Finland & Norway Trip Day 8 - Hammerfest

After breakfast, we made our way to the city centre for our journey northwards to Hammerfest, touted as the northern most town in the world. We took bus 62 then changed to 63 at Skaidi, passing through the Finnmarksvidda mountain plains and partially frozen rivers along the way.

After a 4 hours bus ride, we finally arrived at Hammerfest.

The first attraction that we went was the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society as it was just next to the bus terminal, which is a small museum which showcase how hunting & fishing activities takes place in the arctic conditions. For a minimal sum, you can also choose to sign up for the membership of this exclusive club to "prove" that you've travelled to Hammerfest.

As we stepped out, we saw the Hurtigruten at the dock, waiting to sail off.

We walked into the town in search for a place for lunch, and settled down at a Kebab shop.  

After lunch, we explored the town by foot, stopping first at Church of Hammerfest, then to the zigzag path where we trek to the highest point in Hammerfest for a bird's eye view of the town, and then to St Michael's Church. It is a relatively easy climb up the the zigzag path, and we took about 20 mins to trek up as we kept stopping along the way to take photographs.

Church of Hammerfest

Interior of Church of Hammerfest

View of the sea behind the Church of Hammerfest

Trekking up the zigzag path

View of Hammerfest town at the top of the zigzag path

View of Hammerfest town at the top of the zigzag path

St Michael's Church

Interior of St Michael's Church

Interior of St Michael's Church

There is also a big supermarket and various shops in Hammerfest and we spent some time looking around. Soon, it was time for us to take travel back to Alta. We headed to the pier as we are taking the express boat instead of travelling by bus, with the hope to see the coastal lines. Unfortunately, the sky has already turned dark even though it is only late afternoon, and there is nothing much to see.

Express boat to Alta

Inside the express boat

While on the boat, we make use of the free wifi to message Jon from North Adventure to help us call for a cab to pick us up from Alta pier to our hotel. It was a rainy night, so we did not stay up to wait for the aurora.

Up next: Finland & Norway Trip Day 9 - Storekorsnes

Previously: Finland & Norway Trip Day 7 - Alta

Finland & Norway Trip Day 7 - Alta

We've arranged for a taxi to pick us up from Lily's house to Karasjok bus terminal the night before. It was a short ride to the bus terminal, and as usual, the bus arrives and departs on time. After a 4 hours bus ride, passing through various fjord with a short break in between, we arrived at Alta.

Most people travels to Tromso to catch the Northern Lights in Norway but we eventually choose to go to Alta as there is no direct flight from anywhere in Lapland to Tromso (need to go back to Helsinki, then fly to Oslo then Tromso). We also read that Alta is usually less cloudy than Tromso, and in fact, the world's first Northern Light observatory was built in Alta, thus giving Alta the nickname of "The town of Northern Lights". 

                                               

Before our trip, we've been in contact with Jon from North Adventure to provide recommendation on how we could plan our itinerary in Alta. Upon reaching Alta, we went to meet him at his office which is located next to the bus terminal. Jon warmly offered a glass of tap water to each of us to keep us refresh after a long bus ride, mentioning that tap water in Alta is actually natural spring water which is good for the body. He also explained that the weather in Alta is usually less extreme than places with the same latitude due to the Gulf Stream, making Alta a good place to view the Northern Lights in winter without having to bear with extreme coldness. Another selling point for Alta is that the tour operators in Alta are usually more friendly and personal (we had first hand experience to validate this point during our trip to Storekorsnes). After picking up our tickets to Hammerfest where we'll be visiting the next day, we left our luggage with Jon and went for lunch at a nearby bistro.

The standard of living is extremely high in Norway, and this is well reflected in the price of the food. My friends and I decided to buy some canned food and bread from a nearby supermarket for our meals on the subsequent days, after which we went back to pick up our luggage and took a bus to Altafjord Gjestegaard & Spa, the place where we'll be staying for the next few nights. It was a 5 mins bus ride, and we had a shock to know that bus ticket per person is almost Euro 10! It was much later then we realise that sharing a cab will be slightly cheaper for the 4 of us.

