We are moving south again by train, but not before our hosts invited us to enjoy a slice of heavenly cake made with the fresh blueberries they picked yesterday!

Cake made from eggs, rolled with whipped cream and fresh blueberries, covered in chopped almonds! Light, fluffy, delicious!!!

We walked the 5 minutes to the train station, declining an offer of a ride from our host (we need some exercise) and boarded our train toward Steinkjer, our destination.

We rolled through beautiful countryside, pine covered mountains along the Luonosjåhkå river, a turbulent stream descending from the mountains into this valley.

Soon the scenery changed to what I would consider more stereotypical ‘arctic tundra’.

Treeless, rocky, low vegetation, wet, and it looks like patches of snow in the distance!

About one hour and 20 minutes into our ride, 60 some odd miles south of Fauske, we crossed the Arctic Circle again, from north to south this time!

We zoomed past the Arctic Circle Center, on the highway paralleling the train tracks.

And then passed the rock cairn marking the Arctic Circle!

We began our descent from the Saltfjellet mountain range into another river valley.

The pine forests again cover the lower reaches of the mountains.

The sun occasionally peaked out from the clouds to illuminate farms along the river.

We reached the town of Steinkjer (pronounced something like “stine-sh-jar”) and had a short walk uphill to our Airbnb overlooking town.

A modern growing city at the inner end of Trondheimsfjord, the 3rd longest fjord of Norway.

Like most of northern Norway almost all current buildings were built after 1945. During WWII Norway was heavily bombed by the Nazis and then occupied by them for 5 years. As the Russian army approached in 1945 and the Nazis retreated they destroyed everything of value, almost all buildings, sparing only a few churches.

We had a relaxing evening sitting on the patio in the cool breeze watching the arm of the yellow crane swing around, trying to discern if it was being manned, blown by the wind, or remotely programmed to swing into the wind!

Another beautiful day to explore. Today we caught a late morning train for the 45 minute ride back to Bodø.

Bodø, like every Nordic town we’ve been in, has lush flower beds scattered around town!

We spotted some of the murals on the map we picked up at the visitors center.

And we had to go into the town hall to see the unique architecture the host at the visitor center told us about! Optical illusion! The furniture is stuck on the wall!

We walked to the harbor and out to the point at the harbor entrance. Coming back we saw the cruise ship enter the harbor. We have to check that out for a future trip!

Some quirky art work showcases some of the wildlife, the Sea Eagles and the Moose!

We caught a mid-afternoon train back to Fauske and enjoyed complimentary lattes and little chocolate squares that are available in the sleek, modern train cars.

We enjoyed the view of the fjord with the small boat houses and fishing boats that belong to the cabins hidden in the woods on the other side of the tracks.

Shortly after we returned, our hosts arrived back from a blueberry picking excursion in the mountains. Our host asked if we would like to go see the Saltstraumen Maelstrom that is about an hours drive away. We had actually heard about the whirlpools formed when the tide flows through a narrow channel in a fjord in Norway, but we didn’t know it was this close! We jumped at the chance to go see this phenomenon! We had a little time to get ready since it’s best to see it when the tide changes. Soon we were off, being driven back along the highway following the train route towards Bodø. Turning left onto a peninsula between the Saltfjorden and the Skjerstad fjord we came to a bridge over the narrow inlet from the sea to the fjord.

On the fjord side at water level it looked calm and people were fishing from the bank with a few fishing boats in the water.

We then drove over the bridge to the right, parked and walked up onto the bridge.

Looking down from the bridge you can see the water beginning to churn and swirls forming, as “Up to 400 million cubic metres (110 billion US gallons) of seawater forces its way through a 3 km (1.9 mi) long and 150 m (490 ft) wide strait every six hours.” This is considered the strongest tidal current in the world!

Saltstraumen wasn’t at its strongest today though, that would be at the full or new moon, we are at half moon now. For a good description here is a Youtube video of the Saltstraumen Maelstrom. Before we returned to Fauske our host took us to another venue which has roots in the Viking era. Tuvsjyen is a restaurant experience harkening to the stone age, where the food is cooked in a pit and served in an earthen hut on rough wood tables and benches.

Winter is actually a busier tourist season for this area with the Northern Lights on display!

We are lucky to be able to head back to Fauske and cook our dinner on an electric stove!

A lazy morning morphed into a glorious afternoon walk. We headed to the waterfront  to explore the town.

Norwegian Rose marble is everywhere!

