Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TheInuit(Eskimos)callthelights arsarnerit ('toplaywithaball'),astheywerethought
to be ancestors playing ball with a walrus skull. The Inuit also attach spiritual significance
to the lights, and some believe that they represent the capering of unborn children; some
consider them gifts from the dead to light the long polar nights and others see them as a
storehouse of events, past and future. Norwegian folklore attributes the lights to old maids
or dead maidens dancing and weaving. The lights were seen as a bad omen and a sign that
God was angry, and people who mocked the superstition risked incurring the ire of God.
The best time of year to catch the northern lights in Norway is from October to March,
althoughyoumayalsoseethemasearlyasAugust.Oddlyenough,Svalbardisactuallytoo
far north to catch the greatest activity.
The Arctic - The Complete Story, by Richard Sale, is arguably the best of recent books about the Arctic,
with world-class photography and informative text.
High Country
If you think Norway is spectacular now, imagine what it was like 450 million years ago
when the Caledonian Mountain Range, which ran along the length of Norway, was as high
as the present-day Himalayas. With time, ice and water eroded them down to their current
form of mountains and high plateaux (some capped with Europe's largest glaciers and ice-
fields)thattogethercovermorethanhalftheNorwegianlandmass-greatnewsfortourists
andadventure-seekers,lesssoforfarmers,withlessthan3%ofNorwegiansoilsuitablefor
agriculture.
Norway'shighestmountainsareintheJotunheimenNationalPark,whereGaldhøpiggen
soars to 2469m. Nearby Glittertind (2465m, and shrinking) was for a long time the king
of the Norwegian mountains, but its melting glacier sees its summit retreat a little further
every year.
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