Day 22 Tromso - Updated

Today I had a tour booked to a reindeer farm with some Sami culture. The farm is only 20mins from town and it turns out it is fairly new (only 6yrs old & 4yrs with tourists). We were given an overview upon arrival then went out to feed the reindeer. They have 300 at the farm and they were all VERY hungry! We were given buckets of pellets and we could hand feed them. Greedy buggers ate for nearly 2hrs! I myself gave out 3.5 buckets of pellets!

I also did a sleigh ride for 30mins around the paddock which was good but cold as it was snowing, or maybe hailing as it was solid stuff!

Then we were given lunch of traditional reindeer stew which was delicious. If you ever have the opportunity you need to try reindeer meat. Both times I'v had it, it has been so unbelievably tender, melt in your mouth and such a nice flavour. Not strong like venison, kind of a little like beef or mild lamb. Really very good. I wish we could buy it at home cos I'd be eating it regularly!

Anyways then we learned about the Sami people. They are native indigenous people in 4 countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland & Russia). They sang some songs for us too.  Then we headed back to town.

I grabbed my suitcase and headed to my cruise ship. Excited! I've never been on a cruise before and even though this is a working cargo ship and cruise ship combined I'm still excited. I boarded and upgraded to a window cabin as Apparebtly they are quieter. The ship has 3 restaurants (1 for my package), 2 jacuzzi outside, a bar, bakery cafe and lounge areas. It's awesome. My room has a bed, couch & bathroom which is nice. I explored the ship then disembarked to explore the town a little more (3hrs until departure).

Tromso has a shopping area and main street. I wandered around and checked out local stores. I love the Norwegian wool jumpers but they convert to over $350-450 AUD 😭 I have never paid that much for any piece of clothing in my life!

Anyways back on the ship, explored the public areas and now waiting for the ship to leave in 1hr. Dinner is at 7pm and I think it is a set menu of fish 🤢 We shall see!

Update: yep it was fish. Arctic char. I was du hungry I ate it & fortunately it was not a strong flavoured fish. After dinner they made an announcement that there were sombre weak northern lights visible from the back of the ship. I grabbed my camera & tripod and headed out. They certainly were weak but after a while they became very strong and began dancing right above us and across the whole sky! Unfortunately the clouds came back and the rocking ship prevented really good photos. It is also a very bright near full moon so that doesn't help.

Right now we are pulling into a port to offload some cargo. I'm off to bed to warm up and get some sleep before our adventure tomorrow to the North Cape 😀