The expected long day in the Lofoten Islands and subsequent day in Bodø was pushed to one side during an early morning announcement. The captain of Ambience informed us that the stop in Lofoten was still going ahead, albeit rather truncated, and that Bodø was being cancelled in order to get the ship ahead of a storm projected to otherwise cause the ship some serious problems. Furthermore, with this being a tender port, priority would be given to those on booked trips that still had enough time to go ahead, so for those of us who’d been intending to have a more leisurely, play-it-by-ear day on land that short time would be shorter again. We were still absolutely going to get off the ship, though. A new port? You’ve got to step ashore at the very least.

We had a relaxed breakfast and kept an eye on the tender boats shuttling between the ship’s anchorage and the small cruise port a couple of kilometres south of the town of Leknes.

Our original idea for how to spend the day in Lofoten had been to get out somewhere to take photos of the landscapes which we’d been told were stunning, then to circle around to Leknes, see if there were any museums or similar places of interest open, see if we could grab a drink, then walk back to the port. But, of course, that idea was based on the premise that we’d have a long day here and we were down to just a few hours ashore now. So, by the time the tender boats were available for general use we’d already adjusted what we were going to do to a far simpler one of taking the shuttle bus into town to save time, having a quick look around to see if anything was open, then seeing if we could find a reasonably scenic walking route back.

On the short ride across the water to the port we could see a large building with the sort of architecture that said “Oh yeah, I’m a modern museum dedicated to the stunning nature you see around you” and that’s the sort of thing we like. We had a quick nose at the map to see if it was open, only to realise it was a school. Our schools did not look like that, and they didn’t have those views.

At the small cruise port where the tender boat docked we could see what looked like a small tourist operation in place for water-based trips. On another day it might be something we’d consider.

The shuttle bus ride to Leknes was short and also along a rather dull and surprisingly busy stretch of main road. I could see that my wife was looking at it and thinking it would not be pleasant to walk along it back to the port so I reassured her that I’d identified something a bit more rural when we returned and this made her feel worse. She is prone to anxiety when she doesn’t know where she is, and when it comes to travelling that turns out to be almost everywhere, almost all the time. Her sense of direction would be worthy of study if she had one. Fortunately, never fear, Mark and his magnetic-sensing mind is here! I can typically pinpoint myself and where we need to go with expectations of turns and waypoints to look out for after a short glance at a map, and even on a cloudy day I can usually just tell north, south, east, and west by intuition.

Oh, I am so going to get absolutely lost the next time we’re somewhere off the beaten path now.

Anyway, we were dropped off in a car park between some shops, none of which interested us. Sure, Norwegian supermarkets can be a source of saying things like “Jesus! How much for a packet of crisps!?” and “What the!? Liquorice-flavoured bread! But why!?” but we had water on us, we weren’t hungry, and we didn’t know how long the weather would remain dry so it wasn’t very long before we’d ascertained that we might as well just start a slow bimble back along the road I’d spotted.

Leknes isn’t quite a one-road town, but it’s not far off it. While the bus had brought us to it on a newer road that curves around the eastern side of the town, we were heading out on what was clearly the original main road, now very lightly-used. Further from the town centre the houses became more spread out which gave us occasional glimpses at the mountainous landscape that wrapped around the place but the low and complete cloud cover didn’t help matters so I mostly enjoyed some of the functional architecture of businesses we were passing to start with.

It wasn’t long before we could tell we were outside the town and onto the quiet single road that headed south, and at last the views we’d been hoping to see came into sight. Mostly. It’s a place that would be lovely to see on a clear day, that’s for certain.

The weather didn’t entirely hold off for us, and our walk was accompanied by a fine and very cold drizzle. We could see plenty of signs around that the temperature was holding at or below zero and a brisk walk might have made this more tolerable but one of us does like to take photos so that wasn’t going to happen.

The sudden appearance of signs of industrialisation let us know that we were nearing the port but there were still some pleasing sights to see in the vicinity. When you’re in Norway, you’re usually only a short distance from a gorgeous view.

There were enough people in the queue to get back on the ship that we had to wait for a second tender boat. The wind was picking up, the chilly, misty drizzle was persisting, and only the thought of hot drinks and alcohol aboard were keeping us warm. The first thing we did when we got back on Ambience was head straight to the café in the main atrium.

Another reason for not heading straight to our cabin where the promise of a hot shower awaited was that we realised we were close to the time for some afternoon trivia in the Botanical Lounge on Ambience so, after finishing our drinks in the atrium, we made our way there to challenge our brains. A science-fiction theme helped a lot and the low attendance didn’t hurt – there were still some boats due to return as we’d not left it to the very last moment to get back – because we won the trivia and picked up our second prize of the cruise to go with the stress ball we’d already won: a flimsy, Ambassador-branded fridge magnet! The prizes on Ambassador were wonderfully woeful.

Time for showers and changing into evening attire next, even though it was late afternoon. That’s the crazy sort of rule-breaking we do when we’re cold.

