Spending the day exploring a Wintery Tromso

After spending the past three nights in Ersfjordbotn, we left our beautiful cabin and headed into Tromso.

Our flight wasn't until that evening, so we slept in as late as possible and arrived in Tromso just after 1.00 p.m. We dropped off our bags at the Rica Ishavshotel on the waterfront, where they were happy to keep them for the entire day without charge.

Our last view of beautiful Ersfjordbotn

Our first stop after dropping off our bags was to grab a couple of baguettes for lunch. We sat in the window of the tiny sandwich shop and watched the world go by for an hour or so. 

It's so interesting watching how differently the locals dress and walk in the cold and snow, walking normally and wearing jeans, whilst the tourists like us are all wearing as many layers as possible and walking like penguins! Desperately trying not to slip on the ice.

After that we headed over to the Polar Museum to look at their awesome harpoons before hopping on a bus to take us over the bridge where we could get the Cable Car up to the top of Mount Storsteinen.

There wasn't too much snow on the ground in Tromso, but on top of the mountain the snow was several metres deep!

It almost completely covered up a slide and a swing set, leaving only the tops uncovered.

This little dog came up in the Cable Car with us, and was super excited making everyone throw his stick!

The views from the top were amazing. We could see the entire city of Tromso and over to several adjacent Fjords. We were lucky we had such a clear day, but I can't imagine what the mountain looks like when it's not covered in snow.

We spent just over an hour wandering around at the top and taking in the beautiful views.

There's a lovely looking cafe at the top of the Cable Car run with sheepskins everywhere and a big roaring fire, Peeking in through the windows, we regretted our earlier coffee and baguettes, it looked super cosy.

I was using a proper camera for possibly the first time on any of our holidays! It takes such great photos, but I think I'll stick to my iphone, its so much easier to transport.

The famous Arctic Cathedral is also on the same side of the bridge as the Cable Car, and is an easy 10 minute downhill walk away.

The Cathedral was built in 1965 almost entirely out of concrete. It's probably the most famous landmark in Tromso, and has a beautiful stained glass window at the front.

We didn't bother going inside, content to just admire the stunning architecture from outside.

Afterwards we hopped back on the bus and went back across the bridge to Tromso. Tromso is full of brightly coloured houses and shops and we spent a couple of hours wandering the streets and peeking into shops windows, trying not to slip on the black ice on the pavements.

As darkness fell, we headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and stopped at a local pizza place for possibly the most expensive pizza we've ever had. It was £27 for one pizza and a coke we shared! We were so glad we stayed out a cabin where we could self cater. 

We actually ended up spending less than I budgeted, though if we had to buy all our meals I'm pretty sure we would've been bankrupted.

After dinner we hopped on the last bus of the day to the airport. The airport is an easy 15 minute drive away, and Tromso airport is so tiny you only need arrive just over an hour before your flight departs.

We had an amazing visit to Scandinavia for the first time, and though most people go for the elusive Northern Lights, Tromso is still worth a visit even if just for the fantastic coffee!