You probably don’t realise this but there’s a page on this site where we list what we consider Travel Achievements and these will be noteworthy experiences (to us) that have come about as a result of travelling over the years. You know the sort of thing: drinking tequila in Mexico, or standing on the Great Wall of China, or seeing the oldest something or the largest something, etc. Tromsø is a good port city to visit if you’re the sort of person who likes to check off or just brag about things like this too. Hot on the heels – well, somewhat cold on the heels, given the depth of snow around – of our visit to the Northernmost Aquarium in the World we set our eyes on another location that would add to our travel achievements list in the form of the northernmost brewery in the world.
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.