At this time, everyone was aboard and Ambience started to head away from Lofoten. The wind was getting noticeably stronger, the clouds were getting fuller, the seas were getting choppier. It was easy to see why the captain had made the decision he did.

Lounges for entertainment either side of food then occupied the remainder of this day, and that started with the evening trivia in the Purple Turtle where we actually won again, picking up some fizz this time around. We had the top-tier drinks package anyway so winning the bottle wasn’t a big deal for us, but we would make use of it later in the cruise in a way that caused a member of staff to look at us like we’d grown another head each. No, it’s not what your filthy mind is thinking.

And here’s dinner.

With an unexpected sea day coming up we were free to stay up as late as we wanted in the Observatory, and we did. It was quieter up there on this evening and that was due to some definite lurching of the ship in the front edges of the storm we were trying to outrun. If there are rough seas then you can usually find us at the highest point of the ship near the front or back as that’s where most of the fun can be had. It’s quite surprising just how few people share this opinion.

The next post in this series covers two sea days on Ambience, and, in a break from the tradition I’ve established in these cruise write-ups, there are some actual things to show off other than the sea and food: more Northern Lights, ice carving, and some actual photos taken around the cruise ship like I’m one of those cruise bloggers who seems to think that what the world needs most is another ship or cabin tour.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, we’d had a long day, so with us only remaining in Alta for the morning we decided that we’d stay aboard rather than have a little walk ashore which had been our original intention. There was light cloud when we opened our curtains but this day would prove to have some gloriously clear skies later, something that would have been useful the evening before, but then again, we’d been snowed on when we’d been walking around Alta and that’s almost a rarer event for us than seeing the Northern Lights so we were perfectly happy with how this all worked out.

As we started to depart from Alta our balcony allowed us to view the small airport. It was fun to see one of the airport’s trucks race down the cleared runway to flash its lights and sound its horn as we headed away, although Ambience didn’t return its own horn as a salute. It’s likely that the reason for that is either one of restricted noise pollution laws that happen in some locations or simply reducing the risk of triggering avalanches.

I took a lot of photos of the sail out from Alta aboard Ambience and the reason for that should be obvious: it’s because I have no self-control. And also, Alta’s snowy landscapes were stunning. What follows in this post is a very small fraction of the hundreds of pictures taken.

I’d been keeping a track on my phone of other ship movements and knew that P&O’s Aurora was heading in as we were heading out. I soon realised that our exit lane out of the fjord would mean we wouldn’t be able to see her passing us on the port side of the ship from our balcony, but as our cabin was only a few metres from the forward viewing deck I’d be able to nip out and see her from there. Even though Ambience was cruising very slowly along the frigid waters away from Alta, the difference between our sheltered balcony – a bit chilly – and the forward viewing point – brass monkeys time – was immense, so I kept heading out, then back to warm up, then out again. It was worth it, though.

The rest of the afternoon was mostly spent just taking photos from our balcony after Aurora headed past us. More photos of stunning Norwegian landscapes coming your way.

Instead of heading straight out to the open sea, Ambience changed course to pass by Nordfugløya, an uninhabited island and nature reserve, although the reason for this wasn’t for viewing purposes. This was to facilitate getting the pilot home who’d helped guide our ship out from Alta. A boat came out from one of the islands further south in this arm of the fjords to pick the pilot up. A nice gesture, saving sending the boat all the way to Alta and back.

I don’t think anyone can argue that Norway’s coastline and landscapes are utterly beautiful.

A typical evening on a cruise ship would involve some drinking, some trivia, and some food, before more drinking and some late-night dancing, and that’s largely what happened next, although we did something a little special by taking ourselves to Saffron, Ambassador’s speciality Asian restaurant aboard Ambience.

We are not fans of Asian food, we don’t hit Indian restaurants at home, we never order a curry for a takeaway. However, when we cruise there’s a reasonable chance that we’ll occasionally try the Asian offerings at speciality restaurants, partly because it’s not as if we can’t get any other food aboard if it turns out to be awful, and partly because we’ve discovered that cruise lines ease up on the chillis when cooking, which is the main problem we’ve got with that cuisine.

So, Saffron, then. The positive element and main plus point to this experience was that overall, the food in Saffron was the best Asian speciality dining we’ve ever had on any cruise ship. Please remember that your tastes are different to ours and you may disagree, but we found the food to be generally more tasty than painful, and that’s the sort of thing we look for in things we’re putting in our mouths. There were two negative bits of this dining experience, though. We weren’t massively keen on the location, being a curtained-off part of the buffet, although there are other speciality dining venues on other cruise lines that effectively do the same thing, so that’s not really a big deal. The biggest gripe was the service, and this you can disregard as just one of those things that happens, but I’ll still mention it. Everywhere else on Ambience we’d had great service, attentive staff, the works. Not the case in Saffron, and the reason for that was clear to us. Several bridge officers came in to dine at the same time as us. The staff then prioritised the officers and we were mostly ignored until they’d had their starters, drinks, and main courses served. It wasn’t a good look from Ambassador, but it was the only real blot on the cruise. Again, the food was lovely.

