men with hand-trolleys stacked head high with slabs of beer and women racing around with shopping trolleys packed with 3 litre cask wines (aka. ‘Bag in a Box’).



It would’ve been rude not to try some of the tastings on offer in the Duty Free shop - a couple of very average wines (some kind of C-Grade Chilean stuff giving the region a bad name) and Barcardi Melon.

We spent the rest of the daylight hours on the sundeck at the rear of the ship enjoying a bottle of Peter Lehmann Shiraz. As the sun and temperature dropped outside I think people thought we were pretty hard sat out there drinking. In reality we’d found the only wind sheltered spot on the deck!

In the evening we watched the live entertainment being served up in the cabaret bar. The show was a musical of “We Will Rock You” by Queen performed by a young group that was so out of sync with their dancing it was hard to believe!

Before and after the show a live band played to a dance floor of predominantly older folk and young kids shamelessly throwing themselves around the stage. This was definitely more entertaining than the show! It seemed pretty quiet about on the ship. The bartender confirmed later the ship was less than quarter full.

Our night ended up in the nightclub at around 1am and the fact that there were only a dozen or so people didn’t stop us from letting loose! It was a pretty fun night but slightly regrettable the next morning with a bad hangover and heavy packs to lump into the old town of Tallinn to find our hostel.

One day in Denmark

Day 5 & 6
From Iceland we made our way back to mainland Europe and Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. We landed at Copenhagen Airport and after negotiating the ticket machines were on our way to the Central Station 15 minutes away.

Our hostel was located a 5-10 minute walk from the Central Station which meant a brief walk through the city’s red light district. It wasn’t the most pleasant part of town and I just couldn’t help but think if you looked up the word ‘vulnerable’ in the dictionary you might find a picture of two foreign backpackers like us weighted down with heavy bags, reading a map of the streets!

The hostel was a pretty budget, run-down sort of place. They had only recently opened up (they close during the winter months) and our 12-bed dorm smelt so musty our clothes wreaked after our two night stay! There were no keys or swipe passes to the doors so security was dodgy to say the least and the cleaners thought it a good idea to start cleaning toilets and showers at 10am every morning. Let’s just say the best thing about this place was the staff on the front desk who were friendly and helpful, and cranked some decent tunes in the common area.


(Our hostel...and the town hall square)

One real positive was the cost of things had fallen dramatically after our stay in pricey Iceland. This was demonstrated perfectly by the fact that ice cold bottles of Carlsberg and Tuborg (two of the best known Danish brews) were on offer at the corner store for the equivalent of a mere euro (NZ$2 or so) so a couple of those went down a treat on our first night as were bantered with fellow travelers. Sheryl opted for vin de rouge.

After a decent night’s kip (only one other bed in the dorm being used always helps!) we set off on our only full day in the Danish capital, co-incidentally a public holiday, with the sun beating down on us. I hadn’t anticipated such warm weather…oh for a pair of shorts and some jandals!

We’d picked up a brochure for a series of ‘DIY Walking Tours’ and decided to do the Central City one first and others later if we had time. The tour started at Tivoli, the sort of random amusement park planted across the road from the busy central train station, and from there past the town hall square and down some of the quieter side streets.

Stop-offs along the way included a brief trip up the Rundetårn (Round Tower) for good 360˚ views of the city followed by a stroll through Kongens Have (King’s Garden) – a pleasant park which was busy with families and sun bathers.


(The view from the Rundetårn and Kongens Have)


(More from the beautiful Kongens Have...and orange terraced housing for the Danish Navy)

Eventually the tour lead us down to the waterfront and to the world famous ‘Little Mermaid’ sculpture. We laughed as an excited tourist keen to take a photo slipped on the rocks, nearly bailing into another couple, while carefully treading the rocks ourselves to avoid a dose of karma.


(The Little Mermaid...and the square in front of the Royal Palace)

From there we passed through Nyhavn which is probably the most pictured part of Copenhagen. The canal is surrounded by brightly coloured buildings and locals and tourists alike wine and dine in the outdoor areas of the numerous bars and restaurants. Still too pricey for the budget traveler mind so one quick photo and on we went.


(Women used to lure sailors on the rowdy Nyhavn, now tourists eat expensive meals and sip on wine)

Later we ventured into the Christianshavn district of town which is just east of the Inderhavnen River. This part of town reminded me a lot of Amsterdam with it’s canals, boats and well maintained narrow buildings on either side. It’s also the home of Christiania. Now this is quite a unique little spot. It was originally a military zone back in the 70s but when they moved out a bunch of young hippies moved in and claimed it as their own land.

The Danish Government rolled with it and ran it as a sort of social experiment. While at first I’m sure the group functioned as a hippy society would it is pretty clear now that it has deteriorated to a lawless playground of all sorts of dodgy doings. Signs are everywhere that photos are not allowed to be taken in Christiania. While they might claim it’s a stake against mainstream society (and annoying tourists) it’s mainly so nobody can document what goes on in there! From what I understand the police are busting in on the area more and more these days.


(The Christianshavn district....home of the Christiania playground)

To be fair the second half of our walk through the area was much more pleasant although their ‘free’ lifestyle basically meant there was a whole bunch of junk around the place.

We stopped for a kebab on the way back to the hostel in the evening. It had been a real scorcher of a day and we’d done a crazy amount of walking. My feet were stinging. Another couple of cold Carlsbergs would soothe the pain for sure.

A trip to Iceland (not the supermarket)

Day 1
Our Scandinavian journey began at the ungodly hour of 5.30am and some 12 hours later after leaving Bournemouth we had arrived in Reykjavik, the first destination of our three week trip in Scandinavia.

Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland and the northern most capital in Europe. Our guesthouse was located on the fringe of the main town centre, only a short 10-15 minute walk away. Our accommodation was basic but clean and the Chinese owner was friendly. It was, however, freakishly quiet on our first night. Peak season doesn't start here until June.

Our Iceland Air flight from Heathrow in London took us to Keflavik Airport which is a 45 minute journey by bus into Reykjavik itself. Our first evening was spent walking around, getting our bearings, and finding a place to eat. We settled for a cheap burger & fries meal in a small student looking diner/bar. Iceland is extremely pricey - more so than these budget backpackers have faced in the time over here - so this was to be our only meal out in the capital! I was tempted to have a beer but at £6 a pint (NZ$15) it can wait!

Day 2
We knew Iceland was going to be the most expensive place to visit on this trip but you just can't come here and not enjoy everything this fascinating and beautiful country has to offer. It is an extremely volcanic island and the results of it's explosive (literally!) past have resulted in a country of many landscapes you´re unlikely to see elsewhere in the world.

Our second day started with a whale watching trip. You don´t have to venture too far from the harbour in Reykjavik to see a variety of whales and the likely rate of seeing them is something like 95%. Sure enough before we had really got going a minke whale was spotted 80m or so away from where we were. And so screamed the tour host (with what sounded much like a German accent) "Minkee whale! Very close now! 80 metres...11 o clock!" Minke whales can, at times, be as curious of the tourists as they are of them. But, on this occasion, the big fella continued to head away from us. Amazingly the Icelandic still hunt whale so I'm not surprised they keep their distance!

We later spotted porpoises and a number of puffins but we weren´t fortunate enough to see a whale come right up to the boat.

In the evening we enjoyed a bottle of wine back at the guesthouse with a couple from Washington DC, exchanging stories and all that stuff. It was great that, even in this early part of their summer, we had day light up until 10.30pm but even going past midnight it never really got that dark outside.

Day 3

Our third day was by far one of the best days we´ve had on our travels so far. There are a number of tour operators that charge, in some cases, excessive amounts for various trips but we thought it would be a hell of a lot more fun to do the trip ourselves. We hired a little Hyundai Getz and hit the road bright and early to make the most of the day! It was a bit freaky at first seeing as I hadn´t driven in close to two years, not to mention my first time behind the wheel in a left hand drive on the other side of the road!

Lucky for me Reykjavik is only a small city so once I negotiated the inner city traffic and got on the motorway it was a breeze. So away we went admiring the views and heading off up into the mountains. Great! Except 30 minutes into the journey we realised we were heading the wrong way - oops!

We´d set our sights on a rather ambitious journey to the south-east coast of Iceland to a place called Jökulsárlón. It was to be a whopping 800km round trip that ended close to 11pm but well worth the time and money!

Along the way we made stop offs at the waterfall at Seljalandfoss before a failed attempt to negotiate the gravel (and eventually rocky) roads heading into the Porsmork National Park. Them there roads are designed for super-jeeps and the like not my little four door hatch-back - it´s underneath felt the brunt of some of those particularly big stones! We backtracked to the main highway and continued on our journey.

We later came across an even bigger waterfall at Skógarfoss and parked up by the beach at stopped for lunch amid stormy weather in the small town of Vik. We munched our salami & cheese sarnies from the safety of the car but at times you thought the wind that was whipping down off the mountains might just Getz us on it's way to the sea! (poor, I know)

The journey took us past snow capped mountains, deserts of black volcanic sand, rocks covered in green moss and numerous pictureqsue small farming communities. The best was yet to come though when we reached Jökulsárlón.

Jökulsárlón is the lake at the foot of Europe´s largest glacier and it is changing every year as pieces break off and drift out to sea. When we got there the one small tourist hut was closed but there were a couple of other cars parked up. The icebergs there were just unreal. You could actually see and hear the ice cracking and breaking off into smaller segments.

On our way back to the car I got a bit of a shock when I saw something pop it´s head out of the water. It disappeared but when I looked further out I could see several heads of curious little seals! We figured that at this late time in the day they were probably out catching dinner with the tide bringing fish up the river. Seals aren´t known for venturing out of the water but as we purched up on the rocks in awe they were definately interested in who we were - at times staring at us before diving under!

The drive home was long and we were both shattered by the time we got home from an excellent day out.

Day 4

It had been a busy first few days in Iceland...but there was still more to check off the 'must do' list! We had missed out on the Friday night runter (a sort of weekly open pub crawl in Reykjavik) but the drinks prices put us off and there was too much to see and do without a hangover to deal with the next day. Boozing could come later in the trip!

It was Saturday morning and we were one of the first to arrive at the world famous Blue Lagoon pools for a hot dip in the geothermally heated pools. A brief dip in the 48 degree milky blue-green water was a great way to start the day. Everybody looked quite funny with that grey mud stuff plastered all over their faces (Sheryl included) but apparently it´s good for you. I'll go without, thanks.

Hiring a car and driving the previous day had saved us a hell of a lot of money had we joined a couch tour, but for a trip to the Gullfoss waterfalls and the Geysirs it worked out better to jump on a bus with the tourists.

The tour began at the breaktaking Pingvellir National Park, a World Heritage Site, where we were able to walk in cracks of the tectonic plates that have been caused by continental drift. From there we went to the impressive Gullfoss waterfall (the second biggest in Iceland) and eventually to the Geysirs...where some of the tourists seemed more than happy to stand right next to bubbling hot springs likely to spray scolding hot water into their faces!

The annoying older American couple behind us on the bus would have been more than welcome to step a bit closer!

We'd managed to cram a hell of a lot in during our four nights in Iceland. It really is quite an amazing country, if it weren´t so damn expensive. Next up - Copenhagen in Denmark!