Narvik

Inger Lise and Jussi live in Narvik.  Since they had to leave the cabin and go home to attend a confirmation, they invited us to spend the weekend with them at their home, and we agreed.  Tove lived in Narvik in the late 70s and early 80s, but she had not been back there in 11 years, so she was anxious to see how the town had changed.

The view from Inger Lise's home.  The mountain to the right features alpine skiing.  The ship is an iron ore freighter.

We counted 5 ships waiting to be loaded.  Jussi says that most of the ships transport the Ore to Rotterdam.

 Narvik has been inhabited since prehistoric times; and the Vikings had settlements here.  But the town became important, and grew, when Sweden's iron ore mines in Kiruna and Gallivare in Northen Sweden needed an ice-free, deep-water port to export the ore.  A railroad was built to transport the ore from Gallivare and Kiruna to Narvik.  The railway was completed in 1902.  16,000 tons of iron ore per year are shipped from Narvik.

Soon after the German invasion of Norway, the importance of Narvik as a source for iron ore was obvious to the Nazis and the Allies.  The Allies (Norwegians, French, Brits and Poles) fought land and sea battles in and around Narvik from April 9 to June 8, 1940.  They successfully pushed the Germans out of Narvik toward the Swedish border and the British Navy severely and decisively defeated the German Navy, sinking 10 destroyers (half of the entire German destroyer fleet!).  Notwithstanding these victories, it was Germany who prevailed, retaking Narvik in June and occupying Norway for the next 5 years.  Why?  The allies retreated and evacuated Narvik in late May, due to the invasion of Belgium, The Netherlands and France, leaving the Norwegians alone to fight the Germans.

While in Narvik we visited the WWII museum.  While it was informative, it is in sore need of updating its displays.  Most interesting were the winter uniforms the Allies had, which were woefully inadequate to survive in the early Spring of northern Norway.

The first evening in Narvik we got a call from Tove's friend Tonje who lives there.  She had been at her cabin in the mountains east of Narvik earlier that day.  While getting ready to leave, she was walking to her car with her little dog, a King Charles Spaniel , when a big dog, off his leash, attacked the little guy.  Tonje fought the big dog off, but her little dog was severely injured, and Tonje, herself, was injured too, albeit not seriously.  She had a friend take her and her dog to the veterinary hospital and to ER for herself.  But, she needed someone to take her back up to the cabin to lock up and to get her car.  We volunteered.

From the parking lot we walked about 1/4 mi. to Tonje's cabin

It's very rugged.  You can see the train-track sheds to protect against snow-drifts.

Tonje's cabin

The view from the cabin toward the train station

It's moor-like marshland, so the trails have boards

The area where the cabin is located is Bjørnfjell.  It is the site of the last major land battle in the Narvik area between the allies and the Germans.  It is right on the Swedish border.  This area is very popular in the late Winter and early Spring for cross-country ski-touring.

We got back to Narvik at about 11:30 PM.  Here's what Narvik harbor looked like:

Efjorden to Narvik

Our last day in Efjorden was gloriously warm.  So warm, in fact, that we decided to go to the beach!

We must go swimming!

Shallow

My right shoulder made it impossible to swim freestyle (crawl), but sidestroke worked well.

The video (19 seconds) is just a pan of the beach:

After the swim, we headed for Narvik.  We really enjoyed Efjorden.  I'd go back in a nanosecond.

Efjord IV (Svadet)

Inger Lise and Jussi took us to Svadet, a spot not far from the cabin that is popular for day-treks.  Svadet is a massive granite mountain slope, that to my untrained geologic eye appears to have been carved and smoothed through the millenia by a glacier.  Here's the map:  http://www.lommekjent.no/ruter/1762651.

You can see the mountain slope to the left of the peak.  Part of the slope we walked is in the shadow of the peak.  On the other side of the road you can see the stream that flows freely down the granite slope.  In August it is a trickle. 

It was a beautiful day for the trip.  We packed sandwiches, water and we wore our bathing suits under our clothes as there are several small pools along the stream that warm up in the mid-day sun.  I am in the middle of the picture above.  I've never seen my legs so white.

Click on the link I inserted at the top of this post, then click on one of the 4 photos on the upper left side.  It should produce a little slideshow that shows the area well.

The photo incorrectly states that E6 goes to Rome.  Not true anymore.  It ends at the southern tip of Sweden.

I set the camera down on the ground for this remote shot.  Tove and Inger Lise are in the background

Same pic, cropped and oriented to level.

Obvious glacial carving I think

One of the many pools at the top

This was the steepest part of the climb

The slope is very popular with mountain-bikers.  We met two from Finland.  (Jussi is Finnish).

Inger Lise peruses the "Guest Book" that is kept at the top.

I'm glad I brought my tripod and my remote

I'm not dead.  I just look like I am.  I had just dunked my head underwater when this was snapped.

Getting dressed after the "dunk"

The video of the hike with a little Grieg music

Efjord III

Jussi and I went fishing for mackerel nearly every day around 9 PM.  You could see the mackerel "boiling" on the surface of the fjord from the cabin.

Can  you see them "boiling"?

Beautiful pre-sunset evening

Jussi  is an expert mackerel fisherman

View from the boat

Jussi keeps the boat moored offshore in the summer.  Here he rows back to the boathouse ramp.  Tove and Inger Lise await.

What to do with all of the mackerel?  We smoked them!  Watch the video. 

Efjord II

The day after arriving at Inger Lise's cabin we went for a drive and on the way back Tove told Inger Lise to STOP THE CAR!  She had seen a moose off to the side of the road.  She knows that I have been dying to see a moose in Norway.  I took several photos.  Here's one:

Young Moose

Ferns abound

We took a short walk up to some pretty waterfalls.

From the falls toward the fjord

Reminds me of  "Encounters of the 3rd Kind"

The photo above was taken from the parking lot.  The mountain is called Stetind and it is quite popular among mountain climbers.

Seen from further down the road along the fjord.

"Press this button here"

"You can turn the lens if you want"

Frank, Inger Lise and Jussi

In the parking lot.

Efjord Sunsets

I overdid it with sunsets, I know.  So without commentary, here are sunsets at Efjorden.  Taken between 11:30PM and Midnight.  I could have waited an hour and taken sunrise photos.  This northern part of Norway does not see a sunset (or a sunrise) from May 24 to July 20 (because the sun is "up" 24/7).   Of course, it also does not see either from December 5 to January 7 (because the sun is "down" 24/7).