And to round off this day sailing away from Alta past stunning landscapes and dining on absolutely lovely Asian food in one of the ship’s speciality dining venues, we then spotted the aurora (natural phenomenon, not the ship this time), and got some better phone photos than from a couple of days earlier. This was one of those occasions where you could actually see the aurora quite clearly with the naked eye. Often, there’s a smudge in the sky that only a camera can pick it up but we could see greens in the sky fairly easily, unaided.

The next post in this Ambassador Ambience Norway cruise travelogue series will be considerably shorter as it’s another relaxing sea day to suffer through.

Not a lot in Alta is somewhat of an understatement, although it’s pretty enough to just get outside the more built-up parts and look at the landscape in the winter time, but there was one thing we could see that was open so that was our very limited plan for the time there.

The snow was falling quite heavily as we got off the bus, adding layers to the thick and sound-muffling blanket of white that coated everything. It hadn’t actually snowed in our previous port of Tromsø although there had been plenty of it on the ground, and what there’d been on our morning’s tour was very light compared to the more persistent fall that now greeted us in Alta. I’ve mentioned before that snow is a rarity in our part of the world so this just filled us with joy.

Our joy, though, was as nothing compared to some other visitors to Alta.

We’re fans of architecture, whether that’s for historical reasons or for unusual reasons, and the Northern Lights Cathedral in Alta certainly falls into the latter group. Despite its name, the cathedral is merely a church, consecrated in 2013, but it’s one with a design reminiscent of something Frank Gehry would put up, making use of titanium panels to curve around and produce something both sharp, manufactured, yet with the sense of natural growth and movement too.

There’s a small charge to look inside the church and we weren’t at all surprised to see some other people realise this then turn around and leave. Some people just don’t like parting with money for any experience at all. Mate, you’ve travelled all the way to the top of Norway; you can spend a few Norwegian Krone on this.

The interior art is by Danish artist, Peter Brandes. The vertical lines are representative of the bands of aurora that can be seen frequently in this part of the world.

It’s one of the smallest churches we’ve visited when we’ve travelled around the world, but it’s certainly worth a look for its modernist, abstract designs that combine organised religion with the natural sense of scientific wonder all around.

Back out in the wonderful snowy wonderland of Alta I made my way to where I could see the bust of someone in the grounds near to the cathedral, grabbing a different view of the building as I did so. The sculpture is that of Kristian Birkeland, a Norwegian physicist who developed the theory of how aurorae are formed. It’s an interesting thing to see something scientific and rational right next to a place of irrational worship.

With nothing else in easy walking distance in these conditions, we made our way back to the bus stop and picked up the shuttle bus back to the ship in port.

Feeling a smidge chilly after several hours in the snow, we went and got ourselves some hot chocolate from The Coffee House, a short walk from our cabin, then warmed ourselves up ahead of the evening’s planned activity.

We’d loved the snow in Alta but there was a concern with it too, as we had a second excursion booked for this day and that would be a trip out to see if we could spot the Northern Lights away from the lights of the ship and city after dark. The one thing you need for that, though, is a distinct lack of cloud. Just before we headed off to meet our bus for this tour we could see that there wasn’t a star to be seen anywhere in the sky so the expectations at this point were low, but not zero as we knew the trip would try to get us somewhere with the best chance of seeing the great natural phenomenon.

Spoiler: we did not see any Northern Lights on this evening’s tour.

We were taken to a place called Isnestoften, about forty kilometres north of Alta and close to the fjord. Here, there was an area set aside near a farmhouse with tents, fires, hot drinks, and some alcoholic beverages set up, and almost everyone on our tour spent their entire time there, and by all accounts had a lovely evening. About a dozen of us, though, set off into the darkness, a few hundred metres down a sloping road with knee-high snow, and to the water’s edge by the fjord where there were some benches with furs laid out on them. We sat there for nearly a couple of hours, snow up to our calves, cameras at the ready, and saw not a thing.

But it was absolutely lovely. It was so peaceful, and it didn’t even feel that cold. Darkness, muffled sounds, ultimate relaxation. Sometimes there’d be a break in the cloud cover and stars would pop out and expectations would rise, but while we weren’t rewarded with any aurora sightings on this night we still had a wonderful time.

We eventually made our way back up to where everyone else had spent the evening, warmed ourselves by the fires, and had something to eat and drink before it was time to leave.

We’ve seen the Northern Lights on numerous occasions – we’d seen them the night before from the ship, and we’d see them again on this cruise – so not spotting them on this excursion wasn’t the end of the world, and our enjoyment was enough that when we come back here in late 2027 and late 2028 it’s extremely likely that we’ll try to do this all again. And we won’t be concerned whether we see anything or not then either.

