Hiking the Lofoten Islands, inside the Arctic Circle
Okay, I know this isn’t the Norwaygram, and I apologize to be coming to you from a place that is SO far beyond Tokyo this month. To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I was in a country where they were surprised I couldn’t speak the native language instead of being surprised that I could!
But it turns out that winkling out cultural oddities and see-worthy stuff in Japan is great practice for spotting interesting stuff in other countries too, so I hope you’ll ride along with me to a place that turned out to be similar to Japan in some surprising ways!
First of all, I need to tell you that the weather app did not lie.
The sun did not set once while I was there. Not ONCE. This is as dark as it ever got:
Yes, it was weird! But the crazy thing I learned is that the no-sunset period in summer and the no-sunrise period in winter aren’t just a couple of days at the solstices. For nearly four months in summer it feels like it’s always light outside, and for four months in winter it feels like it’s dark all day. In the two-month shoulder seasons in between, the length of the days change so fast, they say you notice them lengthening and shortening!
Here are some more things that surprised me about Norway…
First of all what’s with all the red houses?
Turns out, the cheapest house paint was made from two ingredients Norway has a lot of: cod liver oil and iron oxide (or sometimes WHALE BLOOD). The other common color is a yellow-gold, which is also excellent for locating your home when the sky is all black and the ground is all white.
Even fishing villages were red. Shacks like these in Nusfjord were used during the cod season for hundreds of years until they were modernized and refurbished and turned into an amazing 5-star hotel…
that really reminded me of the kind of luxury on tap at traditional Japanese inns. The cabins were spacious and spare. There was nothing in them that didn’t need to be, but everything in them was designed for comfort…
and they nail “cozy” bigtime! The beds all over Norway rival Japan for futon-sleeping goodness, and their pillow game is next level.
I did kind of long for a nice Japanese bath filled with steaming water up to my neck after a long day of hiking, but Norway does have floating saunas conveniently surrounded by a bracing sea to dive into afterward.
And then there’s the Viking Stuff. SO MUCH VIKING STUFF!
Beowulf-size drinking horns and community snuff boxes on wheels (so they could be passed down the long table after a feast)…
and the world’s least contestable last will and testament.
And who knew Norsemen had gods whose chariots were pulled by CATS…
and who played board games to decide the fate of mankind?
Like in Japan, they eat fish for breakfast…
but Norwegian fish might be dried, smoked, pickled or pressed into the inevitable bottle of cod liver oil, for a shot that really gets you going in the morning.
Unlike Japan, butter is practically a course by itself.
although it does require pastries or epic seed bread to ferry it from plate to mouth
and hordes of little cafes to eat it in.
(And because even I can’t eat fish at every meal, sorry Rudolph. You were delicious.)
I did love how fond reminders of the all-powerful dried cod that sustained Norway’s economy until they discovered North Sea oil are, uh, everywhere.
But I learned that not all cod are created equal. Some kinds apparently taste so bad even the Norwegians can’t eat them, so they were put to good use predicting fair skies or foul. This weather cod was believed to swing one direction if the morrow would bring calm waters, the other for stormy.
And because stormy was no joke during cod season—which is of course in the dead of winter so fishermen don’t get too used to being alive—there’s a statue of The Fisherman’s Wife welcoming boats safely home at the mouth of Svolvaer Harbor.
And Norwegians aren’t the only ones after the cod. Just offshore, flocks of fish eagles patrol all day long, diving for dinner and scooping it out of the water with their wicked sharp talons. It’s hard to see how big these bruisers are from the photo, but they’re the biggest birds in Europe, with a wingspan that’s a Viking-esque 6+ feet.
But let’s be honest—we’re not braving hellish jetlag for cod liver oil and feathered fisherbirds. We’re here for the mountains. Check out these perfect examples of the U-shaped valleys and pointy peaks typically carved by glaciers! Which, it turns out, is something easier to appreciate from afar than hike up. Because like video games, the higher your level, the harder it gets.
Not least because it rains gently yet relentlessly for several hours every day in the summertime. Fortunately, there’s a Norwegian outdoor shop on every corner and (not that we know anyone who sneezed at the suggestion that rain pants should be packed) superior gear can be scored at all times. I can now say with authority, “There is no bad weather, just bad equipment.”
Another thing I learned while hiking up those pointy peaks is that Norwegians think switchbacks are for the weak. Trails go straight up, then come straight back down. They bring in Sherpa laborers from Nepal occasionally to build granite staircases up to the most popular viewpoints, like this one:
Which sounds like some sort of foofy tourist hack until you start climbing those 1,974 stone steps. Without a single flat patch or rest stop, two hundred nonstop flights of stairs are a sauna-worthy achievement.
Bridges likewise can be an exercise in rugged minimalist design…
although boardwalks have been built over the boggiest bits so everyone can still hike to their favorite spots when the entire island turns into one giant waterfall.
By now you’ll probably have noticed that sun doesn’t make a huge appearance in Lofoten’s summer weather forecasts, but they do excel at epic misty mountain vibes
and sometimes you round a corner and see something so unexpected, it just makes you laugh with delight.
Or gape in awe
Or totally take your breath away.
My new favorite word: “Janteloven“ (yan-te-loo-vin)
Janteloven is the opposite of keeping up with the Joneses. When Norwegians buy a car, they try to choose one that’s less fancy than their neighbor’s. When they renovate their houses, they attempt to make it look more modest than the others on the block. People are admired for how well they downplay their success.
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Here’s where the Lofoten Islands are:
I’m not usually a “tour group” kind of traveler, but this time I joined a Backroads trip that provided truly excellent guides, transportation, hotels and food. Sometimes having a local expert make tough-to-snag reservations and search out the best stuff to see is worth the investment and the commitment to a preset plan. I can’t recommend Backroads highly enough for the quality of their trips and the interesting fellow travelers they attract.
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly Japanagram newsletter, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
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