The charming village of Stamsund:

We begin our travel through the beautiful Lofoten Islands in Stamsund, where we disembarked the Coastal Steamer.  These islands were created out of the Gulf Stream after the Ice Age.  The warm gulf stream brought cod fish into this area, and with the fish came the fishermen.  The Lofoten Islands are located north of the Arctic Circle at 68 degrees latitude, which is further north than Iceland and even all but the most northern parts of Alaska and Canada.  Now that is north!  However, the temperatures are the warmest for this latitude, thanks to the warm Gulf Stream.  That explains why you will not see snow, ice, Eskimos and penguins in these photos.  Instead, you will witness the good life of the Norwegian folk who choose to lead a more simple existence in the charming fishing villages of the Lofoten Islands.

The livelihood of the Lofotens turns on cod fishing.  The cod fishing season is during the cold arctic winter, when the cod congregate in enormous numbers in the relatively warm water of the Gulf Stream (in which, the Lofoten Islands sit right in the middle).  While it is not as cold as northern Alaska in these parts, it is still cold.  So, wooden cabins, also known as rorbu, were constructed to house the fishermen during the winter.  During the summertime, tourists enjoy the comfy and simple atmosphere of the rorbu.

We came ashore to Stamsund with our buddy, Ennio.  Ennio has been traveling for a couple months, and his roller suitcase is almost as large as he is.  Since Ennio is from Sicily, he often jokes about his mob connections.  We asked him if perhaps he stored a few bodies in his large travel bag.  He assured us that there were not any bodies inside his bag, but instead a lot of old money which he has purchased during his travels.

During our first cold night in Stamsund, Kid Rich contemplates the lyrics of his next, soon to be released, rap song in our charming wood cabin.  He's fresh!

The next day looked promising as the sun shined on the drying cod fish by the dock of the bay.

But the dark clouds rolled in by early afternoon.

That did not prevent us from hiking and enjoying the absolutely amazing scenery of Stamsund.

Still, we did spend several hours indoors during the late afternoon when the rain seemed to be unrelenting.  Kelly, a/k/a Bobby Fisher, contemplates her next move in an exciting game of chess with Rich.  Our window looked out over the water and into the sea, so we did not have too many complaints about our rain shelter.

This is a view of the Stamsund Hostel where we stayed.  This hostel is famous among the backpackers of Scandinavia.  They will travel hundreds of kilometers just to stay at this hostel and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and the free row boats.  

Here are a few of the happy campers, Kazumasa (a/k/a Karlo), Ennio and Myrna.  

Empty drying racks sit in anticipation for the winter cod fishing season.  From January through early summer, these enormous racks are filled with cod.  Unfortunately, we missed that spectacle.  Still, the empty racks were impressive enough.

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