The most beautiful place on earth?

It's hard to describe, to even take in, the majestic beauty of the Lofoten Islands. We arrived yesterday and stayed at a simple guest house without a plan for our time. Lillian, our host, was helpful and suggested that we rent bikes, head east one day and west the next. I looked through some information and found a brochure for a midnight sun tour to Bunes Beach, a bucket-list worthy event, and our time was mapped out. I forgot to factor in sleep.










The guy at the bike rental shop was friendly and helpful, letting us know that our plan was an easy and scenic trip. DO NOT believe this advice. This is rugged country and flat is a relative term it turns out. We biked 7 miles the first day and had our first fish burger- delicious- and stopped about every 50 feet for more photos.



Today we headed towards Å (pronounced Awe) with cinnamon buns and fish on our mind, about 25 km round trip.



I fit in a short nap before our 10 pm boat ride to the hiking trailhead. I was expecting a sweet, sedentary ride but my first clue was when we suited up with big suits that double as life preservers. We walked to the boat which was a big rubber raft with two huge engines and saddle seating, meaning you straddle the set with both feet on the floor and handlebars in front to hold on to. It took about 30 seconds for me to bundle up even more despite wearing my down jacket and wool hat.






We got dropped off at a very small village with only one full time resident, an 80-90 year old woman. Why could I see my mom being this woman? :-) We went on an easy path until we reached a hill leading to a tall ridge, eventually leading to the beach. Photos can't show how large the beach is because it doesn't look it but it took forever to finally reach the water. I'll let the pictures speak for the experience.












That's a sperm whale vertebrae.

We got back to the guest house about 2:45 am and then discovered that there were no room darkening shades. Between being chilled to the bone, having a bright light in my eyes and the adrenalin that comes from such an experience, neither of us slept well. We had the alarm set for 9:00 so we could fit in the ride today.

Tonight we are back to Bodo at 11:30 pm and will leave for Tromso in the morning, luckily not too early but we have to be up early enough for the complementary breakfast. We stopped at a very simple breakfast buffet this morning that was $25 each.

I was just looking through my photos and even though it's only been a few hours, it seems nearly impossible to be surrounded by such beauty.

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