Lofoten - land of Vikings and Surfers

Day 3 June 26th Daytrip to Lofoten
One of the things we learned about this nook of the world is that the weather change fast here, as you will see in the photos of this post. Actually, dangerously fast, if you are somewhere were you need to dress for the weather. More on that later.
We found out that we have our own herd of reindeers in the neighbourhood, that is cute.

This day was aimed for Lofoten, a short daytrip we thought. The distance might look short on a map, but with windling roads, the time to travel from one spot to another is quite a bit longer. Hinnöya, one of the islands in this area has massive mountains. Even though they have built lots of tunnels (Mines of Moria, we call them), the roads takes us around, along the shoreline. At Hinnöya there is a National park called Möysalen, the same name as the highest point 1265 m above sea level. It hides behind the fog and rain. Oskar would love to climb this mountain and I looked for information about it. It was not safe to go alone without a mountain guide, so we opted for another top.

Svolvaer at Austvågöya (east wave island) is the largest town in Lofoten. A landmark in the town is the nearby mountain with a chimney like cliff called Svolvaer Geita. I googled the name and got quite annoyed of adrenaline seeking people who use to jump between the two rocks. 

We found a restaurant with a surfers theme, were I had a fish soup and the others ate hamburgers. 

Our main goal for this day trip was Lofotr Viking museum at Vestvågöya (west wave island). Part of the museum is a HUUGE long house (83 meters) built by hand in accordance with old methods. I didn't knew that long houses were this big, the lenght is in size of a large mansion.

Lots of good craftmanship and beautiful details in all the wood work. Look at the roof tiles, hand carved piece by piece. This is built to last. 

I was lucky enough to get photos without people swarming around. There were a large group of elderly people who had bright red jackets with lots of badges and large white letters "polar expedition" or something on their backs. They didn't look very adventurous, more comfortable I would say. Johan looked it up and found out that they had paide a huge amount of money for this trip. Maybe I'm a snob, but I dislike charter and all inclusive travelling.

The craftmanship continued inside the long house, everything hand made and genuine. I think the loom looks unpractical ( have been weaving) to tighten the weave, they used swords in whale bone.

Johan and Gustav, and Oskar tries helmets and shields.

In one end of the long house, there was a wood working shop were a couple of guys made ornamental things like the plank on the right.

the museum had it's own harbour with a few boats. Johannas father who is a wood worker, has built a viking ship once with the old methods, larger than these, he told me that it takes long time and it's difficult.

The nature around Borg as the place is called has softer hills and not much wind. A good place to build a long house. The long house is an almost exact replica of the long house that once stood there in the viking era, it is the largest long house that ever been found. Archeological examinations has revealed many treasures and traces for the people who once lived here. Olaf Tvennumbruni was one of the last chiefs of Borg he was said to be a great "hamram" kind of priest who held rites for the old gods. He and his family left Borg for Island, maybe because of a time of political and religious upheavals.

The surfer restaurant in Svolvaer has a locigal meaning. Unstad beach, not long from Borg has the northliest surfing school (Unstad Arctic surf) in the world. If you google arctic surf you can se cool photos of the winter surfers. 

Unstad is a tiny village, surrounded by high mountains. The only way here is through a small tunnel, that was on a renovating status when we came here. The lights was out and the tunnel very small. I was scared to drive through.

The photos from Borg shows a blue sky but on the other side of the mountain, the clouds cover the sky and the wind is heavy. Alfons and I removed our shoes to wade in the water.

I understand why there is no one in the water. The under streams is strong and the sand blaster our bones. Alfons didn't pull upp his trousers enough and he waded further out. Until a big wave came and flushed him up to the waist. Did he brought some extra clothes? No, sigh. But fortunately he's eleder brother did. 

Back through the tunnel and on the other side of the mountain, the weather is much calmer. Himmeltindan, the mountain in the background rises 930 meter above sea.

I really wanted to go all the way out on the tail end of Lofoten ( the name means lynx foot btw), but by this time the clock was half past eight and we had several hours of driving ahead. So we called it a night.
Writing these post with the soundtrack from lots in my ears...