The Viking Venus docked in Narvik.Narvik (pop 22K) is in the back of Ofotfjorden surrounded by snow-covered mountains. It is 129 miles north of the Artic Circle and 1489 miles south of the North pole. It is the northern most city in Norway to have rail service to the south. Inhabitants were in the area as far back as the bronze age and at one time it was a Viking settlement. In the 1870s, iron ore was discovered in nearby Kiruna, Sweden. However, the closest Swedish port to Kiruna is far away and frozen much of the year. So it was decided to rail the ore to the border with Norway where it goes the last 26 miles to Narvik. Today Narvik is reputed to to be the largest iron ore exporter in the world with an estimated 25 mil tons per year. The city was not officially established until 1902 to deal with the ore and has flourished ever since. Today Narvik is home to several high tech companies, a research (?) institute, a university and of course iron ore exporting. It is in the running to host the 2027 World Championship Downhill Skiing competition.

Our included afternoon tour took us to the Ankenes Church, an old wooden church built in 1842. It is part of the Church of Norway (Lutheran). The church is very attractive inside. It is octagonal in layout to reflect the Eight Blessings in the Sermon on the Mount. It was hit by two artillery shells in WWII but survived.Religious freedom is guaranteed in Norway. Until 2016, the official church was the Church of Norway, a state church following Lutheran doctrine. But in 2017, the Church of Norway was declared a separate legal entity. Today part of the taxes paid by Norwegians is used to support churches of any religion if they meet certain minimum number of members requirements. Lutheran is the predominant religion followed by Catholicism.

We toured the town to see the many beautiful homes of various colors and interesting architecture.
We finished up at the Narvik War Museum which houses an extensive collection of WWII artifacts and is very well done. Like many Norwegian cities, Narvik was occupied by the Germans in 1940 trying to control possession on the valuable iron ore. But the Allies valued the ore also and some of the fiercest fighting in WWII took place around Narvik. By the time Narvik was liberated in 1945, the Germans had destroyed most of the Narvik city center and much of the surrounding community was destroyed by British naval artillery trying to rout the Germans.

Docked beside the Venus is an ultramodern mega yacht owned by a Russian oligarch, who is an ex-KGB officer. While many people want the vessel confiscated, the government said they must wait for the US and NATO to decide on its fate since the owner is not on the target list.

Our next and last port is Bergen, 529 miles to the south. During the transit it was the Dick Clark Show all over again. Are you ready for some Rock and Roll? Let’s twist and shout like we did last summer (week).
It’s a sea day. The Viking Venus departed Narvik last night en route to our last port, Bergen. The calm waters of the Inside Passage became just a memory when we both woke up around 4:00 AM with the Venus shaking, heaving to and fro and her superstructure complaining loudly with each lurch. During the Captain’s morning update, he said although the wind is relatively light, a low pressure system near Greenland is pumping energy into the sea which manifests itself as 20-25 ft swells in the North Sea. It has been this way all day. Passengers stagger down the hallways like they started happy hour at dawn thirty. One has to sit on the bed to put your pants on lest you fall to the floor. But it does make for some fine sleeping IMO. We crossed the Arctic Circle sometime in the middle of the night and are now south of that frigid latitude for the first time in almost seven days. We won’t miss the cold, but will definitely miss the stunning Northern Lights.

On a positive note, there has been a photography lecturer on board. He invited passengers to submit a photo they thought helped capture the feeling of the trip. He got 154 entries. My photo of the Northern Lights Cathedral at sunset in Alta made the cut and part of his presentation this morning. (He did do a smidge of vertical straightening with Photoshop, which I can’t do on my iPhone.) I was happy.