Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MO I RANA AFTER DARK
Ramona,
Fridtjof Nansensgate 28 (
&
75-13-40-00
), in the Hotel Meyergården
is the only genuinely viable nightclub and dance club in town. Because of the
lack of competitors, and a floor space that sprawls over an area that's bigger than
the ground floors of many of the region's department stores, it promotes itself as
the largest nightclub in north Norway. The space, set within an ugly commer-
cial building in the heart of town, is subdivided by banquettes and arrangements
of seating areas, into three “regions,” painted in tones of pink or yellow. There
are bars scattered strategically throughout, and a clientele whose age and priori-
ties change according to whichever night of the week you happen to arrive.
According to popular hipster wisdom, Thursday nights attract the student
crowd, with a lot of 18-year-olds wearing various forms of punk-inspired cloth-
ing. Saturday is for an older, recently divorced-and-somewhat-embittered-
but-still-hoping-for-an-active-dating-and-sex-life crowd. Friday is the let-down-
your-guard and be-sure-not-to-drive-your-own-car-home-because-you've-been-
drinking crowd. The place is open every Tuesday to Saturday from 10pm to
3am, charging an entrance fee of 75NOK ($11) per person.
2 Bodø: Gateway to the North
¡
479km (466 miles) N of Trondheim; 1,430km (889 miles) N of Bergen; 1,305km (811 miles) N of Oslo
This seaport, the terminus of the Nordland railway, lies just north of the Arctic
Circle. Visitors arrive here, the capital of Nordland, for a glimpse of the mid-
night sun, which shines brightly from June 1 to July 13. But don't expect a clear
view of it--many nights are rainy or hazy. From December 19 to January 9,
Bodø gets no sunlight at all.
Bodø is Nordland's largest city, with some 40,000 inhabitants living at the
northern entrance to Salt Fjord. Although burned to the ground by the retreat-
ing Nazis at the end of World War II, the city dates back to 1816 when it was
founded by merchants from Trondheim seeking a northern trading post. In time
it became one of the leading fishing centers of Norway, specializing in the dry-
ing of cod. It has also become known for its ship repair yards.
Bodø faces an archipelago rich in bird life. No other town in the world boasts
such a large concentration of sea eagles. From Bodø you can take excursions in
many directions to glaciers and bird islands; the most attractive are the Lofoten
Islands (p.409).
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE
If you're not driving or traveling by coastal steamer, you
can reach Bodø from major cities throughout Norway, usually with connections
through either Trondheim or Oslo, on
SAS
(
&
75-54-48-00;
www.scandinavian.
net). The airport lies just over a kilometer (1
1
⁄
2
miles) southwest of the city center,
and is accessed by a bus (it's marked
CENTRUMS BUSSEN
) that departs at 20-minute
intervals every Monday to Friday for 60NOK ($8.50) each way. Passengers arriv-
ing on a Saturday or Sunday hire one of the many taxis waiting at the arrivals gate.
Bodø is at the end of the Nordland rail line.
Two
trains
a day leave Trondheim for Bodø. The trip takes 10 hours, 20 min-
utes. Visit www.nsb.no for information.
For
bus
information, contact
Saltens Bilruter
in Bodø (
&
75-54-80-20
).
Fauske is a transportation hub along the E6 highway to the north and Route 80
west to Bodø. From Fauske there are two buses a day to Bodø. The trip takes an
hour and 10 minutes. If you take the train from Stockholm to Narvik (north of
