As a Hamburg Guide in Scandinavia 10

Experience the north with Neubauer Reisen

Today started a little more relaxed than usual: no suitcases to pack, no suitcases to load. We were staying another night in the hotel in Svolvaer. A tour of the Lofoten Islands was on the agenda today. It was still a little cloudy at the beginning, so we spontaneously changed the itinerary and didn’t stop directly in the fishing village of Henningsvaer after the Lofoten Cathedral, but first headed north to the viewpoint in front of the bird cliffs. The Lofoten Islands are a paradise for many migratory birds on their way north or south. In any case, the flora and fauna on the archipelago are very diverse.

But we didn’t just see mountains and trees, but also sandy beaches with turquoise water, little splashes of color from the little houses that somehow blend into the landscape. The sun plays along, because whenever we take a break, it shines for our enjoyment. We think about nature in a more intense way than we do in Germany. In the words of Birger-Daniel Grein in Norway: “When I stand here, in the middle of nature, I involuntarily think of its power. I forget all the stimuli around me, all that matters is the feeling of freedom. Time flies. When I look at the high mountains and the endless expanses of the fjords, I don’t know whether seconds, minutes or hours are passing. When I stand at the foot of a mountain, I feel tiny, but when I stand on one of the high cliffs, I feel infinite freedom. As far as my eyes can see, water and nature, no noise and no people far and wide, but I don’t feel lonely. Nature gives me a sense of security. The images I recognize become words, the rushing water becomes a feeling. The passing clouds seem to want to tell me about their long journey. I feel connected to the people, they are not strangers. I am experiencing a country full of friends. And the longer I stand here and look at the water, the clearer it becomes to me: man is just a tiny thing, without any power. I realize that it is not we who have the right to lay claim to nature, but nature has a claim on us. When I close my eyes, I see images that tell me: you and nature are one, the community of man and land cannot be separated. Even if we try to be independent in big cities, we will never succeed.”

In Henningsvaer, we can still feel a bit of the flair of a small fishing village in the Lofoten Islands before we spend the afternoon and evening in Svolvaer – each to their own. In the War Museum, in the Magic Ice Bar or perhaps simply with a piece of cake in the patisserie. Here in the Lofoten Islands, the longing for nature is awakened. We will probably be back.