Entries about boats

We had a later start today, so I sat for some time over breakfast with Malena, Zohara, Martin and Anne Marie. Mid-morning I went out with Martin and Zohara to have a hot drink ahead of our boat trip, which we anticipated was going to be rather chilly. We bumped into Daniela on the way and later Jon. One of the joys of our Euromeets are these serendipitous encounters with other friends as we explore. We went to a cafe near the harbour for a drink where we were later joined by Christian.

Boat trip on the Hermes II

The boat we were to take, the Hermes II, was moored opposite so we went across a little before twelve. Once everyone was on board we set off on our little cruise.

All aboard!

Shelagh steering

The cruise took us right around the island of Tromsø, with a detour to see another island where sea eagles nest. We saw a couple in the air here, being chased by some gulls.

We passed Telegrafbukta where we had picnicked two days previously.

We also passed the site of the sinking of the Tirpitz which had already been pointed out to us from the Nordlys, but today’s guide told us about it in more detail. This German battleship had been a target for the Allies for four years, with multiple failed attempts at sinking her, as this website describes: https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-sinking-of-hitler-s-battleship-tirpitz/. I sensed from our guide that there was some pride in these parts that success was only finally achieved in these waters.

Despite a chilly wind and some spots of rain I spent most of the two and a half hour voyage on deck. I did pay two visits to the bridge, on one of which I was allowed to take a turn ‘steering' (in practice we were going at a more or less straight line at the time!) And towards the end I went below to warm up.

Once we got back I went with some of the others to the café we'd visited yesterday where I had a chamomile tea and slice of carrot cake. By now it was drizzling so I walked back to the hotel with Isa for a break.

Dinner with a difference

Dinner this evening was something a little different. We gathered at Full Steam which is not only a restaurant but also a museum with various exhibits relating to the seas around Tromsø. We started our visit there with an introduction to traditional cod fishing and processing techniques. Our guide Erik was only 17 and he confessed that we were his first ever group. An older colleague hovered and watched and listened closely, but Erik did a great job.

First he showed us the cod caviar and we had a taste – I thought it was delicious and went around for a second helping.

Then he demonstrated some old equipment used to wash and gut the fish and we were invited to sample some cod tongue, bread-crumbed and fried. I had a couple of bites but although the flavour was good I didn’t like the rather slimy texture. We also learned about the production of stock fish (no thank you) and cod liver oil (ditto, even if it is mixed with vodka!)

We had a good look around the museum upstairs, where I was most interested in the section about the Sea Sami. Other displays included photos of the Tirpitz, the Nazi ship sunk near Tromsø we had heard about on our boat trip.

Dinner was served downstairs at a long table set up among the cod fishing exhibits. It was a buffet with tasty reindeer stew, mashed potato and various salads (I could also have had fish soup). Dessert was a caramel toped cheesecake and I drank a Mack Bayer, my favourite of their beers that I’ve tried while in Tromsø.

That was our final meeting dinner so there were lots of goodbye hugs and promises to meet again next year in Kotor. When I left to walk back to the hotel with Anne Marie, Malena and Isa there was some blue sky over the harbour so of course we stopped for a few photos.