Remembering Lofoten

Remembering Lofoten

It has indeed been a long and extended break from writing. I have been thinking for some time to get back to writing and pushed by my wife and dear friends too repeatedly. So finally after a strong enough hibernation I decided to write about Lofoten. Once a place I could only dream of, to actually visiting it last year. I also took a lot of feedback from folks to simplify my writing as I often got entangled in a web of poetic prose. Also took some cues from my friend Sai who always has his sleeves up when it comes to reading and also writing a blog with no purpose.

Scandinavia/Nordic (Finland, Iceland, Faroes are Nordic but not Scandinavian phew) are dream destinations for most travel enthusiasts. Though nowadays everyone is a travel aficionado and so am I but it is more of an asset allocation (Sorry for being a finance geek ☹ ) decision for me rather than thinking of an annual budget. There is no wanderlust flowing down my veins, it's just curiosity coupled with a penchant of discovery.

After a lot of route mapping, day squeezing and trying to cover the key spots (and lot of help from Naman- Travel to Discover!) our trip was-

 Oslo-Svolvær-Tromsø-Helsinki-Saariselkä-Rovaniemi-Helsinki. All these places in 14 days, it did feel like a snowy marathon and a breath taking one indeed for scenic reasons.

The flight (Day3) to Svolvær (Lofoten Islands) was a connecting flight via Bodo with a 5 hour layover. The Bodo airport was a miniscule hub with no one but 8 of us sleeping overnight on the benches of the airport 4 Indians, 4 Chinese (Yes Indians and Chinese are everywhere). All this was after a long flight to Oslo 2 days back and a wonderful day trip (Day 2) to Flam, coming back completely mesmerized and awe struck by the Train trip through the snowy mountains and colourful houses (colourful in Norway is different!). The number of passengers on board the flight were just 25 odd maybe and the moment we landed it was the beginning of a scenic and gleeful flipbook one picture after another of the sky, landscapes, bay, shops, churches , cafes etc.

The Mini Plane

The two days that we spent at the capital (Svolvær) of the archipelago (Lofoten) now does remind me of Star Hollows from Gilmore Girls albeit with snowflakes and landscapes. The first day we walked around the entire town in 2 hours with snow all around scattered like white confetti. Art galleries, tourist info center, small restaurants, cafés felt quaint, modern and inspiring all at once. Scandic interiors and decor even for the smallest of the shops/cafés is beyond splendid, it's surreal. How does it feel when your hotel has basic rooms but has a scandic studio styled dining area overlooking yachts at the hangar, it feels very much like Norway and more so like Lofoten. With this view, baby potatoes sauteed with pepper,cream crackers & cheese,  strawberry yogurt tasted and felt like a royal brunch. 

The Royal Brunch

                 

Although  physically short of energy while we arrived with 9 days of trip ahead of us the experience of how much fun a snowy tyre swing can engulf you with outside a closed chapel is difficult to express in any poetic adjectives. When one visits a photo gallery or an artists gallery of painting while they are still developing a recent photograph or carving a fresh stroke of brush, the feeling genuineness is unmatched and could be seldom found in a large global city. Although with Norway even wishing to buy any of these collectibles is stunned by the virtue of affordability!

Artists den

My intention with this note or post is not to pen an itinerary but as always is to describe how small or large towns and cities can imprint a large smile of reminiscence. I have varied and distinctive memory of every city that we visited around in Norway and Finland and will make the most of my time in these days of lockdown to instil a sense of travel to the readers when things get better.

Svolvaer Airport

As I said this is not an itinerary blog post, for any queries/suggestions and photos you could me contact me on Instagram : @sarcosanct. For the other places specially Flam and Kakslautten stay tuned :)