They have so much of it they can use it for erosion control along the waterfront!

Out on the water the large bird taking off might be a Sea Eagle that just tried it’s luck at fishing! Norway has a good portion of the world’s Sea Eagles, relatives of the Bald Eagle!

Along the waterfront we came upon the Fauske Folk Museum, an open-air museum with period buildings in a wonderful wooded park.

The log buildings have sod roofs, there is even a two story house with a sod roof!

A slate roofed house looks rather small.

But when you peek in the windows the rooms seem much larger and well furnished!

The Boat House is right at the waterline, at low tide the art installation sculptures look like hybrid stone and steel water creatures climbing out of the sea onto land!

And finally, at the far end of the park we found a patch of raspberries in the woods and picked as many as we could and ate them on the spot!

A travel day today, heading south by various transportation methods! We walked to the main bus station in Narvik, only about 10 minutes away, to wait for our bus. We had a one hour ride to the airport, crossing the Ofotfjord on the Hålogalandsbrua, the bridge we saw from the train as we approached Narvik on August 9th.

Being on the bridge wasn’t as impressive as the view of the bridge from the train!

We arrived at the airport with enough time to go through security check which was surprisingly crowded.

That must be our plane, I think I see my bag on top of the luggage cart!

We’re heading to Bodø, named European Capital of Culture 2024! A short 35 minute flight away to the second largest town in northern Norway, and it’s just above the Arctic Circle! The largest northern town is Tromsø, almost 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle!

Shortly after takeoff, before we went above the clouds, a brief view of the Ofotfjord.

Another view with some aquaculture pens on the lower right.

As we approached Bodø, at the entrance of the Saltfjorden. The Bodø harbor opens to the Norwegian Sea east to Greenland.

The airport seems about as big and as busy as Redmond-Bend airport. Bodø (pronounced sort of like ‘Boo-Doe’, but with a Norwegian accent that I can’t get right!) was just a short stop for us, we caught a public bus to go across town to the train station where we caught the train to Fauske (pronounced ‘Faoos-Keh’).

The train follows the shore of the large Skjerstad fjord. Fauske sits at the end of a small finger of the fjord.

Our host picked us up at the train station and drove us the short distance to the house where we dropped our luggage then he gave us a ride to the town center so we could do some grocery shopping. We also did some sightseeing since the shopping area is on the waterfront!

Fauske has it’s own little “Jet d’eau” fountain!

Walking along the waterfront we found information about Fauske and what it is known for, which is marble! Fauske has the largest marble quarry in Norway and produces the Norwegian Rose marble that has been used in buildings all around the world, including the UN Headquarters in New York!

Information and samples of the marble quarried around Fauske.

We walked back to the apartment with our groceries along the quiet streets in the warmth of the day, the clouds dispersing and a cool breeze helping us along.

Rain squalls today, but in between we each ventured out to stretch our legs. Robert explored the waterfront.

Scenes from the active fishing and pleasure boat docks.

I explored two museums. The Narvik Museum is housed in the original administration building of the Ofoten Railway, the line that extends from the border with Sweden to the dock in Narvik for the transport of iron ore.

Built in 1901, the building looks across the fjord to the dock where the ships take on the loads of iron ore.

The second museum is the Narvik Krigsmuseum, the Narvik War Museum. The first floor describes the circumstances of 1940. Norway declared neutrality when the war was started by Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1940. But due to the continued shipment of iron ore to Germany by Sweden (also a neutral nation) through Norway via the harbor at Narvik, Norway was targeted by both Germany and Great Britain. Narvik was bombed, invaded by Germany, bombed and retaken by the Allies, then lost again to Germany, and ultimately almost totally destroyed. The exhibit then descends to a lower level, the Zona.
In this exhibit space you are challenged to look at all perspectives. Who is a Terrorist? What choices do ordinary people have when war comes to them? What choices would you make? You then enter an exhibit about the ongoing war in Ukraine. It makes it real with stories of real people who made hard choices, the outcomes of which we will not know.

Remember, it can happen anywhere under certain circumstances. Will we be able to recognize those circumstances in time?

Outside the War Museum are two iconic Narvik structures, in the background is the Scandic Hotel, and in the foreground is the sculpture Trinigon 3, The National Freedom Monument, installed to mark the 50th anniversary of Norway’s liberation in 1945. We sure were glad we went up on the mountain yesterday because today the mountaintops are covered in clouds!