Highlights:
Arctic Cathedral - 70 NOK ($6.50 USD)
Cable Car (Fjellheisen) - 395 NOK ($36.25 USD)
Lunch on the docks
Polaria Arctic Center - 220 NOK ($20.25 USD)
Itinerary: (Assumes Ship Docks at the intown port - Otherwise take shuttle to town)
Walk to the Arctic Cathedral crossing the long Tromso bridge (30 Minutes).
Tromsdalen Church, also known as Ishavskatedralen (The Arctic Cathedral) was dedicated on November 19, 1965. Architect Jan Inge Hovig succeeded in creating a masterpiece. The cathedral is a landmark visible from the Tromsø Sound, the Tromsø Bridge and when landing in Tromsø by aircraft. The 11 aluminium-coated concrete panels on each side of the roof provide the cathedral’s form.
The main entrance on the western side is surrounded by a large glass façade with a pronounced cross. The fantastic glass mosaic on the eastern side was added in 1972.
The glass mosaic is one of artist Victor Sparre’s most prominent works. It depicts God’s hand from which departs three rays of light: one through Jesus, one through a woman and one through a man. The glass work contains many symbols and generates considerable attention among our visitors.
Walk to Cable Car Station. (15 Minutes)
Fjellheisen has two cable cars, named Polar Bear and Seal, which have been taking visitors up to Storsteinen since 1961. From one direction, the viewing platform offers vistas of the many islands and fjords laid out below, as well as the colorful rooftops of Tromsø. In the other direction, you can see the majestic 4,062-foot-high (1,238-meter) mountain of Tromsdalstinden. At the Fjellstua Restaurant, on the upper platform, you can enjoy lunch or dinner made with local produce while you enjoy the view.
Walk Down From Cable Car on a 20 Minute hiking trail (Sherpatrappa).
Enjoy multiple viewing areas as you hike down.
Once back in town walk back over Tromso Bridge to Tromso to Polaria (50 minute walk).
Stop at Full Steam Restaurant along the way for a Beer and lunch.
Polaria is the world's most northerly aquarium. It is located in Tromsø, in northern Norway.
Rather than a mainly scientific aquarium such as the one in Bergen in the Norwegian midlands, Polaria, which opened in May 1998, is designed to be an educational experience, with particular emphasis on displays for children.
Most of the displays focus on the northerly islands of Svalbard. There is a five-screen panoramic cinema, an "Arctic Walkway" area containing displays of polar exploration equipment, stuffed animals and simulated permafrost, many conventional aquaria displaying local marine life as well as open tanks and display tanks containing rock-shore animals, baby fish and other child-friendly exhibits. Its centerpiece is an open pool containing a group of bearded seals, Erignathus barbatus. These are trained and there are regular displays, as much to keep the animals active and healthy as for public entertainment. The seal enclosure has observation blisters set into its sides, so that visitors can look up at the animals from underneath, and a submerged walkway in a transparent tunnel across the bottom, allowing close access to the animals in their natural environment.
The building itself is also worthy of note. Its striking design represents ice floes that have been pressed up on land by the rough seas of the Arctic or pressure ridges.
Walk back to ship (10 minute walk)