Sortland or Blåbyen or Blue City

Sortland is a municipality in the Norwegian north (Nordland) and includes the islands of Langøya and Hinnøya in the Vesterålen archipelago [1]. The municipality has between 10,000 and 11,000 inhabitants. And I want to tell you why it is also called Blåbyen or Blue City.

The idea of a blue city is not new, but it was revolutionary for Sortland. I still remember the old town of Jodhpur in Rajasthan (India), which also has many blue houses [2]. This was probably not the decisive factor in the idea of providing the city of Sortland with blue houses. The project developed from an idea by the artist Bjørn Elvenes [3].

Bjørn Elvenes studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland, in the 1990s. When he returned to Norway, he was of course not yet able to make a living from his art, he was already making unique pieces of furniture - to be honest, one of my brothers still does that - and then he had the idea of turning the city into a work of art. He wanted to make the city a blue city by painting the houses blue and so make an artistical statement. Interestingly, the residents were not at all convinced by this project, because they thought blue was an unnatural, cold and horrible color. But the mayor and the city council were very impressed by the project, probably because they recognized its touristic potential. As is often the case with artists, a dispute arose over rights and who was in charge of the artistic orientation. Bjørn Elvenes probably saw the conversion of his art project into an urban development concept as a kind of profanation of his idea. But the project had already been launched and was being continued by other projects, so that today Sortland appears as Blåbyen.

Bjørn Elvenes has an art gallery in the shopping centre “Skibsgården” [4], which is opposite the Kulturfabrikken [5]. I think that this project has made the town of Sortkand, far up in the north, more colorful and is also an investment in more culture. But culture is what makes life worth living.

 

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortland
[2] More on Jodhpur: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodhpur I promise to look through my pictures from Jodhpur and write a blogpost about the blue city.
[3] https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_bl%C3%A5_byen_ved_sundet and
https://www.norwegenstube.de/bjorn-elvenes  
[4] Galleri Bjørn Elvenes, Skibsgården, Strandgata 12; https://www.instagram.com/bjornelvenes/?hl=de
[5] Kulturfabrikken Sortland KF is a municipal enterprise and operates the „cultural center "Kulturfabrikken", a diverse meeting place that seethes and boils with creativity and activity.“ https://www.kulturfabrikkensortland.no/nyttig-info/gavekort/#general
 
.

Street Art inside the Arctic Circle

 

Inside the Arctic Circle you have lots of sun hours during summer and lots of darkness during winter. I've seen nice libraries full of light and illumination, also by the books you may read there. And I've found at least a few pieces of street art during my short visit to the north of Norway / Lofoten. Colorful walls, light, and street art may help to cope or even prevent the winter depression due to the lack or better the absence of sunlight. During summer the bright pictures may even attract more views. The first picture has been near a supermarket on the left side. „Ikke glem å pust!“ mean: Don't forget to breathe!“

I'll put more notes underneath the pictures.

 

Near the Polarmuseet Tromsø -
Roald Amundsen behind a large heap of snow

I guess the artist had been invited

This is uninvited near the art of the upper picture

The next three pictures are from Sortland, which has an art project
called Blåbyen, which means blue city,
and besides this street art you find houses painted blue

This is most probably a door that isn't used anymore,
it is opposite of a kindergarden.

.

Kapitel 17 – Lofoten und das WinzHaus

 

Seit meinem letzten Kapitel habe ich zwei Reisen unternommen, die eine ging  nach Armenien und Georgien und die andere nach Lofoten beziehungsweise den arktischen Kreis und zwar auf norwegischem Gebiet. Dort hab ich überraschenderweise auch noch Entdeckungen zum WinzHaus gemacht. Obwohl eine der baulichen Sehenswürdigkeiten das LangHaus aus der Wikingerzeit beziehungsweise seine Rekonstruktion gewesen ist und zwar direkt neben der historischen Stätte, denn von dem HolzHaus hatte kaum etwas überdauert [2]. Aber ich habe darüber hinaus WinzHäuser gesehen und möchte deshalb hier wieder ein ungeplantes Kapitel einfügen, bevor ich mit meinem Plan fortfahre.

