On the Hurtigruten 5

We're driving through the winter. There are sometimes whales, sometimes whales to “see”: because we are told where, we can guess, a dorsal fin, the small fountain, sometimes so many animals that you can make out the group.

Yesterday morning we arrived in Honningsvåg , the port on the island with the North Cape plateau. We change to coaches and drive about 40 minutes to the North Cape through steep landscape, in the middle of snow. How nice to be driven up here! 13 km before the finish there is a barrier, from there you can only continue with an escort (non-motorized vehicles are also prohibited). A robust snow plow is already waiting, and the buses and a few cars follow it. In many cases we have had a good time: in March there are only a few hundred people here, in the summer there are thousands every day. The temperatures are in the single digits, but the wind (which is quite moderate for up here) makes it bitterly cold. Still cool and we are also very lucky with the weather, namely sun and good views!

In the evening we continue and when it gets dark, the northern lights even show up again. The greenish color of the light is easier to see in the photos than with the naked eye.

Today we had a great day in Tromsö , the largest city here in northern Scandinavia. Once again gifted with sun and many impressive sights, we have to move on, even if we would have liked to stay a little longer... cross-country skiing was good, etc.