My son, Mike, says the Lofoten Islands are one of the most beautiful places in the world. I hoped to visit them, during this cruise down the coast of Norway. We got very close, at both Harstad, on September 5, 2025, and in Bodo, on September 6. Still, not quite there.
Our first stop was at the Rokenes Farm, built in the 1500s as one of the many "trading centers" along the Norwegian coast. Fishermen brought their catches to the trading center, and the trading center owner paid the fishermen and hauled the fish to Bergen for sale and distribution throughout Europe.
Rokenes Farm has been in the family of the present owner for ten generations. The former barn has been renovated into a restaurant with stylish Norwegian hand-painted chairs.
We ate rhubarb cake as we listened to the owner tell about his family history.
And, of course, the owner's golf course was the northernmost one in Norway!
The bay from which fish were sent to Bergen was near the trading center, and the elegant owner's home still stood.
Our next stop was the Trondenes Church, originally built in 1114, in Viking times.
As with other old Viking churches converted to Lutheran worship, there was a white-washed interior, heavy beams, and Norwegian folk paintings of saints and biblical characters in bright colors. This church also had beautiful stained glass windows.
Dave and I wandered through the church cemetery and looked out at the sea.
We then toured the nearby living history museum, in which we saw a recreated Viking house, half underground.
We met docents wearing long, dark flax dresses. One of them sang a haunting Viking song and told us about the various crafts the Vikings mastered, such as making fabric from flax, as well as from wool.
The museum had not just traditional artifacts, such as carvings from old churches, but also mannequins dressed as Viking warriors!
Our final stop was at one of Hitler's "Adolph guns". It was part of the Atlantic Wall that Hitler built, from the Bay of Biscay to northern Norway, to protect his conquered countries from reconquest by the Allies.
The cannon could shoot targets 24 miles out at sea, our guide told us.
We climbed inside the gun chamber, where our guide showed us the huge shells the gun shot, and how they were loaded.
After World War II ended, Eugen Ruff, the commander of the Adolph gun fortification during the war, returned for a visit. He had made copies of the photographs of the gun and the soldiers constructing and operating it, and the basement museum now includes those formerly top secret photographs. The museum also includes a mannequin wearing a Nazi uniform and gun.
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