Lofoten, here we come!

June 8, 2010
An early wake-up call at 5 am got our day started as we spent the day traveling to the Lofoten islands. The first leg of our journey was an hour car ride from Mo i Rana to Nesna to board a speed boat for Bodø. The speed boat is a three hour journey with several stops at islands along the way. Watching the sun reflect off the water as we pass mountain ranges and island homes is really an amazing sight and a great visual picture of Northern Norway! After a short lunch with our old friends in Bodø, we headed off to board the Hurtigruten. We’ve been hearing how amazing this trip is going to be and the weather seems to be cooperating with us today!


Hurtigruten or “Express Route” is a Norwegian passenger and freight line with daily sailings along Norway’s western and northern coast. The ship sails almost the entire length of the country, completing the roundtrip journey in 11 days, and is often referred to as the “World’s Most Beautiful Sea Voyage.” For our trip, we would board in Bodø and disembark at the next port of Stamsund on the Lofoten Islands. Hurtigruten is over 100 years old, created in 1893 to improve communications along the Norway coastline. The inside of the MS Nordkamp is similar to a low-end cruise ship with seven decks, lounges, a restaurant and cabins for those on a longer journey. Our view from the seventh floor faced the islands and about half way through our trip, we were able to see the Lofoten Islands in its entirety.

After spending the day traveling, we were happy to see our residence for the next two nights. We were going to be staying in the fisherman village of Ballstad. Located in the Vestvågøy municipality of Lofoten, the town has a population of 956. Our stay in Ballstad will be Kræmmervika Rorbuer, otherwise known as the old Fisherman’s cabins. It is a cluster of 34 historical buildings from the 1850s. Today, Kræmmervika Rorbuer features 250 beds and is owned by Torgunn Rist, the 34-year old daughter of the previous owner. Torgunn bought Kræmmervika Rorbuer from her father three years ago and together with her husband has been working to renovate the cabins and expand the marketing plan to draw in new tourists and highlight Lofoten fishing.

Kræmmervika Rorbuer has been a port for fishermen through the centuries. The islands of Lofoten were considered the access point to the “gold of the ocean,” so fishermen would come to this area to stay for long periods of time while they fished and earned their keep. In fact, Torgunn said her grandmother used to be a doctor on the island and was often called in to visit and take care of the sick fishermen. Since the fishermen were several to a cabin and had their personal and professional lives in the same room, diseases were often rampant. However, the fishermen had the highest regard for the doctors so they would often bathe the sick men before the doctor came in which would make it nearly impossible for the doctor to properly diagnose the sickness! Torgunn’s own history with the island goes back several generations. Her grandmother was a doctor on the island, tending to the sick fishermen, while her grandfather owned one of the local fisheries. Her father then bought Kræmmervika Rorbuer in the 1990s and now it is hers. The name, Kræmmervika Rorbuer, however, outdates the family and is in fact 500 years old!