Ambassador Ambience was staying overnight in Alta and leaving around noon the following day so we decided not to get off for an explore in the morning. In the next post in this 2025 Arctic Circle cruise travelogue series we wake to clear blue skies and enjoy some utterly spectacular winter landscape scenery on our sailaway from Alta.

Our balcony faced part of the industrial port and the airport runway, and during our day and a half here we’d quite often see trucks heading out to clear snow for any planes.

We had a full day of things to do planned and the first of those was a brief excursion of just a few hours the reasonably short distance south from Alta to Sorrisniva Hotel.

It wasn’t the main hotel itself that we were interested in – although that’s where you can find toilets, a café, and a small tourist shop if you’re after any of those things – but rather the Igloo Hotel. On a cruise that saw us ticking off a lot of northernmost things in the world, this was another.

The important thing about the igloo hotel at Sorrisniva is that it’s not one of those ice hotels you sometimes see in cities which turn out to be barely-glorified freezers in warehouses. Ah, the experience of drinking in a venue that recreates all the fun of meat-packers sneaking off for an alcopop during work hours. The igloo hotel opens from December to the end of March every year, built fresh from the snow each time, and it invites artists to come in and sculpt decorations from ice or in the snow walls of the bedroom suites that the hotel contains. Each year there’s a different theme for the artwork so you could come back time and time again and see a different layout and different sculpted artworks.

Initially, there was a bit of a crowded wander, poking heads into all the rooms, so, after being frustrated for the umpteenth time by certain people thinking they had a monopoly on posing in front of snow and ice sculptures for a few dozen photos, we headed into the main, ice column-supported hall of the igloo hotel and made our way to the ice bar at the far end. Our tour entry had included a small, wooden token that we could exchange for some alcoholic blue stuff in a glass made from ice. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t awful. It was blue. And you had to drink it quickly before any heat from your hands or gloves caused the glass to crack.

Taking time out to have the drink gave everyone else who’d turned up to look around the igloo hotel – not just our tour group, but other independent travellers too – enough time to move on from the rooms, and gave us the chance to conclude a look at them and take photos in relative peace.

You can, of course, book to stay at the igloo hotel, and you’d be right in thinking that it’s not cheap, and that’s before you even consider that this is Norway. It’s also very basic with your amenities literally being the room with some furs on them. No en-suite. Not even a door in the standard rooms. You’re paying for the experience, but definitely research what that experience is going to be before you book.

Some designs were better than others, as you’d expect, but it was such a wonderful thing to see as a whole that we decided that if we were ever to come back up this way – and if it was in that December to March window when the igloo hotel was actually built and open – then we’d almost certainly visit again because the designs would change each year. Plus, we’ve absolutely no interest at all in husky rides which seems to be an obsession of everyone else who cruises to this part of the world.

The igloo hotel also included a chapel. Presumably to pray the place doesn’t melt on you while you sleep.

Most people headed straight into the main hotel after seeing everything there was to see in the igloo hotel, probably in search of a coffee if our experience of cruisers is any guide, but we traipsed around the back of the hotel into the knee-high deep snow – it’s such a novelty for us to get snow like this so we made the most of it – and we were glad that we did as we found a few reindeer tied up with sleds. The hotel apparently offers rides as part of a Sami experience and this appeals far more than the husky option if you ask me. We stood a respectful distance away to take some photos because you shouldn’t pester animals, and I’d like to say that other visitors to Sorrisniva did the same. I’d like to say that.

After a quick look at the gift shop for some souvenirs it was time to head back to the ship but we were told we could get out in Alta town centre if we wanted and take a later bus back as there was a regular shuttle service throughout the day. We did want this, so in the next post in this cruise travelogue series we’ll take full advantage of this opportunity to visit the Northern Lights Cathedral in Alta.

So, after our lovely time crunching through snow, throwing the odd snowball (it’s the law), and finishing our time determining that Tromsø does beer well, we made our way carefully back towards where we’d need to jump on the shuttle bus back to the ship about four kilometres away. Four kilometres doesn’t sound like much but we knew from the trip out that it wouldn’t be the nicest of walks even in good weather, and the state of the pavements along the roads in winter outside the city centre didn’t encourage trying it either.

You’ll know from my previous two posts on our time in Tromsø – I’m pretending you’ve read them – and from our Travel Achievements page – I’m pretending you’ve had a good look around the site’s menu and all the different pages and navigational aids I’ve put in to help people looking for travel write-ups – that we like to spot things that are the most or least or smallest or biggest, etc., when travelling. Passing Tromsø Cathedral on our way to the bus, it was nice to note that this 19th century cathedral, in addition to being the only wooden Protestant cathedral in Norway, is regarded as the northernmost Protestant cathedral in the world. We’ll hopefully get to see inside it on a future trip to this part of the world, and it would be nice to check out the interior of the nearby Arctic Cathedral too to compare the architectural styles.

