This travel update is part two of our week in Tromsø, Norway. It covers August 3. “Any text in quotes and Italics has been copied and pasted from some informational website like Wikipedia.”

August 3, 2023 – Thors’s Day (Thursday): Walking Around Tromsø

It’s our custom to spend the first day in a city walking around, checking out our local neighborhood and anything else we find. Tromsø is small enough that we were able to walk through the whole downtown today.

FYI: “Tromsø is a city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The 21.25-square-kilometre (5,250-acre) town has a population (2017) of 64,448 which gives the town a population density of 3,033 inhabitants per square kilometre (7,860/sq mi). The city centre (on Tromsøya) has a population of 38,980. The mainland borough of the city, Tromsdalen, has a population of 16,787 and the suburb of Kvaløysletta on the island of Kvaløya has a population of 8,681. The most populous town north of Tromsø in Norway is Alta, with a population of 15,094 (2017), making Tromsø a very large city for this vast rural northern part of Norway and the northernmost in the world with a population exceeding 20,000. It is the largest urban area in Northern Norway and the third largest north of the Arctic Circle anywhere in the world (following Murmansk and Norilsk).”

We walked north from our apartment building and liked these large concrete sculptures that are outside the theater. Patti was trying to emulate one of the poses.

We passed several pretty marinas like this one. The weather was exceptionally nice (warm and sunny) today.

Polar Exploration is big here and I got my picture with Helmer Hanssen.

“Helmer Julius Hanssen (24 September 1870 – 2 August 1956) was a Norwegian sailor, pilot, and polar explorer. He participated in three of the polar expeditions led by Roald Amundsen and was one of the first five explorers to reach the South Pole.”

The super yacht “Rocinante” was moored in one of the marinas. We’re always impressed with super yachts. We first saw one in Syracuse, Sicily, in 2018 and have now seen them in lots of different harbors. The lifestyles of the super rich are intriguing, I wonder what they do on their yacht? Maybe their days aren’t that different than ours, eat breakfast, do a little laptop work, go for a walk, eat lunch, watch some TV, eat supper, hit the sack. They do it surrounded by more luxury than us though.

“The 78.33m/257′ motor yacht ‘Rocinante’ (ex. Madsummer) was built by Lurssen in Germany at their Rendsburg shipyard. Her interior is styled by design house Alberto Pinto and she was completed in 2008. This luxury vessel’s exterior design is the work of Espen Oeino and she was last refitted in 2015.”

We went by the old Tromsø cathedral which is well maintained and nicely decorated inside.

I got my picture with the mighty Roald Amundsen, polar explorer.

And Patti liked this troll that was outside one of the tourist shops.

This wooden structure in the harbor is a swimming and diving platform. There were a number of people in bathing suits out there enjoying the warm weather. I read that the water temperature is 52°F today. A bit chilly in my opinion, but then I’m used to the Gulf of Mexico.

Tromsø is on an island and this is one of the bridges going to the mainland. You can also see the distinctive A-frame of the Arctic Cathedral to the right.

“Tromsdalen Church or the Arctic Cathedral (Norwegian: Tromsdalen kirke, Ishavskatedralen) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the Tromsdalen valley on the east side of Tromsø. It is the church for the Tromsøysund parish, which is part of the Tromsø domprosti (arch-deanery) in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland. The modern concrete and metal church was built in a long church style in 1965 using plans drawn up by architect Jan Inge Hovig. The church seats about 600 people.”

We found another statue of Roald Amundsen, I just can’t get enough of him.

There are flower gardens everywhere and they are really pretty. There are so many colors and different flower sizes and shapes.

I liked these little red and white ones.

Near the old whaling facility we found a lineup of harpoon guns.

And alongside the Polar Museum there were some old propellers.

Here’s Amundsen in a big wall mural.

Along the walk today we picked up lunch (I ate a sandwich, while Patti ate a cinnamon roll — BYW, she’s been eating a cinnamon roll nearly every day lately — and a banana and drank a smoothie) at one of the malls. After lunch, we walked along the wharf and stopped in some of the tourist shops. We got a feel for how many grocery stores, pharmacies, and restaurants there are here. Even though Tromsø is not a huge city (population about 65,000) there’s plenty to do here.