Die rot gestrichenen Häuschen sind in der Regel alte BootsHäuser oder  LagerStätten, die beim FischFang genutzt worden sind, aber heutzutage fast ausschließlich FerienHäuser sind, die entweder für den EigenBedarf bestehen oder vermietet werden. Diese Häuser werden mittlerweile auch neu aufgestellt, ohne daß sie je etwas mit der Fischerei zu tun gehabt hätten.

Und dann habe ich auch noch zwei sehr kleine Häuser entdeckt. Das eine war weiß gestrichen und hatte außen eine elektrische Beleuchtung. Es war ziemlich neu und gut gepflegt. Von dem anderen Haus war schon ein Teil vom Dach eingesackt und der Boden eingebrochen. Man konnte das Innere des Hauses einsehen, also man konnte zur Tür rein gucken. Dort waren Teile des Bodens eingebrochen, aber andererseits standen noch PlastikMöbel, Utensilien zur Zubereitung von Tee oder Kaffee herum und es lag ein ziemlich neuer FlickenTeppich am Boden, was mich verwundert hat. Vielleicht sind diese letzten zwei WinzHäuser als UnterStand für WachLeute gedacht oder Leute, die nur mal zum Angeln kommen und sich beim Regen unterstellen. Ich habe das nicht genau in der Erfahrung bringen können. Nichtsdestotrotz hatten sie genau das Format, das so ein WinzHaus haben sollte.  

Links und Anmerkungen:
[1] Hinweise auf das Projekt finden sich in der Einleitung: https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/01/das-winzhaus-einleitung.html
[2] Ist ein Extra-Thema. Es handelt sich um Borg. „Borg ist eine Ausgrabungsstätte auf der Insel Vestvågøya auf den Lofoten in Norwegen. Dort wurde in den 1980er Jahren eine Siedlung ausgegraben, die ...“. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_(Lofoten)


.

Barnehage and other Brighterners in Henningsvaer

In Henningsvær the sun broke through the clouds now and then, but the village has to manage the brightening in other ways. The more conservative or official methods are paint and artificial light. But there are others, too. Football fans and others leave stickers in certain places. The football field is on a separate island. But I was even more fascinated by a child's drawing, in scrawled letters it says: småtrollan barnehage and that means: small kindergarten.

Henningsvær became better known through the football field and you can find out a lot about it in the English Wikipedia article [1]. Henningsvær is a fishing village; the name says it all, because vær means fishing village and Henning is a common first name. So it is Henning's fishing village; Henning is also a common first name in Germany, by the way. In 1934 a pier was built that connected two islands (Heimøya and Hellandsøya) and the road connection to Svolvær has improved. The most comprehensive article is the one in Bokmal [2]. The article on Nynorsk is rather modest in scope. The history of the village goes back to 1567, in 1769 the number of residents was given as four. Currently around 500 people live in Henningsvær, but the location and the beautiful views attract tourists, like me, for example.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henningsv%C3%A6r Of course there is more in this article than football! The German Wikipedia article is not much different. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henningsv%C3%A6r
[2] But this is the most comprehensive source on Henningsvær:
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henningsv%C3%A6r
 

.