There was a memorial stone opposite the cathedral and outside the gift shop, dedicated to Richard With, born in the city and, in cruising-related news, the founder of Hurtigruten. They’re a line we’d be very interested in cruising with if we could just sort out inheriting vast amounts of money from a rich relative first.

A short walk around the corner and we found a bus already waiting to go, hopped aboard, and in very short order were back at the cruise port north of Tromsø city centre. A quick freshen up later and we decided to head up to the Observatory to start with for the lovely views of the surrounding area and a Kir Royale each as there was a little bit of time yet before we were due to sail away. We’d not left it to the last bus back because travel anxiety is real.

As the time for Ambience came to depart Tromsø I first made a circuit around the top deck for some views before heading down to our room and our balcony for more sailaway shots. I bumped into a couple of crew members on the top deck who were photographing the landscapes too plus each other, and I asked if I could grab one of them as well. Ambassador make a point of saying their crew are the friendliest at sea and we saw no evidence to counter this on this cruise.

The evening aboard Ambience mostly followed the usual pattern of trivia, music, food, and drink, culminating in a return to the Observatory late on for the disco.

While we were in the Observatory someone mentioned that the Northern Lights had become visible. We weren’t dressed for the cold temperature so only ducked out briefly, and we only had our mobile phones on us, but very faint aurorae could be seen with the naked eye and there’s some dodgy photography to prove it below. We’ve been lucky enough to have seen the Northern Lights many times now, with nothing getting close to the very first time we spotted them on a weekend break in Iceland in 2015. We always enjoy seeing them, though.

In the next post in this 2025 Arctic Circle cruise on Ambassador Ambience we reach the northernmost point of the cruise when we head off on a trip to visit the igloo hotel in Alta.

But first, some sights along the waterfront area of Tromsø, because Norway’s coast is gorgeous in any circumstances but snow adds something magical once you’re up in the Arctic Circle.

Tromsø is one of Norway’s largest fishing ports and there was certainly a lot of evidence that people there liked to take boats out to sea.

We could see something odd not too far along the waterfront so headed towards the Hålogaland Theatre.

Inghild Karlsen and Bo Bisgaard are the sculptors responsible for a number of fabulous pieces of artwork just around the theatre in Tromsø. The first we’d spotted was a bronze dachshund dog gazing out to sea. At first sight we assumed someone had stuck googly eyes on the sculpture but these are actually part of the design. Something we couldn’t see, because of the depth of snow around it, was the tail, which is mechanical and wags whenever a performance starts in the nearby cultural building.

Set just back from the water, and running along the length of the theatre, there were seven sculptures in white concrete, representing theatre muses. The snowy conditions had given most of them a temporary hairstyle for the occasion of our visit.

I did wonder if the muses sculptures outside the Hålogaland Theatre had names but couldn’t find any information to suggest they did, and I did then wonder if I could embrace the spirit of colonial travel of the past and simply assign my own names to them with some idea that the names might stick by being the first person to give the sculptures official titles, trusting that the onslaught of Absolute Idiocy search results would happily list them in summary form for those searching in the future. I’m cruel, but I’m not that cruel. Although the one with the dinosaur-like face is definitely called Norgeosaurus. Trust me.

We spotted another few structures that we assumed were art installations of some kind as we headed back towards the city centre. We weren’t exactly right, although the design was supposed to be somewhat aesthetically pleasing in addition to being practical. These are called Krykkje Hotels and they’re designed to provide nesting space for birds in the winter months. They were certainly well-used.

I’ve already mentioned spotting the Blai Statue in the previous post, but here’s a closer look at the grumpy-looking woman, sat down and waiting for a bus with purse clutched in front of her. So much character here, and if a lump of metal can bring a smile to your face then it’s doing a grand job.

Our destination on this trudge through the snow was the northernmost brewery in the world, Mack, as you already know, but we actually spent most of our time next door in Ølhallen, as it happened to be Tromsø’s oldest pub and the location serving beer, which is what we really wanted. Dating from 1928 it’s not that old when you compare it to some of the pubs at home, but it’s still nice to visit a place that is part of local history. The pub was busy and got subtantially busier as the afternoon progressed, and served a huge range of ales. We absolutely had to stay for four pints each, for science, with an emphasis on the local brewery’s output. Everything we had was lovely, and at the end of our time there we popped next door to buy a souvenir in the form a t-shirt, too.

We’ll conclude our day in this Norwegian city in the next post where there’s a short walk back to the bus then the sail away from Tromsø to enjoy, plus our first sighting on this Arctic Circle cruise aboard Ambience of the Northern Lights.

“We are definitely going to throw snowballs when we’re ashore,” I told my wife, and we would indeed do that later in the day.

We’d decided beforehand not to book any excursions for Tromsø. We knew that the ship wouldn’t dock right by the city centre but that there would be a shuttle bus provided, and looking at a map we’d identified a few things of interest that we figured we could visit on our own.

