The Arctic Cathedral, a symbol of the city.
In places, the snow had already built up enough and had tumbled down several clefts.
A house perched on the edge of the coast standing on stilts.
Then we came to Rystraumen, the strongest current that our boat would pass through at 6 - 8 knots. The channel narrows just here and there is the island of Ryoya to one side making the channel even narrower. To the east, it is a wide and shallow channel but the main shipping channel is the narrow channel between Kvaløya and Ryoya, narrow but up to 50 metres deep. As the tidal flow is forced through this gap, it has to speed up and causes eddies. It is not as strong as Saltstraumen but it is noticeably on the surface when the tides are right.
It can be seen from the ship as the surface of the waterfalls up and swirls causing a change.
There is a tunnel that connects the mainland to the island. It is seven kilometres long and up to 230 metres below sea level. It is a rough tunnel through solid rock, in that the jagged rocks can be seen as it has not been lined but just blasted and some tarmac laid. Cyclists can use the tunnel and can borrow a reflective yellow vest for safety.
A view of the side of the building showing the modernist style plus the building site as it is being extended with four new pools.
One of the seals staying still for long enough to get a photo that isn't blurred...
...one of the seals breaching...
...one of the seals swimming away from me and a view of the pool...
...we had an introduction to the seals and the work that they do here...
...then it was feeding time...
...each keeper has a pair of seals where they are regularly fed so it avoids squabbling...
...the seals obey commands and perform tricks, but these are not for our amusement, they are to give the seals some mental stimulation and physical challenge to keep them active, involved and healthy.
This seal has just been encouraged to jump out of the water to get its reward of a small fish.
These two have just swam in a circle with one flipper out of the water ad jumped onto land. They also shake hands with the keeper and when he holds his hand up, they will give it a kiss. There were dozens of people watching the seal feeding but I saw very few of them also visiting the other pools and tanks.
Right next door is the FRAN Centre, the High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment, which as the names suggests, undertakes research.
We had a guided coach tour of parts of the city past the Lutheran Cathedral, the old dock area and warehouses, the town square and over the high bridge that connects the island of Tromsø and the mainland. nd then it was on to the Evangelical Lutheran church of the Troms Valley, better known as the Arctic Cathedral and a highly recognised symbol of Tromso but it is just a parish church. The west facade...
...the side view...
The last stop of the tour was at the foot of the cable car that runs up the mainland side of the fjord overlooking Tromsø. A view up the route to the top station, the little black square on the skyline just off centre.
A view of the base station as we ascend. It's a gentle ride and takes no more than three minutes.
A view to the north of the bridge that connects the island of Tromsø to the mainland.
Then we docked in Tromsø and we were bused to Polaria. They have an immersive 21 metre wide cinema screen and show short films with an arctic theme. Two that we watched were about the Northern Lights and Svalbard, the archipelago halfway between Norway and the North Pole. They have an arctic aquarium, featuring cold water corals, shell fish and fish with many educational displays.
They also have several seals and the major attraction is watching them get to watch them being fed.
...the east facade...
...and inside the church looking at the altar. Despite its unusual shape, the acoustics are meant to be very good. It is a multipurpose church and holds multiple disciplinary worship meetings and dozens of musical recitals every year.
A view to the south with the southern tip of the island on the right. There are views over the whole island which id home to 40,000 people. There is little spare land left to built on and the prices of housing on the island have shot up recently. The city is now expanding into the surrounding areas.
On a sign post just outside the top station, there are a number of countries with an arrow, showing in which direction they are. The sign in white near the top says Lithuania which is close to my heart but the sign underneath is Vila Velha, a city on the far eastern coast of Brazil and there must have been a reason (there is also a sign for Brazil), but there was no one about to ask.
There was deep snow everywhere, sometimes in hollows up to my knee and in other areas, such as on paths and around the top station it had been patted down to a smooth, flat and hard surface. Top station is at an elevation of 421 metres, so the snowlike here is a few tens of metres below that.
Another view of the snow looking north.
No comments:
Post a Comment