Tromsø Villmarkssenter

On Saturday, March 18 at 8:00 pm, we left for Norway. I dozed on and off throughout the trip, and unfortunately, I was not awake when we first arrived over the country. I would have liked to see the western fjords, since it was a part of the country we were not able to visit the first time around. This was the view out of the window when I first looked out on Norway.

El sábado 18 de marzo, salimos para Noruega. Dormitaba en el avión durante todo el viaje, y desafortunadamente no estaba despierta cuando llegamos sobre el país. Me hubiera gustado ver los fiordos occidentales, como era una parte del país que no íbamos a visitar en este viaje. Esto es lo que estaba abajo cuando por fin miré por la ventanilla sobre Noruega.

Flying over NorwayFlying over NorwayFlying over Norway

You can see that there are a lot of pines. There was not as much snow as I was expecting. Some of the bodies of water were completely frozen, others were partially frozen and some not at all. I can only speculate that it had to do with altitude, which was hard to determine from the air, and depth. I was also interested in some farms close to the capital.

Como puedes ver había muchos pinos. No había tanta nieve como pensaba que habría. Algunos de los cuerpos de agua estaban completamente congelados, otros estaba mitad y mitad y los demás ni un poquito. Sólo puedo especular que tiene que ver con la altitud, que no se podía calcular desde arriba y la profundidad del agua. También me interesaban las granjas que podía ver cerca de la capital.

Flying over NorwayFlying over NorwayFlying over Norway

We arrived in the Oslo airport at 8:15 the following morning. I had purposely left a lot of time in case our flight was delayed or we had trouble in customs. The only trouble that we had was that the lady doing all of the international travelers was veeeeeery slow, but we still made it out with over five hours before our flight. There is not much to say about the Oslo airport other than the fact that Douglas was disappointed that there was a Starbucks and a Pizza Hut there, and that I was fascinated with the jungle gym shaped like a plane. I want one for the back yard.

Llegamos en el aeropuerto de Oslo a las ocho y quince de la mañana. Yo había dejado mucho tiempo entre vuelos si por acaso se retrasara nuestro vuelo o si tuviéramos problemas en la aduana. El único problema que tuvimos era que la señora quien entrevistaba a todos los viajeros internacionales trabajaba muuuuuuy lentamente, pero aun así salimos con más de cinco horas de espera. Lo único que puede decir del aeropuerto de Oslo es que Douglas estaba triste de que hubiera un Starbucks y un Pizza Hut y que me fascinaba esta estructura para niños en forma de avión. Me gustaría tener uno en el jardín de nuestra casa.

Jungle gym in the Oslo airport

Once we were finally back in the air en route to Tromsø, I spent the entire trip looking out the window. The view was fascinating.

Cuando por fin estábamos en el aire otra vez en via a Tromsø, pasé casi todo el vuelo mirando por la ventana. La vista intrigaba.

Flying over NorwayFlying over NorwayFlying over Norway

I enjoyed watching the snow slowly cover the land. I was hoping to see an animal but no such luck. There was very few signs of any people either.

Me gustaba ver como la nieve poco a poco empezó a cubrir la tierra. Quería ver un animal, pero no tuve la suerte. No había señal de vida humana tampoco.

Flying over NorwayFlying over NorwayFlying over Norway

Soon the fog came in, and I could see nothing until we were landing. As you can see, it was raining in Tromsø.

En un momento, la tierra se cubrió por la neblina y no podía ver nada hasta poco antes de aterrizar. Entonces estaba lloviendo.

Flying over NorwayFlying over NorwayFlying over Norway

The airport is on the western side of the island. Tromsø has recently spread there and across to the island on the other side.

El aeropuerto está en la parte occidental de la isla donde la ciudad se ha extendido recientemente y de allí a la isla de frente también.

Tromso airportTromso airport

After picking up our luggage, we easily found the bus that would take us to our hotel. I was told that there would be a fee, but the driver did not charge us. This happened several times during our stay in Norway. We were dropped off in this plaza and walked a block to our hotel, Clarion Hotel the Edge. There are three Clarion Hotels in Tromsø, but ours was the one right on the water overlooking the mainland.

Después de encontrar nuestras maletas, encontramos el autobús que nos llevaría a nuestro hotel sin problemas. Me habían dicho que tendríamos que pagar el pasaje, pero el conductor no nos cobró. Eso nos pasó varias veces en Noruega. Nos dejó en esta plaza y caminamos una cuadra a nuestro hotel, el Clarion Hotel the Edge. Hay tres hoteles Clarion en Tromsø, pero el nuestro era el enfrente del agua.

Plaza TromsoView from Clarion Hotel the Edge Tromso

We were able to check in and relax for an hour before walking to another hotel to meet up with our tour group. We met at the Radisson Blu, where there was a taxidermied polar bear in the lobby.

Pudimos registrarnos y descansar por una hora antes de caminar al Hotel Radisson Blu para encontrarnos con el grupo turístico. Allí había un oso polar de taxidermia en el vestíbulo.

Taxidermidied polar bear Radisson Blu Hotel, TromsoTaxidermidied polar bear Radisson Blu Hotel, Tromso

The bus took us from downtown Tromsø to the Villmarkssenter or Wilderness Center 20 minutes outside of town. There we were going to play with sled dogs, eat dinner and hopefully see the Northern Lights.