Lofoten and how I started photographing the Northern Lights

 

Northern Lights across the sky
with the moon behind promontory and clouds

The earth seems to dream of the star in fireflies.
Once it'll shine and fliy freely through the starry night.
The sea does not blossom in foam: in edges of fire!
The Milky Way gently bubbles through the tongues of flame.
From: The Stairs to the Northern Lights
Theodor Däubler [1]

I already had visited the far north of Norway in October 1980; Narvik to be specific, but at that time the Northern Lights were not an issue and I made no attempt to see this natural spectacle, nor did I see it by chance. Last year I traveled to Iceland, but it was always cloudy and apart from a little light behind thin clouds there was nothing to see and certainly nothing to photograph. Then this year, when the Northern Lights reached very far south, I went to an open area near old quarry ponds in Cologne. It was a very adventurous undertaking, walking through the thorn bushes there at night, but at least I found an open area. If it hadn't been for the terrible light pollution in Cologne, I would have even been able to see the Northern Lights there [2]. Then later I tried again from the Eifel, because there is hardly any light pollution there, but apparently it wasn't reaching into this southerly region.

So I was very excited when I travelled to the north of Norway and was initially very disappointed because it was very overcast. When I arrived in Tromsø there was snow. The snow turned to rain and the rain turned to drizzle, but it remained cloudy. It was only during the last few days, on Semla, that it cleared up occasionally so that I could start to look into photographing the Northern Lights. I had done little if none homework. I am not at all interested in the special features of cameras and their technical details. I want to capture images, subjects and events as they were, so that I can either pass them on later or use them for further thoughts and ideas. I did have two cameras with me, however. I took an old camera (Lumix / Panasonic TZ71) with me, even though it has problems with the zoom, but I did not want to use the zoom at all and I had had good experiences photographing the comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, which was recently visible. I also reported on this here on the blog [3]. But this method is not suitable for the Northern Lights at all, because the Northern Lights move and if I have a very long exposure time, it simply doesn't work [4]. I then found out that I couldn't change the light sensitivity and exposure time at the same time on my other camera, the TZ96G. But that would have been necessary. Then I found out that I could do it with my cell phone. You can use the Pro setting, where you can simultaneously increase the sensitivity to 3200 ISO and extend the exposure time to a maximum of 10 seconds. I then had my first experiences with very weak Northern Lights.

Let's briefly talk about what the Northern Lights actually are and in which colors they appear in. The Northern Lights are created by the solar wind hitting the Earth's magnetic field. If this happens in the higher regions above the earths's surface, reddish colors are more likely to be seen, and the deeper you go, the greener the aurora becomes, and other colors are also added, and at very low levels, red appears again. One may see the auroras in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). "Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky." [5] Let's stick to the aurora borealis (Northern Lights); the southern hemisphere has aurora australis. And the further south you go from the Arctic circle in the northern hemisphere, the more likely you are to see only the upper layers, i.e. the red aurora, and for this green light, which is so typically depicted in very beautiful photos, you have to travel to the far north. If you want to know more about it, you have to read the very detailed but well-written Wikipedia article. Or get a book about the northern lights. Or visit a northern lights museum, as I did in Iceland.

I saw the first northern lights on the island of Semla and there I was able to experiment with my cell phone. I had worked with an exposure time of 8 seconds at times. Then we encountered bad weather again, but finally we took the ferry from Moskenes to Bodø. And while we were still driving in fog and thick clouds, we very quickly came into clear weather or only a few clouds. You could see the northern lights very well from the ferry. The ferry ride lasted over three and a half hours, so there was enough time to take photos from the ship, sometimes with a very short exposure time. Of course I didn't have a tripod for my cell phone with me - but a tripod wouldn't have been useful on the rocking ship anyway. And one shot didn't turn out too bad, because you can see the light of an airplane flying past the northern lights and it's hardly blurred. I don't know how that happened, but it worked.

The airplane is the horizontal line between Taurus (>) and the Plejades

In Bodø we took the bus from the ferry to our nearby hotel and when we got off something wonderful happened. Northern lights came down from the sky in swirls, loops, bands, in very rapid succession. I took the photos using the ship's exposure time, when I should have just shot a video because of the brightness of these phenomena, but hindsight is always 20/20. Nevertheless, I found a very remote spot at the harbor entrance where I was able to put my phone on a table to reduce the blurring of the photos.

So these photos that I am showing here are anything but perfect, but they are an indication that it is worth seeing the northern lights and travel there.

