The largest city in northern Norway, 50,000 inhabitants. Home to the northern most university in Europe, “The Arctic University of Norway”, 13,000 students. It was the starting point for man explorers, including Ronald Amundsen’s adventures to the North Pole and South Pole in the early 1900s.
Oldest pub in Tromso, operated by the Mack brewery. Mack brewery is the worlds furthest north brewery.
We got a great presentation about cod fishing in Norway. The fishery is apparently thriving as years ago Norway instituted a quota system for protecting the resource. We are at Full Steam, a restaurant and pub that has a museum attached in the back. We had a presentation about the history of cod fishing and how they used to dry the fish to preserve it for years. You could reconstitute it and a make a high protein paste. This allowed explorers to go on voyages of several years and have a source of protein available during their trip. We also got to see a cod liver and the where the eggs/ roe come from.Even Patty sampled the cod caviar ( cod roe). She used lots of sour cream, very little roe! I thought the roe was better than sturgeon caviar, it did not have a strong fishy taste.We also sampled fresh, not processed cod liver oil. It was not very fishy tasting.The young man giving the presentation is 17 years old and about to start his second year in vocational school to be an electrician. He gave a very good presentation. He said he is interested in history, especially the history of the fishing industry. He is holding dried cod. There is still a market for these dried fish in Asia and Spain! Dried cod is what they use in lutefisk. This young man said that many Norwegians will still eat this at Christmas. I can remember my mom talking about having lutefisk when she was a child. It is processed using lye. Mom, who enjoyed all seafood said lutefisk was terrible. I have never tried it.
Rod and Patty Jenkins are retired and enjoy traveling. We hope you enjoy our posts as we we see different locations around the globe.
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