El autobús nos llevó del centro de Tromsø al Villmarkssenter o el Centro de Áreas Silvestres veinte minutos de la ciudad. Allí íbamos a jugar con los perros de los trineos, cenar y con suerte ver la aurora boreal.

Bus in TromsoBus in TromsoTromso Villmarkssenter

The dogs were a lot of fun. They were all friendly and loved the attention.

Los perros eran lindos y nos divertimos mucho con ellos. Eran cariñosos y les encantaba la atención.

Tromso VillmarkssenterTromso VillmarkssenterTromso Villmarkssenter

This is a video of them crying to go with the people that were leaving on sleds. It reminded me of the Scotland Bark in 101 Dalmations.

Aquí puedes escucharlos llorando porque querían irse con los trineos. Me hacía pensar en el ladrido escocés de la película 101 Dalmatas de Disney.

I did not think that I was going to get Douglas away from them for the rest of the night, and I was surprised that he left without a dog in his pocket.

No pensaba que sería posible alejar a Douglas de ellos y me sorprendió que se fue sin un cachorro en su bolsillo.

Tromso VillmarkssenterTromso Villmarkssenter

Dinner was served in a traditional Sami tent, where we drank coffee and tea in traditional Sami wooden cups. The Sami are also known as the Lapp people and are indigenous to Norway. We were given Portuguese fish soup. It had good flavor but was barely warm.

La cena se sirvió en una tienda tradicional de los samer, donde bebimos té y café de tazas de madera tradicionales de los samer. Los samer son conocidos también como la gente lapona y son los indígenas de Noruega. Comimos sopa portuguesa de pescado. Tenía buen sabor, pero no estaba caliente.

Tromso VillmarkssenterTromso Villmarkssenter

There was also hot dogs. I had fun roasting one over the fire and decided that I would eat it despite the lack of bread. I immediately regretted it. There was a delicious chocolate cake for desert.

También nos dieron perros calientes y me divertí cocinarlos en el fuego. Decidí comerlo a pesar de la falta de pan y lo arrepentí inmediatamente. Había una tarta de chocolate de postre.

Tromso VillmarkssenterTromso Villmarkssenter

After dinner we gathered around campfires to try to see the Northern Lights. It was a cloudy night, so we were worried that it would not happen. While we were waiting we roasted marshmallows and our guide Ivan regaled us with stories. He was funny.

Después de la cena nos reunimos alrededor de las fogatas para intentar ver la aurora boreal. El cielo estaba nublada y nos preocupaba que no sería posible verla. Mientras esperábamos tostamos malvaviscos en el fuego y nuestro guía, Ivan, nos contaba historias. Era muy gracioso él.

Tromso VillmarkssenterTromso Villmarkssenter

Unfortunately, we did not see the Northern Lights, but it was a good evening over all. I would recommend Tromsø Villmarkssenter, and I was not paid anything to say so.

Desafortunadamente, no vimos la aurora boreal esa noche, pero la pasamos bien de todos modos. Recomiendo el Tromsø Villmarkssenter, y no recibí nada para decir eso.

Tromso VillmarkssenterTromso Villmarkssenter

Happy Travels!

¡Feliz viaje!

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About

I am a teacher, traveler, artist, writer, homemaker and a whole lot more. In January 2009, I bought the Cape of Dreams. It was the second house that I had ever owned, but it was the first that I bought by myself. I now live in the house with my husband Douglas, our dog Kahlua, and Crème de Menthe, the cat. Because, what life is complete without a little Kahlua and Cream? I love arts and crafts of all kinds, and I refinish furniture as well. We are slowly redoing our entire house. You can read about my projects on my blog www.CapeofDreams.com

12 Comments on “Tromsø Villmarkssenter

  1. Norway is a beautiful country – I was there for the summer solstice. We arrived in Oslo to take a 22 hour train ride to Boda, south of Tromso. We were visiting relatives and seeing the home where our grandmother was born. It will always be a very special vacation.

    I don’t know if I would want to be there in the dark months, but it looks like you had a wonderful time.

    • How wonderful that you were able to make that trip. It is a beautiful country, and even more special for you since your grandmother was from there. We were lucky that it wasn’t very dark while we were there. In fact the days were longer at that point already than they were in NY.

  2. I hope you got to see the Northern Lights another time. I’ve only seen them once, in British Columbia, and it’s a sight I’ll never forget! Do you think the dogs are happy out there? I suppose so, as it’s all they know … but I’d want to take them all home.

    • You will have to wait and see. Unless you check one of the previous posts where I gave it away! As for the dogs, they seemed very happy. They get lots of visitors all the time, and they really seemed to love their jobs.

  3. It looks like you both had a great time! I don’t think I would have had as much willpower as Douglas – I’d definitely have left with a dog or two in my pocket! 😉
    Can’t wait to see what else you got up to.
    Cx

    • Next time we go back we’ll pick one up for you! 😉 On another note, today I received a message from you and from Menderes, our former exchange student, simultaneously from Berlin. It made me want to be there very badly!

  4. beautiful and other-wordly! i will have to get there someday. it has always been on my bucket list. love the pic of the huts with the lights around the doorways. magical!

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