Known as the Paris of the north, Tromsø lies 69 degrees 40' 33" North, 18 degrees 55' 10" East, has a population of 60,000 and with an area of 2558 square kilometre is Norway's largest municipality.
Being this far north, Tromsø lies within the arctic circle, and is thus subjected to long periods of light and dark due to the earths tilt.
The
reappearance of the
sun is
traditionally celebrated as "Sun Day". Strangely no one celebrates its
disappearance.
What with it being dark for so long, there are plenty of opportunities to view the northern lights that regularly grace the skies.
This is also a fantastic excuse to spend lots of time in bars, hampered only by the exorbitant cost of alcohol.
Due to the strange conditions, Tromsø has a reasonable large tourist industry.
Consequently everything bears the names:
whilst frequently sporting the motto -
"The worlds northernmost....
The first that come to mind are:
The (worlds northernmost) local brewery makes special beer for every possible occasion and season.
spring and autumn beer are generally available for about two weeks, and exist as a mere formality. As far as I can tell, neither season exists here.
Despite being freezing cold, the weather is warm relative to its latitude thanks to the gulf stream.
In the winter of 1999-2000 there was 8 metres of snow.