Links and Annotations:
[1] Translated from the German text [1a]:
Die Erde scheint in Glühwürmchen vom Stern zu träumen.
Einst leuchtet, fliegt sie frei durch die gestirnte Nacht.
In Schäumen nicht erblüht das Meer: in Feuersäumen!
Die Milchstraße durchperlt die Flammensprachen sacht.
„Theodor Däubler [1b] (1876–1934) was a poet and cultural critic in the German language. He was born in Trieste, then part of Austro-Hungary and has been described as "Trieste's most important German-speaking writer".
[1a] Die Treppe zum Nordlicht http://www.gedichte.eu/ex/daeubler/die-treppe-zum-nordlicht/erweckt-mich-laerm-es.php
[1b] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_D%C3%A4ubler
[2] I've alread mentioned this adventure in a German text: Das Grußwort oder „The Turn of the Screw“ https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/05/das-gruwort-oder-turn-of-screw-1.html
[3] Der Komet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in der Eifel / With an English Translation: Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in the Eifel Mountains
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/10/der-komet-c2023-a3-tsuchinshan-atlas-in.html
[4] For the picture of the comet the data for recording had been: Panasonic DMC-TZ71 4.3 mm f/3.3 30s ISO 80. You cannot chance the sensitivity for this function!
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora
PS: The pictures have been enhanced.

.

The Arctic Cathedral at Tromsø

 

The Arctic Cathedral (Norwegian Ishavskatedralen) is actually called the Church of the Troms Valley (Norwegian Tromsdalen kirke), because it is located on the Norwegian mainland and not on the island of Tromsøya like the center of Tromsø; nevertheless, the title is correct, because Tromsdalen is a suburb that belongs to Tromsø. The Arctic Cathedral is an Evangelical Lutheran parish and sailor's church and a landmark of the city of Tromsø [1], although the term cathedral is not entirely correct, because it is not a bishop's church. But I am convinced that this does not bother either the faithful or the tourists. But here I have to let the cat out of the bag: the cathedral is a tourist attraction and therefore hopelessly overcrowded. The Hurtigruten offer midnight concerts for their travelers on their southbound journeys [2].

The church was built according to plans by architect Jan Inge Hovig [3] and consecrated in December 1965. The name Arctic Cathedral comes from resembling slanted ice floes. The church is oriented eastwards, meaning that the choir side of the church faces east. And there, according to Jan Inge Hovig's plans, was the window made of simple glass, which covered an area of 140 m². The idea was to flood the church with light. But that is exactly what happened, in order, so it has been reported to me, that the churchgoers brought their glacier glasses with them, otherwise they would be blinded. On June 25, 1972, a glass mosaic by Victor Sparre was created and consecrated. That was just before the Olympic Games in Munich, where Palestinians from the "Black September" group attacked the Israeli team quarters, murdered Israelis and took hostages. The window of the Arctic Cathedral is entitled "The Return of Jesus". I like the mosaic. Jan Inge Hovig, however, sulked and, according to my information, never entered the church again [4]. The mosaic shows skull, barbed wire, a clock that is at five to twelve, and other symbols of a humanity that is in the last phase of its history.

The first organ also had to be replaced because several pipes broke under their own weight. On December 17, 2005 - the 40th anniversary of the consecration of the Arctic Cathedral - the new organ by the Swedish organ builder Grönlunds Orgelbyggeri was consecrated. It has 42 registers, which are distributed over three manuals and pedal; if that seems small, then you should take a look at the picture and I will add the information that the organ has 2940 pipes [5].

Even if there are a lot of people visiting the Arctic Cathedral, it is an absolute must!

