Day 17: The heart of Lofoten: Reine and Å

Coming to the end of Lofoten: Reine and Å

In the morning we first took the ferry and then drove through the Lofoten Islands. The landscape was impressive, with high mountains rising out of the sea. It was cloudy and not ideal for nice photos. The traffic was much heavier. After a few stops for refueling and refreshments, we reached Å, the famous town at the end of Lofoten. There we climbed a nearby hill to get a better view. The view was fantastic! There was a lake on one side and the village and islands on the other. We just sat there and admired the scenery.

Our next stop was Reine, a small town about 10 km from Å, which is pictured on almost all tourist material about Lofoten.

In reality, the places rarely look like they do in the brochures, and this also applies to Reine. But it is very impressive, and I regret that we didn’t have the whole day to explore it in more detail.

Before we left, we found a place with a sushi bar and ate sushi before driving to Lødingen, which is about a two-hour drive from Reine and where we had booked a room.

Stop at the Viking Museum

On the way back, after about an hour's drive, we stopped at the Viking Museum. This museum is a reconstructed house of a Viking farm based on archeological finds. This Viking house is about 80 meters long and over 30 meters wide. Around 70-80 people lived in it. In addition to the master of the house and his family, there were also some relatives, workers and slaves.

Everything they needed was in this house, including the animals, which took up a third of the building. These animals also generated heat with their bodies in winter. They also had a good supply of dried fish, for which this area is still known today. They started drying the fish in February, when there were no insects. They protected the fish with nets to prevent them from being eaten by birds. When the insects appeared, the fish was already so far dried that it was no longer attacked by the insects. Properly dried fish can last for 30 years! When they needed food, they soaked the dried fish and then prepared it like a fresh fish. Sometimes they simply took a hammer and smashed the dried fish into pieces and then chewed these pieces.

We drove 440 km today and the total counter stopped at 5 614 km.