One thing that had been a potential place to hit was actually directly opposite where Ambience was docked. This was the Arctic-Alpine Botanic Gardens. Our thought ahead of the cruise was that it would make for a decent place to explore at the end of the day after we’d returned from the city but seeing it completely covered in snow kicked that idea into touch. The building on the hill beyond the gardens below is a science centre. These are still potential future visit options but the weather will determine that.

Breakfast consumed and suitably layered up, we disembarked the ship and hopped aboard a bus for the drive into the city.

The roads were in good condition, as you’d expect, but the walking surfaces for pedestrians were far more hit-and-miss with some areas cleared while others had well-trodden paths through them that had then compacted into ice. We actually found it easier in places to tread new paths through snow that was at times knee-high. Very much like the rain in our previous port of Trondheim we discovered that Norwegian snow wasn’t really that wet so there wasn’t much soaking into our trousers going on.

One of the places we’d had it in mind to look at before coming to Tromsø was the Arctic Cathedral as its architecture looked interesting. Getting to it would have required crossing the bridge that connected the island of Tromsøya on which we and the city were to the mainland and we will likely do this on a future visit to this part of the world but on this day we ultimately decided to skip it.

We started off by hugging the waterfront area of the city as much as possible as we trudged our way carefully southwards towards the aquarium that was top of our list of places to visit in Tromsø. This took us past numerous sculptures and sights, including a statue of Roald Amundsen and occasional bits of street art.

We passed another spot that was on our list of places to visit – and indeed, we’d be visiting it later in the day – in the form of a microbrewery complete with bust of the brewery’s founder and former local politician, Ludwig Mack.

The Blai Statue looked absolutely adorable, and we’d get closer to it on our walk back.

We eventually reached Polaria, the world’s northernmost aquarium. We are fond of an aquarium so we had to visit anyway but it’s worth just mentioning the fabulous architecture of the building first, although the snow everywhere didn’t make it easy to find a good place to take pictures of it. The design is supposed to represent ice floes coming ashore and rising up one on top of the other, although it’s easy to see dominoes toppling over.

As you might expect from an aquarium in this part of the world and with this sort of name, Polaria specialises in arctic sea life so don’t expect tanks of tropical fish. If you like seals, though, then you won’t be disappointed. However, while Polaria is the northernmost aquarium in the world, and worth visiting just for that alone, it’s not particularly large so it won’t occupy an awful lot of your time in Tromsø. We enjoyed it, of course, but there’s not enough there to warrant a return visit on a future trip to the city.

In the next post we enjoy more snowy sights in Tromsø, stumble upon lots of lovely weird sculptures, and then make our way to the northernmost brewery in the world for a drink. Or four.

We passed a few distinct areas, architecturally, as we made our way towards the central public square of Trondheim, Torvet. Further out we’d come across more modern structures while the centre of the city favoured that more traditional Norwegian look with lots of exterior wood panelling in a range of colours. Always, though, you can see that the storeys in Norwegian buildings are quite high and there’s a strong leaning towards upright rectangular windows. If you’ve met many people from Norway then you’ll understand the reason for this: they’re not a short people.

We didn’t spend very long in Torvet, largely because of that persistent weird rain that I’ve mentioned previously. Just enough to be irritating, not enough to get you actually wet, although the ground seemed to maintain evidence of its presence.

There was a very puzzling but aesthetically-pleasing, squat cylinder prominent over a small raised area in the square. It looked like some brutalist hangover from the 1960s or 1970s during a secret communist takeover of Trondheim, but it’s far more modern – 2014 – and is actually a public stage with integrated functionality, a light system in its wonderful canopy, and a delight for the eyes. The backdrop of a McDonalds and a crane, perhaps somewhat less so.

Torvet also contained a tall monument featuring an obelisk, atop which stood a sculpture of Olav Tryggvason, king of Norway from 995 to 1000 C.E. and founder of the city. More interestingly, although I didn’t spot it at the time and so didn’t photograph it, around the base of the obelisk there is a sundial marked out allowing the shadow of the monument to act as a timepiece, although only during the winter months due to its calibration, and therefore only when there’s less sun around.

“Let us raise a monument to the city’s founder that will also be functional, Sven.”

“What a wonderful idea, Eivind. How functional should it be?”

“Not terribly.”

Because of the weather and because we had a destination in mind as we were walking and because we’d not spotted it on the maps before visiting Trondheim and because the maps didn’t really make a big deal of it while we were in Trondheim… deep breath… we failed to realise that there was a place just off the square that would have been of interest to us if we’d known about it. It’s the wooden building below and it’s called Stiftsgården, the official royal residence in Trondheim, and one of the largest wooden buildings in Scandinavia. However, all that being said, the building wouldn’t have been open during our visit to the city – it has a small viewing window in summer – and there’s no photography allowed inside which is the sort of thing that puts me right off places like this. However, should we return to Trondheim in the warmer part of the year then it’s a possibility.

