Our next port was Alta, Norway, The City of Northern Lights. With a population of 21K, Alta claims to be the northernmost city in the world. Maybe. The city contains a sub-campus of the University of Tromso with 2000 students. It has no hospital, and people needing medical care must be helicoptered to the nearest hospital. The city economy depends on fishing, mining (slate and quartzite), and tourism (fishing, winter sports, aurora viewing). Alta is sort of isolated. It only has one highway coming in, a commercial airport and cruise ships.
Alta was fire-stormed to the ground by the Nazis near the end of WWII. Only a few looted churches remained. So most buildings in Alta are relatively new.

Our city tour took us to the Northern Lights Cathedral, which is stunning inside. Completed in 2013, it is covered outside with titanium cladding to reflect the environment, whatever it is. Unlike many crucifixion statues, Jesus is looking up in hope. His right hand is clinched to demonstrate power, and His left hand is open in a welcoming gesture. The organ was valued at about $1mil when installed. We then went to the Alta Museum which focuses on the many rock carvings found nearby. First discovered in 1973, the rock carvings dating back to 4200 BC number in the hundreds and are now protected as Norway’s only primitive UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many of the rock carvings were highlighted with red paint until is was recognized that this practice put irreparable harm on the artifacts. All public buildings have a bomb shelter. The one in the photo is at the museum.

We took the tour at night to try to see the aurora from Mt Paeskatun, a 30 minute drive outside of Alta. The site is an active slate quarry. Several years ago the family owning the quarry decided they could make a steady income on the side hosting Northern Lights viewing opportunities. We were not disappointed.
Although the display was not quite as intense as what we saw in Tromso, it was still pretty good for a Texas boy. The only drawbacks were the moon hid just behind the mountain peak and it was cold - around 20 deg.

The Viking Venus set sail from Alta at 1:30 PM en route to Narvik, about 300 miles away. But even the departure was unusual. The Alta cruise terminal is right next to the commercial airport. Our departure was delayed about six minutes since a SAS flight was on approach, and the tower advised the ship to remain in dock until the flight landed. Never had that happen before. So why does a small city like Alta have a busy airport? Alta is isolated. It has no rail service because railways are expensive to build (numerous tunnels through mountains) and to maintain in the winter. And only one road out. So if a resident of northern Norway wants to go to southern Norway or another Scandinavian country, they don’t drive, they take a plane.

But some more about Norway. At 21K population, Alta is the largest city in Finnmark county, Norway’s largest county. Larger than Switzerland, Finnemark County has a total population of 76K people, but double that for the number of reindeer. I converted the current price for gasoline in Norway krone/liter to $/gal and it comes out to about $10/gal. Yikes!

Also, most of our tour guides/ shuttle hosts in Alta were students at the university. One offered that Norway, like many Scandinavian countries, provides free education for people less than 26 years old up through post-graduate university. So many students get their bachelor degree in their home country and come to Norway to earn a master’s. This level of education is provided free even to residents of other countries. She said there is a small fee for very popular majors like business.