Climbing down a slope above Norwegian fjords.

In Summer 2017, I visited Narvik, Norway and Kiruna, Sweden, two cities north of the Arctic Circle. Here are some pictures.

We climbed around Fagernesfjellet, a mushy hill above Narvik that’s a ski slope in the winter.

In Narvik right now, the sun hasn’t been up since early December. Six months ago when we visited, the sun wasn’t setting. Here’s a view from a hill near Kiruna at 9PM.

Panorama of rolling hills and the sun.

Also of note, to get up there, we took a night train. We paid a little extra for a private cabin and it was super cozy!

Cozy train room.

The two cities are important because of iron ore. Kiruna has one of the world’s largest iron mines, and Narvik has a port that stays ice-free in the winter. All day in Narvik, we saw trains transporting iron ore originating in Kiruna to Narvik’s port.

tbh, our car rental car plan fell through, so we were limited to travel by foot. We’re hoping to go back and drive around Lofoten someday!