The destination we’d had in mind, coming as no surprise at all to people who know us or who’ve read any of our other visits to places around the world, was a craft ale bar, and in this case it was Habitat. The place was a little sterile in terms of decor and atmosphere but we’ve come to expect that in northern Europe. For cold climates they don’t really embrace cosiness at all. The beer was varied enough and good enough to warrant us staying for three pints each, although that not-quite-drizzle weather certainly helped to persuade us to remain inside too. However, the actual dampener on the occasion was the overall genuinely unfriendly attitude of the staff. A very disappointing surprise as we tend to try to be friendly, ask about the beers, get any recommendations, that sort of thing. No, not here. It felt like we were intruding on the practically empty place. Perhaps they don’t like tourists, and perhaps it was just one of those days. We are due to return to Trondheim in both 2027 and 2028 so we’ll likely give them another chance to not make us feel quite so unwelcome because, after all, craft ales are craft ales.

The river Nidelva runs through Trondheim and there are a few canals off it, one of which we needed to cross to reach the port and bring us in sight of Ambience.

There were a few interesting public art pieces down by the cruise port area of Trondheim. I’m pretty sure the shoes and socks weren’t part of this cultural experience, and I don’t want to think too hard about the implications of just finding them beside a bridge over the water too much. The yellow structure, though, is called What Does The Fjord Say? and it’s a 2015 piece by Stale Sorensen. You can step inside and listen to the sounds of the wind as it’s picked up by the listening horns although we didn’t realise that so didn’t find out for ourselves. Next time. There’s always a next time.

Ørekonkylie is a piece by Ole Rosén and Mari Røysamb and it’s similar in a way to the yellow submarine-inspired artwork nearby with its theme of listening to the sea.

One of the last buildings we passed before getting back aboard our ship was Rockheim, a museum dedicated to Norwegian music. This had been a place on our radar if the weather was too bad to really give Trondheim a good explore simply because it was close to the port and would be something to say we’d been ashore and checked out Norwegian culture. We didn’t visit it on this trip. We might see what it’s like on a future trip to the city but we’re not huge music fans anyway, and that goes doubly so for that of foreign countries. If music is your thing, however, then this looks to be a very convenient tourist option about a minute from your ship if you’re cruising to this part of Norway.

And that wraps up our first time in Trondheim. Museums, a cathedral, some weird rain that never quite got us wet, and craft ale in an unfriendly bar. We liked that it was a pretty flat city so with two more planned trips to Trondheim over the next couple of years we’d like to explore a little more; there’s an old bridge, a small hill, a fortress, and former Nazi submarine bases that we had already earmarked as options for this visit and I’m sure we can find more.

Back on Ambience it was back to the regular relaxation routine of enjoying the sailaway and enjoying some food, drink, and entertainment aboard.

The next post in this series will be a very brief one as it’s a day spent at sea, one highlight of this chance to rest and read being the first sighting of properly snowy mountains in the distance.

We hadn’t known beforehand but there were two types of tickets to gain access to the cathedral, one of which included visits to the royal regalia museum and the archbishop’s palace archaeological museum practically next door. Naturally, we bought tickets to see all three places. You’d be mad not to on your first visit to a city, surely?

Nidaros Cathedral was gorgeously gothic on the outside. As with almost every church you’ll find in Scandinavia, it’s a Lutheran church, so our expectation inside was that it wouldn’t be that grandiose as Lutherans do like their spartan designs. However, the exterior was lovely. While the cathedral claims to date to around 1300 it’s plain to see that the architectural style is far later and, as you’d probably expect, that would be on account of all the times that God failed to intervene in lightning strikes and fires. Or perhaps a very holy church-builder prayed really hard for work in the diocese.

What was very pleasing about Nidaros Cathedral was its interior. As expected, there wasn’t a huge amount of gaudy showiness on display, but it also wasn’t the mostly white, non-distracting, blank canvas we’ve seen in other Lutheran churches when we’ve been travelling. The high nave with its gothic arch-topped supports to the vaulted ceiling was absolutely stunning.

The cathedral had two organs, and the older of the two – which, with its warm tones, stood out quite a bit from all the other cooler design elements – dates to the early eighteenth century, although it required extensive restoration work in 1990s before being put back into use.

We were quite amused at one point to see another couple of visitors to the cathedral trying to stretch over and look down what would turn out to be a well just off one side of the altar space. Our entertainment mostly came from the fact that they’d pushed in front of us to do so then not realised that there was a mirror positioned above the hole that showed exactly what was down there. We didn’t let them know there was an easier way, and I then made a point to stand in front of them several times as they were trying to take photos because churches may be places of forgiveness but my vindictive nature is far stronger.

We liked Nidaros Cathedral and we’d also like the two museums close by that we’d next explore too. The first of those, sadly, I can’t show any photos from. This was the royal regalia museum, showing crowns and capes and various other bits of jewellery of the Norwegian royal family. Very nice, but very much not a thing you’re allowed to photograph and there were people hanging around to make sure you didn’t. A shame, but if you like to ooh and aah over shiny things – perhaps you’re one of this site’s regular corvid readers – then you’d enjoy it.

