It is the fjord with its beaches and clear, salty waters. Now in the autumn it is the autumn colors and nature that lure me here, In early summer / spring it is what attracts the great diversity of growth, the birds and the light, the midnight sun.
In mid-September 2021 we came back after an involuntary corona break of 2 years. The road north from the Helsinki districts through Finland became an endless transport stretch that changed as we passed Rovaniemi and the autumn colors began to blaze. During a lunch break at a country roadside café, I found an article in the newspaper Lapin kansa, where it was said that this year's glowing autumn colors were a bit unusual. It is used to divide the autumn glow (my Swedish word for Finnish ruska) into the leaf colors and the field's autumn glow. The field's autumn glow uses to come first, it was stated in the article. This year it was different. Both the field and the trees stood in autumn colors at the same time.
We arrived late at night to our destination. The guesthouse Varangertunet in Vestre Jakobselv, so we did not manage to experience the play of colors at the end of the journey from the Tana river and along the Varangerfjord. The following day we experienced an almost endlessly beautiful and flaming autumn glow. The whole landscape blazed in everything from yellow, brown, red and purple to green.
I have always thought that autumn is a slightly depressing season, a preparation for death in a way. Here by the Varangerfjord, I got to experience a play of colors that surpassed most of what I have experienced. Autumn can be beautiful! I'm pretty sure I'll be back to Varanger several autumns.
When we last visited Varanger it was in the early summer of 2019.
Then we did not have a caravan, so we stayed a few nights at Varangertunet in one of the apartments of Siren and Jan-Eilif's guesthouse. This suited us perfectly. Here our dogs were welcome, and we got good food, and the hosts made us feel at home. That they both also have great knowledge of what the region can offer is a good bonus!
Then we came to enjoy the landscape in the north, enjoy the bird life and to further explore the area where my wife's great-grandfather was the last merchant on Mortensnes. Now we came to the autumn colors, the history and the people.
Cohabitation and Trade
Mortensnes is a fantastic place where there are traces of Sami buildings from 10,000 years ago. There are remains from settlements from all times since then, there are burial grounds and there are remains of the trading post. Unfortunately, only the stone wall remains of the houses. For the house itself was moved away when Andreas Georg Nordvi in the late 1800s was forced to move away with his family. The family's house was moved to Vadsø, and is today one of the city's most beautiful houses. But what makes you almost lose your breath on Mortensnes is the sacrificial stone that stands leaning by the fjord in a virgin dance. The stone was smeared with cod liver oil and blood in the hope of good fishing and hunting luck. AG Nordvi once wrote in a letter how he came out one morning and the stone had been smeared with cod liver oil the same night when someone had wished him good luck fishing. The custom was maintained until the late 1800s.
Today, the Sami museum located in Varangerbotn has a small branch in Mortensnes. There is a network of paths that lead visitors between the various settlements and burial grounds past the trading post. A large gamme (peat hut) has also been built, to show how the Sami lived in the area, and their traditions. The museum in Varangerbotn can definitely be recommended.
Fuglefjell
On our early summer trip we made memorable excursions, including to Hornøya outside Vardø. That place impressed! What a bird life with thousands of birds of various kinds. Puffins, gulls, and cormorants nesting in the rock wall. Or as the cormorant that had made its nest on the bench in the gap hut that has been set up as a windscreen for visitors. This became a sheltered settlement.
Vardø itself is a city that gives me mixed feelings. There are really interesting places, like Hornøya right outside. The old fortress and the witch monument and Drakkar, the wooden sculpture that is a mixture of a Viking ship, the skeleton of a dinosaur and a whale. Drakkar out on the headland north of the city has become a hallmark of Vardø. But there are also parts of the city that make me down.
On Ekkerøy outside Vadsø there is another bird mountain that is easy to get to. There are mostly crutches, but they are many. Ekkerøy is also otherwise an interesting place to visit with a history as an old fishing village. Another place that visitors are encouraged to visit is Hamningberg, northwest
for Vardø.
The village has a road connection. But the village, which is a fishing village with the Nordic Sea outside, is more deserted in winter. In summer, the houses are used as summer houses. The road to Hamningberg is fascinating. It is narrow, with hills and turns where it waves with a wild landscape along the sea. We did not get there this summer. We saw the village when our petrol meter showed that we had 40km of petrol left. So we decided we had to turn around.
We did not get out there this time either as we had too little time in Varanger, and so much we wanted to see. But the countryside is there. So next time.
Autumn Glow and Museums
Now we parked the caravan in Varangertunet's courtyard, and ordered breakfast and dinner there. Varangertunet's breakfasts and dinners are so plentiful that you can manage the rest of the day without visiting several restaurants. This gives more time for the experiences.
true when driving along the fjord and for the first time get to enjoy the sight of the play of colors. The pictures can only
do not reproduce the color scheme correctly.
This time the autumn colors and museum visits were on the program. The newly opened Kven Museum in Vadsø lured. Who are the Kvens? Yes, according to the definition, it is everyone with a Finnish language and cultural background, who moved to Norway before 1945 and their descendants.
This means that a fairly large part of the population in Finnmark today can count themselves as Kvens. The Kvens have the status of a minority population in Norway. So there is a reason why you now have a museum in Vadsø. It is a small, interesting museum that will probably be developed further in the coming years.
Gripping Visits
For us, the visit to the partisan museum in Kiberg was a highlight. In connection with the German occupation of Norway during World War II, quite a few Norwegians realized that they needed help in their resistance to the occupying forces. Since the Soviet Union (Russia today) was no further away than across the fjord, and since they have always had some form of contact with people there, it was only natural that they turned to for help.
The Soviets were also on the side of the Allies against Nazi Germany. Many traveled for training in handling weapons and how to handle radio transmitters, and received the equipment needed before they were sent back to northern Norway in various ways to complete their partisan missions.
Now the museum is run more or less by volunteers. We met Steinar Borch Jensen who spends much of his time telling about the partisans' lives and tasks during and after the war. He offered a moving story, and the nearly 3 hours we spent in his company are something we will take with us as a memorable experience.
(Caption: The visit to the partisan museum in Kiberg was a moving experience where Steinar Borch Jensen for three hours
could offer stories about people who were willing to give everything during the occupation of Norway
during WWII.)
A Landscape in Flames
But this time it was the autumn colors in nature that were at the top of the list of why we right now, in mid-September, wanted to travel north. And we got to enjoy a beautiful landscape.
The birches on the plains blazed in everything from the clearest gold to orange-red. The eggs were darker in their red color and all the field plants from blueberry heather, gooseberries and fields with dwarf birch shone in all the colors of the palette. When we went further east of Vadsø, we left the birch forest behind us, and the treeless plains took over with their creeping dwarf birches. We had to stop often to take pictures, but these only reflect a small part of the splendor we saw. The days by the Varangerfjord were too few left. Duties at home called and we had to turn our course south again. It was two long days behind the wheel with an overnight stay in Sodankylä. The Northern Lights are something you will certainly experience during clear nights from autumn to spring throughout Finnmark. Finnmark is located in the area where the Northern Lights occur is largest. So we had settled on seeing this phenomenon. But we did not get it this time. It was cloudy weather when we stayed at Varangertunet. The day after we left, we received a greeting from Siren and Jan-Eilif- On Sunday it had cleared up and the northern lights blazed over the village. This is another reason to come back to Varanger and park the caravan in Varangertunet's courtyard. To borrow a sentence from their marketing. Our home in Varanger!
by: Henrik Westermark, Finland
Translated by: Jan Eilif Jankila