The beautiful Lofoten Islands

Heading south but still north of the Arctic Circle, our next port is the city of Gravdal in the Lofoten Islands.

Lofoten is an arachipelago of five large and five small islands scattered around the Norwegian Sea, 124 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

We set out today on a small-group tour--a private tour arranged by one of the Cruise Critic rollcall members.  No big bus today; the 14 of us travel in the comfort of a Mercedes van.

We have a driver named Gunnar, and he keeps telling us he is not a guide.  He really was as good as a guide, just not a licensed one, as he filled us in on all sorts of information about these beautiful islands.

Some of these mountains are 800 meters high

Our first stop was at a Russian church. complete with a small onion dome.

Back in 1780, a Russian ship ran aground during a storm.  The people decided to stay on the island and built the Flakstad church.

As we travel along admiring the beautiful scenery, we pass through tunnels...

and cross over bridges.

We travel through small fishing villages...

Cod (or stockfish) fishing is the main industry here. 

The season for fishing cod is January through April when 100K tons are dried on these racks we saw in and near the villages.

Sometimes even in people's backyards.

And this is what is drying on some of the racks....FISH HEADS!

Norwegians seem to love fish head soup!

When it was time for lunch, we stopped in the village of Sakrisoya.

There is a welcoming chorus of stockfish outside the restaurant.  Guess what will be on the menu!

We ate at Anita's Seafood, which has "worldwide famous fishburgers".

Or if you are not a fish lover, (like Terry) there's the option of a sweet roll...

The dining area had dried cod chandeliers!

We continued driving to a tiny and lovely fishing village, where basically the road ends on this island.

This town has an open air fishing museum to walk through...

...but we chose to explore the area around the residents' homes.  We crossed over a small stream...

and found a dirt trail through the woods.

This is where the trail led us...

Back on the van, we headed back toward the port, traveling across more bridges, and through more tunnels.

Sitting in the van, it was hard to get a photo of this stretch of the road which has avalanche protection, so this one is from the internet.

Our last stop before returning to the ship was at a glass blowing studio.

We watched as the craftsmen worked on creating beautiful pieces.

Always fascinating to watch the creation of a beautiful item.

And, of course there is plenty of finished product to be sold...

The temptation was great.....Like?

We had a great group to travel with today; small groups are so much better than traveling in a large bus of 45+ people.

That evening the ship set sail for the next port, Aalesund.

July 2 at Lofoten Islands:  Sunrise, 4:22 am; Sunset, 10:59 pm

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