The archbishop’s palace museum was definitely less palatial than we’d been anticipating from its name, but if you like architecture and archaeology then it’s worth the visit, and we do like those things so that was handy.

Elements of the palace and cathedral from previous incarnations of the buildings were shown, some dating back to the thirteenth century, and I particularly enjoyed the old photographs of restoration work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A lot of the museum was very modern but there were areas that opened up to show some of the ruins of the walls of the original fortified palace.

The last part of the museum that we visited was the mint, where some of the more valuable items were on display, but also part of the original, medieval, tiled floor, and that was probably the highlight of this place.

So, that’s what you get to see for a ticket that includes Nidaros Cathedral and two museums. If you’re not super-interested in archaeology and restoration work, and your main focus is on seeing the prettiest things and taking photos to make everyone you know jealous then you could perhaps limit yourself to just seeing the cathedral. For us, seeing all three places made sense and we’re glad we did so. We didn’t come away from here with a sense that we’d necessarily rush to visit them again any time soon, but they’re definitely worthy of one look.

In the next post in this 2025 Ambience cruise travelogue series we check out the state of Trondheim craft ale on a walk back to the port.

Trondheim looked like it had plenty of things that would interest us, culturally and historically, so we’d decided not to book an excursion here and our intention was to head for some of those places we’d identified ahead of time on foot, with the ship likely to be docked close by. That was the case but on the day we discovered that there was a complimentary shuttle bus service into the city centre and opted to take that instead as we’ve been stung before by thinking something was a short, easy walk only to grossly underestimate it. We would end up walking back later in the day and Trondheim is actually a largely flat, reasonably easy city to traverse on foot, even for people as generally unfit and prone-to-injury as us.

From our balcony on Ambience we could see across the water to a small island, Munkholmen. It’s apparently a popular tourist site here in Trondheim with a history that includes being a site of execution (with severed heads placed on poles to warn people), then a Benedictine monastery, a fort and prison, and finally the site of air defences used by the Germans during their occupation in World War II to protect the submarine base they’d built in the city. In fact, the submarine base had been on our list of places to visit while in Trondheim but we skipped it on this occasion, not being sure we’d have enough time to make our way there. We would have, and it’s on the list for one of the times when we’re due to return, either in 2027 or 2028.

Ambience had the main cruise port berth on our visit to Norway but another ship was visiting on that day, AIDAsol, and she was given the secondary berth a little further away from the main part of the city.

The free shuttle bus dropped us off near the city centre, although I don’t quite recall where. We’d earmarked a half dozen or so places we were interested in potentially visiting. as I’ve said, but with four of them in close proximity to each other and all less than five minutes’ walk away, that’s the direction we headed.

The first place we stopped – and this will come as no surprise to you if you’ve read the title of this post or been looking for it on the web and somehow actually ended up here despite modern search engines’ best efforts to stop all that in favour of invented garbage summaries – was the Trondheim Art Museum, or Kunstmuseum if you’re feeling reckless and not afraid of accidentally swearing in front of Norwegians.

The museum housed a mix of classic and modern art, in a mix of media styles. There’s not a lot to really say about the art museum because the works there will change periodically, and you’re either going to like some of what you see or you won’t. I don’t think anyone can ever truly say they will definitely love everything in a place like this or that they will hate it all without actually seeing it with an open mind. There were pieces we enjoyed and pieces that did little for us, but there were some standout items and I’ll point out a couple of those amongst the photos from the museum below.

Portrait of Solicitor Ludvig Meyer below, painted in 1892, was notable for being by Edvard Munch. It’s always nice to see other artwork from an artist typically known for one or two more famous pieces, and it’s great when you can get up close to something like this.

We liked the tapestry below because its simple form reminded us of a primitive-style, abstract artwork we picked up in Chile several years earlier. The work is called Ei Heks and it’s by Swedish-born feminist artist, Hannah Ryggen, whose art was often anti-fascist in nature. At the 1937 Exposition Internationale in Paris one of Hannah’s pieces, Ethiopia, was displayed next to Picasso‘s famous work, Guernica, but part of the tapestry was covered by a sheet as it depicted a spear piercing the head of Mussolini.

There was a room filled with war-themed art that I found very evocative. I’ve no idea how much of it is part of a permanent exhibition or how much was temporary and I spent more time looking at the details of artworks there than anywhere else.

One of our favourite pieces on display in the Trondheim Art Museum was a Hill House chair by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. A classic design piece, and nice to see something with an Art Nouveau connection again given that we’d just come from Ålesund which was awash with the style.

Trondheim Art Museum wasn’t huge but it had some lovely pieces. Whether you’d like it or not really depends on the sort of person you are and what’s actually on display on the day, but we enjoyed our visit.

In the next part of this series we pop around the corner and check out the cathedral and a couple of other museums in Trondheim, because you can never visit too many museums.