Jennifer and I visited Lofoten during two weeks from the end of January. It is a magnificent landscape with towering snow-clad mountains and fjords cutting into the “wall” of islands and mountains protecting the mainland further in. We stayed at two different cottages, rorbuer. The first one was at Ballstad on Vestvågøy and the second on the little island of Hamnøy, famous for its beautiful views.
Jennifer joined me in order to see the Northern Light and I am happy to say that we did encounter it and I have photos to prove it (will be published later). I went to Iceland a few years ago without Jennifer and had, of course, the most magnificent Aurora Borealis, so now she wouldn’t miss another opportunity to experience it.
But Lofoten is so much more than a possibility to see the Aurora. Being north of the Polar Circle, the light is amazing. This time of the year the sun never reached more than 4 degrees above the horizon, and we had often the very beautiful blue light that characterise this part of the world with just the clouds lit up by distant sun rays.
We have been sailing around this part of Norway before, but in summer time. The light then is equally magic, when the sun is shining also at midnight.
I am going to publish a series of posts from Lofoten and start with our first base Ballstad. Then with a few days in between the other posts will follow.
Ballstad
Ballstad is a small fishing village composed of several connected islands, which also provide excellent harbours for both fishing boats and pleasure craft. In Ballstad we also had the most fabulous meal we experienced in Norway at Lofoten Food Studio. We were only eight guests sitting on three sides around a table. On the fourth side the chef was cooking and presenting one course after another. Jennifer and I didn’t know the other guests at the start of the dinner, but it felt that they were old friends at the end of it. The wind was flowing, so we were happy it was walking distance from the “restaurant” to our cottage.
Our first day provided a lot of snow and we couldn’t really get out, but as soon as the snowstorm stopped we had the most lovely views from the windows of our Rorbue.