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eismeerkathedrale The German text is significantly more extensive than the others, including the two texts in Norwegian (Nynorsk and Bokmål). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Cathedral The English text has about the same length as the latter two, although they do not exactly match.
[2] I had just experienced storms and snowfall that paralyzed traffic for days and some ferries were ordered back. Hurtigruten is the same in English, German and Bokmål, in Nynorsk it is called Hurtigruta and it is Norwegian for "the fast route". There are now other providers on the route to the far north.
[3] Jan Inge Hovig (11 May 1920 – 4 July 1977) was a Norwegian architect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Inge_Hovig You'll find more on the architecture of the church here: https://arkitekturguide.uit.no/items/show/820
[4] It probably sounds more unforgiving than it was, because I assume that he lived in the south of Norway (e.g. Oslo). He married Ingrid Espelid Hovig, but died a week later of a heart attack. "Ingrid Espelid Hovig (3 June 1924 – 3 August 2018) was a Norwegian television chef and author of cook books." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingrid_Espelid_Hovig
[5] I would like to put the 2940 pipes of the Arctic Cathedral in context. The organ in Riga Cathedral has 6,718 pipes, while Cologne Cathedral has 11,359 in total, of which 7,274 are in the transept organ and 3,963 in the nave organ, which can be connected together. I particularly liked the organ in Riga Cathedral, which I have already reported on: https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-riga-cathedral-and-pipe-organ.html. In this context, I would like to point out again “J.S. Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565”, played by Liene Andreta Kalnciema live at Riga Cathedral. https://fb.watch/vesFmoKKeF/
[6] The steel engraving “Dr. Richardson's Boat Trip in the Polar Sea” can be found in: Die Stadt Gottes. Illustrierte Monatsschrift für das katholische Volk. Jg. XXI. Steyl Missionsdruckerei, 1898; S. 332. [The City of God. Illustrated Monthly for the Catholic People. Vol. XXI. Steyl Mission Printing Office, 1898; p. 332.]

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ReiseGedichte - #KurzGedichte Lofoten Nr. 4

 

Die KurzGedichte enstanden während einer Reise durch Nord-Norwegen und den Lofoten. Die kurzen Tage waren gefüllt mit vielen Eindrücken, Schnee, Regen, Wind, PolarLichtern, BootsFahrten, dem klaren Wasser der Fjorde und der Stille von Kirchen. Die Gedichte aber müssen nicht unbedingt etwas mit Lofoten und dem Leben dort zu tun haben.

Nördlich
    nördlich deiner
SehnSüchte
AbGeschliffene
Felsen
GeRöll
Rund
Kein
Sand
Der
Rann
Durch
Deine
Finger
Wie Glück
    Zeit
Wünsche, Träume

Schnee
    der Schnee
Im
Graben
WoRauf
Mag
Er
Warten?
WoRauf
Wir
Alle
Warten
Auf
Die
WiederGeburt als
    Rinde
Einer Birke

Harstad
    die Positions-
Lichter
Der
Schiffe
Und
Der Häuser
Spiegeln
Sich
Auf
Glatten
Wellen
Des
BetriebsLosen
Hafens
UnterGehakt sprechen
    Wir
Nicht mitEinander

Starker Wind
    im starken
Wind
Er-reiCh-en
Dich
WortFetzen
Silben
SprachMaterial
Die
GeZeiten
Ver...Lang...samen
Den
Strom
Du
Denkst
An Yoda, denn
    Verstehen
Du willst

Wölfe
    es heulten
Die
Wölfe
Im
Park
Bei
Den
Zahmen
Mag
Ich
Nicht
Sein
Beim wilden
    Rudel
Wag' ich's nich'

Pendel
    das Tick-
Tack
TickTack
Tick-
Tack
Der
PendelUhr
Hat
Das
Pendel
Hypnotisiert
So
Daß
Es denkt
    Tick-
Tack TickTack

Fallen
    laß dich
Fallen
Mit
Dem
Regen
Laß
Dich
Treiben
Mit
Dem
Strom
Laß
Den
Wind
Dich
MitReißen
Östlich
Der
Sonne und
    Westlich
Vom Mond

