My current trip has taken me to Norway's northern cities of Tromsø and Narvik. Tromsø is the largest city in northern Norway and is known as the 'Gateway to the Arctic'. Its geography is dominated by the Storsteinen mountain which has a cable car from which dramatic views of the island of Tromsø
can be gained. I have visited Tromsø once before in the summer and was able to capture these views but this time the cable car was not working and in any case, the weather was much poorer (and still no Northern Lights!) Also dominating Tromsø's skyline is the Arctic Cathedral. Last time I tried to get a blue hour shot but we had to leave before sunset. This time however, timing was good and some very dramatic blue hour images were obtained. Incidentally, this far north, the blue hour lasts longer than nearer the equator: at this time of year, an hour and a half.

The Tromsø gallery can be seen here

Following Tromsø, we stopped at Narvik - a first visit for me. Narvik is a relatively new city which was founded in 1899, specifically to serve as an ice-free, year-round deep water port for exporting iron ore from the Swedish mines in Kiruna. A railway (the Ofoten Railway) was built from the Swedish border to the city for transporting the ore and due to its strategic importance, it was famously targeted during WWII. Today that railway has been re-purposed as a tourist attraction which some dramatic views over the mountain terrain. The city of Narvik itself is not particularly picturesque compared with say Ålesund
or Bergen. It does boast a cable car but as for Tromsø, it was also not working (and neither were the Northern Lights).

The Narvik gallery can be seen here