With a few days under my belt of successfully navigating the winding (and often daunting) roads of the Lofoten Islands, I was feeling good about taking our little VW Polo back out into the cliffs of the fjords. Unfortunately, that confidence vanished when we awoke to a healthy few inches of fresh snow coating the ground. And the snow was still coming down.
A two-hour journey north laid before us and I was facing near whiteout road conditions. It's not as if snow is something I'm unfamiliar with (there was a reason I, the Minnesotan, was driving in Norway and Iceland and not Rachel), but having a healthy fear of heights and bridges doesn't necessarily help when you can't see more than five feet ahead of the car.
And no one found my slow driving amusing...including yours truly.
But alas, we made it to our first stop of Nusfjord in one piece, giving my white knuckles time to relax and indulging in our morning routine of coffee and whatever carbs we could get our hands on for breakfast. This particular morning, I was over the moon excited to find waffles at Landhandleriet Café, an old general store still with its original interior from 1907. Norwegian waffles are unlike the American version in a few ways. First, they must be heart-shaped (quite honestly, this already makes them better--who doesn't love their food in shapes?). They're also far thinner, softer, and sweeter than their American counterparts. And when it comes to toppings, the traditional way isn't syrup and chocolate chips, rather they're usually covered in sour cream and some jam, maybe with some brown cheese thrown in. We were able to order half the waffle without sour cream for yours truly and in our constant quest for dairy alternatives for coffee, the wonderful gentleman working ran to a restaurant next door for almond milk even after we insisted it wasn't necessary.
At our secluded table in the back of the café, we ate and watched the snow falling over the harbor, pausing every so often for the sun to peek out and give us a sliver of hope for a clear day. The sun never lasted long, though, and we had to live with the fact that it was going to be a less than ideal day weather-wise. Hiking trails that we had entertained tackling were removed from the itinerary, though we were never super confident in our abilities to hike in the snow, anyway (we're looking at you, Salzburg mountain).
But back to Nusfjord. This small fishing village is one of the oldest in Norway and is situated at the end of the road on the eastern side of the islands, about 4 miles off the main highway. Though we rarely ran into tourists during our time in Norway, we seemed to be surrounded only by locals in this charming village which was wonderful and odd all at the same time, almost as if we were intruding on their serene life.
Nusfjord is also where we saw our first drying cod to my ultimate excitement and disgust (not a fish fan). Cod is the reason that Norway...is. The fish is abundant off Norway's coasts and serves not only as a staple food but as one of the country's biggest exports (billions are made just on fish). The benefit of cod is that is can be dried without losing flavor or nutrients, allowing it to be safely shipped both near and far. Fishing and preserving cod dates back to the first settlers of Norway some 11,000 years ago so it's safe to say they're pros at it by now. When the Norwegian Arctic Cod (skrei) arrives off the coast of Northern Norway in January, they're quickly harvested in the short fishing season then hung outdoors on giant drying racks for the salty sea air to naturally dry the fish. With our visit being at the very beginning of February, we were seeing the early stages of the drying season which runs from February to May. Up until this point, drying racks across the islands had been bare, but in Nusfjord we came across drying heads, and the next day in Henningsvær we watched fishermen hang fresh fish. And it should come as no surprise that standing amongst hundreds of dead fish is not a smell I would like to bottle up and take home. I certainly hope residents that live near these drying racks are immune to the smell or have a lifetime's supply of strong candles.
After another hour and a half of driving with sweaty hands, we arrived at our hotel for the night and settled into our room with a view overlooking the water in Svolvær. And if we thought parking at our last hotel was difficult, it didn't compare to this. Our building was nestled between local buildings on a narrow driveway that had not been plowed. And with no direction of where to park, I ended up driving off the road into a small ditch. Stuck. Thankfully there were two of us, so Rachel was able to push the front of the car while I hit the gas and after 10 minutes, we were free. I then parked right in the middle of the road, afraid to end up in the ditch again.
Ravenously hungry after snacking all day, we went into town for dinner then returned to our hotel with fingers (once again) crossed for Northern Lights. And guess what?
THEY APPEARED.
Quite honestly, I was shocked this is where we first saw them (we had a few glimpses of them on the plane and in Iceland, but this was the first time they were unmistakeably visible). Svolvær is one of the biggest towns in the Lofoten Islands and with larger populations comes more light pollution.
Rachel was able to snap some gorgeous pictures in town and we marveled at their beauty, not quite believing just how incredible of a sight it was before they started disappearing behind a mountain. And with that, we threw on our coats and hopped in the car to chase them. Unfortunately, as we sped out of town, the clouds reappeared. After driving for a bit, we parked in a pull-off lot and waited, munching on Cheerios and hoping they would reappear. They didn't and though we were upset, the thrill of chasing them and camping out amongst the fjords and mountains was an adventure that we won't soon forget.
See the Northern Lights? Checked off the bucket list.
Our next day was spent in Henningsvær, another small fishing village that's received the nickname "Venice of Lofoten". We had to backtrack a bit as this was going to originally be a part of our day yesterday but had to be abandoned due to the extra time it took to travel. Another cold and windy day, snowsqualls hit us throughout the day. Here we ran into a van of tourists for the first time in a few days (usually these van tours were full of photographers and crowded all the popular picturesque locations). If you've seen drone photos of the soccer field nestled on a small island, you've seen Henningsvær. If you haven't, simply google it and you'll get a number of hits as this field has now become famous for its location.
Today's coffee stop was about warming up just as much as it was about getting our caffeine fix. Ice and snow melted off our pants when we walked into Henningsvær Lysstøperi and Cafe and ordered a cinnamon bun and our usual latte. The cinnamon bun left little to be desired, but the coffee was large and strong. Just what we like.
We made a few more unplanned stops on our way to the night's accommodations, an Airbnb in Sortland. The first stop we fell in love with because of it's stunning panoramic views of Austnesfjorden. On the downside, we were run out of the best views by one of those vans full of photographers and ended up leaving sooner than we would have liked. The second stop was completely deserted, a road down by the water that we were able to park and get out to take photos of that aforementioned cotton candy sky *insert heart eyes here*.
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