Östlich von der Sonne und westlich vom Mond (Originaltitel: Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne) norwegisches Volksmärchen, das von Peter Christen Asbjørnsen und Jørgen Moe aufgezeichnet und erstmals 1844 in Christiania (Oslo) in ihrer Sammlung Norske Folkeeventyr (Norwegische Volksmärchen) veröffentlicht wurde. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96stlich_von_der_Sonne_und_westlich_vom_Mond  

Licht
    das sind
Die
Worte
Der
Heiligen
Schrift
Weiß
Auf
Schwarz
Licht
Auf
Finsternis
Doch wir
    ErKennen
Es nicht

.

Lofoten - the Touch of Green

 

If you travel to the far north in November, you expect darkness, twilight, but also snow or muted colors like gray, brown, ochre and maybe the dark gray of the sea. I have been interested in colors for years and have made several lists of color names (in German) [1]. I am always interested in how color is used in works of art, how artists deal with colors; for example, how August Macke's work changed after a trip into the light of Tunisia or how my old art teacher Heiner Schlesing [2] was interested in colors after traveling around the world, especially after being a painter for an ethnographic expedition into the South Sea Islands, so that he had colors specially mixed together, but that was almost a hundred years ago.

Currently in the north, the shades of green surprised me, because I had not expected them to be like that. Perhaps most of all in the area of the northern lights, of which you often see pictures in bright green. In real life, you could see not only shades of green or turquoise, but also yellow and red to violet. But I was even more surprised by the green meadows, although only the artificial ones in gardens and pastures around farms. In nature it looked different, withered, yellow to brown. The meadows were more like the green that I know from where I live.

This picture is out of competition.

Natural vs. artificial

I've been overwhelmed by the incredible green of the sea and there were also shades of turquoise. I would have expected colors like that to be 3,000 km south rather than in the far north, and certainly not at this time of year. But it seems that a little light is enough to bring out this splendor of color.

Links and Annotations:
[1] Farben und Farbnamen Version 6.0
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/01/farben-und-farbnamen-version-60.html Text in German.
[2] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/search?q=Schlesing A selection of text with reference to Heiner Schlesing, but alas! all in German.

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ReiseGedichte - #KurzGedichte Lofoten Nr. 3

Die KurzGedichte enstanden während einer Reise durch Nord-Norwegen und den Lofoten. Die kurzen Tage waren gefüllt mit vielen Eindrücken, Schnee, Regen, Wind, PolarLichtern, BootsFahrten, dem klaren Wasser der Fjorde und der Stille von Kirchen. Die Gedichte aber müssen nicht unbedingt etwas mit Lofoten und dem Leben dort zu tun haben.


MäAndernd
    im Ziel-
EinLauf
MäAnderte
Der
MarathonLäufer
Die
MikroPhone
ErFaßten
Sein
Stöhnen
Aber wir
    ErFaßten
Gar Nichts

WindBöen
    der Wind
Schwillt
An
Und
Ab
In
Böen
Und
Möwen
Ziehen
Auf
Den
Wellen
Der
Luft
Wie
Die SchaumKronen
    Auf
Dem Wasser

Styx 2
    weiß fließt
Das
Wasser
Des
Styx
Für
Eine
Weile
Dann
Die Wunde
Dann
Der Körper
Dann
Die VerWesung
Bis es
    Im
Hades verSchwindet

Styx 1
    weiß fließt
Das
Wasser
Des
Styx
Für
Eine
Weile
Dann
Rot
Dann
Blau
Dann
Grün
Bis es
    Im
Schwarz verSchwindet

Wahrheit
    für die
Wahrheit
Brennen
Es
Muß
Nicht
Gleich
So
Sein
Wie
Bei
Jan Hus
    Oder
Jan Palach

AbFall
    im Herbst
Fallen
Vom Baum
Die Blät-
           ter
Eins
Schöner
Bunter
Als
Das
Andere
Für
Den
Baum
Sind die
    Fallenden
Blätter - AbFall

AnlegeStelle
    die AnLege-
Stelle
Wiegt
Sich
In
Der
Dünung
Und
Du
Mit
Ihr
Aber wird
    Ein
Schieff kommen?