Altafjord Gjestegaard & Spa

Altafjord Gjestegaard & Spa

The hotel faces the Alta fjord, and many reviewers mentioned that Northern lights could be seen from the hotel. Free coffee and tea are provided, and there is a nice relaxation room where you could sit on the message chair and relax yourself. Although each room is equipped with cooking hobs, the hobs cannot be used, and if you need hot water, you'll need to take your own bottle to the receptionist, who will help you fill up the bottle.  

After settling down, we went out for a walk along the mesmerising Alta fjord.

We decided to try walking back to Alta city centre, and managed to reach Alta Church within 30mins. We spent some time visiting the church, and then went to the nearby shopping centre to do some window shopping.

We went to bed early that night and did not attempt to do any Northern Lights hunting, probably because we were too tired from travelling and walking around, and the aurora forecast did not look too promising. 

Up next: Finland & Norway Trip Day 8 - Hammerfest

Previously: Finland & Norway Trip Day 6 - Inari & Karasjok

Finland & Norway Trip Day 6 - Inari & Karasjok

Initially, we planned to visit Guesthouse Husky before making our way to neighbouring Norway, but since the snow is not thick enough to do any husky safari, we decided to visit Siida, a museum showcasing Sami culture and nature of Northern Lapland instead.  After breakfast, we check out of the hotel with our luggage and went to the nearby bus terminal to wait for the bus to Inari.

The bus journey from Ivalo to Inari passes by various scenic lakes, including Lake Inari. After alighting from the bus, we lost our way and ended up at Sajos, a cultural centre. Luckily, a kind lady at the cultural centre allows us to deposit our luggage with her while we make our way to Siida. 

Passing by Lake Inari on our way.

We spent the whole afternoon learning more about Sami culture and how human, animals and plants survive under the harsh environment of this northern part of the world.

We went back to pick up our luggage, and since it was still early, we shopped for some souvenirs at a souvenir shop nearby before waiting for the bus to Karasjok outside Hotel Inari.

Lake Inari next to Hotel Inari

The road from Inari to Karasjok was quite bumpy, especially along Utsjoki, and we reach Karasjok after a 2 hours bus ride. For our first night in Norway, we'll be staying at Lily's House which we booked through Airbnb. There wasn't too much accommodation choices in Karasjok, and Lily's House stood out due to its price, and its reviews in Airbnb were quite good. We took some time to locate Lily's House, and spent another 15 minutes standing out in the cold as the person inside the house did not respond to the door bell and various knocking at the doors & windows. When we finally caught her attention, we were led into the house and then she left us almost immediately with no instructions. One of my friends immediately tried to contact Lily, while the rest of us went around to inspect the house. Adding on to our astonishment, the house was quite dirty with bread or biscuit crumbs all over the table, unwashed glasses in the basin, and the beds were not even made. Based on the condition of the house, we decided that it is better to keep it as its current condition, and just boil some water to eat the cup noodles that we fortunately bought along with us for dinner.    

Things did not get better when Lily finally appear, and she told us with a very straight face that we have to make our own beds. As we were quite concerned that it will get cold in the night since there is only 1 small heater in the bedroom, Lily started the fireplace in order to heat up the whole apartment before leaving us to go back to work. We decided to make do with whatever we have since we'll only be staying there for a night. This was my first time staying in an apartment booked through Airbnb, but my friends assured me that their other experiences with Airbnb were much more better. Anyway, for the price that we paid to stay in Lily House, we probably cannot expect too much, since the standard of living in Norway is exceptionally high.

After checking the forecast, we decided that was not a good night for aurora hunting. We went to bed early and hoped that the subsequent days of our journey in Norway will fare better than today's experience.

Up next: Finland & Norway Trip Day 7 - Alta

Previously: Finland & Norway Trip Day 5 Part 2 - Ivalo