Trollfjord, Svolvær, Reine and Å

We continued south along the Norwegian Lofoten Islands to almost the end today. In the early morning we found ourselves in a very narrow and very famous fiord called Trollfjord. At the entrance, the fiord is only 100 metres wide but it is plenty deep for a ship like the Fram. In fact all the Hurtigruten ships travel into the fiord in the summer time both going north and south. Some passengers decided to take the optional Polar Cirkel boat ride out of the fiord, which was spectacular with the morning light hitting the tops of the mountains and the Fram following behind. The light show continued as we exited the fiord and into Raftsund and ran south towards Vestfjorden and open water. Along the way we had great views of several majestic European Sea Eagles.

Eventually the Polar Cirkel boats and the Fram ended their respective journeys in Svolvær, a bustling centre in the Lofoten region. Their we stopped at the quayside for several ours and enjoyed all that this delightful town had to offer. It became clear in Svolvær and later on in the day in Å, how important fishing, and in particular cod, is to the local economy of the Lofoten Islands. We saw the drying racks for salt cod in several places, including the town of Svolvær.

Later in the afternoon we were planning a landing at the southern tip of the Lofoten chain, at Å, but wind conditions were not good for tendering to the shore there so we adjusted our plans and went alongside at Reine, then bussed down to Å. There,we were treated to a fantastic tour of this historic community, which still has cod liver oil running through its veins!