Bettler
    der Bettler
Sammelt
Noch
Münzen
Geld
Wir
Aber
Legen
Nur
Noch
Eine Karte
    Zur
BeZahlung hin

Reusen
    lege deine
Reusen
In
Den
See
Südlich
Des
VollMondes
Und
Ich
Hoffe
Die
Fische schwimmen
    Nördlich
Des SonnenUntergang

Gesichter
    ein Gesicht
Nach
Dem
Anderen
Wächst
Aus
Deinem
Gesicht
FaceDancer
NarbenLos
Außen
Und
Innen
Wo
Sind sie
    Nur
Deine Narben?

.

The Polar Park at Bardu

 

During my visit to the Lofoten Islands and the north of Norway, I also visited the Polar Park Arctic Wildlife Centre [1] in Bardu. You can experience arctic wildlife there, just like the complete name tells us. The park claims that it is the northernmost wildlife park in the world and that you can also see the larger predators there. That's true. It's not exactly cheap, but nothing is cheap in Norway. And it can be even more expensive if you want a special experience, because you can book that too. But let's take it one step at a time.

Herbivores
The herbivores were rather poorly represented. You could see a moose cow from a distance and also a hind very close at a feeding rack. And what was not shown specifically, but what you could see, were of course goats. Yes, goats, because they need them as feed.

Arctic fox
First we went to see the arctic foxes [2], which were also easy to lure. They have become rare in the wild because they have such warm fur and were hunted a lot, but they are not an endangered species. They are probably more threatened by climate changes. These ones were almost trusting. And we were told that some of them had become very fat because they simply didn't have to move much to get their food. But they changed how these artic foxes were fed. In the very large enclosures, the food was always fed in small amounts in opposite parts, so they had to run a lot. All the enclosures are large, and that is good news - for the animals, because they can also evade spectators.
 
Wolverine
The wolverine [3] could not be lured. That was unusual, not only because it is called Vielfraß ("devours much") in German, but because it had not eaten anything that day. What a pity.

Lynx
I found it interesting how big a lynx [4] is when it has to stretch at the fence for feeding. I remembered that a friend had told me when I visited him and his wife in Switzerland that lynxes are common in the Swiss Jura [5]. The lynx is a serious predator. But they also looked very beautiful. They were also easy to photograph.

Wolf
Then we also saw wolves [6], two types of wolves in fact, some were domesticated or used to people and you can, if you want, buy yourself a very expensive experience to take pictures and have a wolf lick your face; that costs €150 per person or is the licking part extra? And then there is a wild pack of wolves. We heard the wolves howling; I remembered Zootopia [7]. You wouldn't want to experience that in the wild. But here, like in the movie, it wasn't a spontaneous howl, but an initiated howl, in the film it was by the fox, here it was started by people.
 

Brown Bear
The availability of the bears [8] was played down, as most of them were already in the hibernation phase and therefore they did not want to feed the bears to get them to start hibernating. But then there were several to see. One female bear was very easy to observe. That's why I can show a picture here.

Is this park to be recommended? Yes, if you don't mind zoos, then this park is worth seeing. You can also get to the park by public transport. It is 184 km from Tromsø and 68 km from Narvik. But that's not a long distance for this region. Or is it? In winter conditions, maybe so, although we got through everywhere without problems.

Links and Annotations:
[1] Polar Park https://polarpark.no/  
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_fox
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx
[5] The Text is in German, but on the map you can see, where the lynx has been spotted or animal have been killed (red). https://www.kora.ch/de/arten/luchs/verbreitung
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf The article shows a wolf from the Polar Park in Bardu without a fence!
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zootopia
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_bear

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