20260611 Thursday, June 11, 2026 Lofoten Island, Leknes, Norway

20260611 Thursday, June 11, 2026 Lofoten Island, Leknes, Norway

We awoke to the sounds of the hoists deploying one of the tenders below, which came as a surprise because we were scheduled to be at dock in Leknes for our call on Lofoten Island.  Pulling open the blinds, the ship appeared to be stationary, but there were two tenders in the water.  As we prepared to go to breakfast in the World Cafe, an announcement was made explaining that due to high winds predicted for the afternoon, the ship would anchor outside Leknes and would conduct tender operations to shuttle passengers ashore. 

 
Our shore excursion was scheduled for 12:55 p.m., but since we have never been to Leknes on Lofoten Island before, we wanted to be able to explore a bit on our own. So we had a quick breakfast in the buffet and hopped on an early tender.  These are dedicated to scheduled excursion groups before 10:30am but those who wish to explore on their own can go ashore earlier on a standby basis.  We had no trouble getting on the first available tender after we got to the tender embarkation deck.  

Leknes is a very small industrial marina dock with very little to see aside from a tiny gift shop at the head of the dock.  

Viking ran a shuttle into the Leknes city center, which was several miles distant.  There is a small downtown core consisting of stores, restaurants, and other local businesses which looked indistinguishable from any suburban modern city.  

There was a tourism guide at the bus stop who suggested a scenic walk which took us on a 3.5-mile walk with a 350’ elevation gain to the top of a hill with an overlook of the fjord that Leknes is situated on.  There is an outcropping of flat rocks on the top that are reminiscent of Goose Rock back home.  The walk was also an opportunity to see up close the explosion of wildflowers brought on by the onset of the midnight sun.

  

The sky was overcast, and we did get a tiny bit of rain spit upon us early in the walk, but the main issue was it being windy.  After our walk, we got back on the ship with just enough time to grab lunch at the buffet and join our friends to head back to shore on a tender for our scheduled excursion.

This excursion was “Scenic Lofoten & Seafood Visitor Center”.  This started with a 20-minute bus ride to the Lofoten Seafood Exhibition Center run by Lofoten Seafood.

Lofoten is most famous for a unique, highly valued seafood product called stockfish.  
Lofoten is situated in the center of the spawning grounds for Atlantic cod.  These fish are gutted and hung to ferment and dry in the cold wind during the long winters in Lofoten for 3 months on wooden racks and then allowed to further dry in dry storage for another 2-3 months to reduce the moisture content by 80%.  This creates a product that has a shelf life of years.  It is this method of preservation that allowed Vikings to travel such long distances in their explorations and conquests.  

When an Italian merchant became shipwrecked near Lofoten, he was introduced to stockfish.  When he eventually returned home, he introduced stockfish to Europe, and it became extremely popular in Portugal and Italy for its convenience, versatility, and unique taste.  

Stockfish can be pounded into flakes which can be eaten as a snack or used in making soup stocks and can also be rehydrated and used in many different preparations.  It became extremely popular in Catholic Mediterranean countries because it was a convenient protein alternative for periods when consumption of meats was forbidden.  

It was more recently introduced to Africa as a source of food aid in the 1960s, and its popularity since has made Nigeria the third largest importer of stockfish in the world, consuming $30.5M annually, behind Portugal ($244M) and Sweden ($76M).
Economically, stockfish has had a profound impact on Norway’s trade balance over history.  After WWII, Norway actually paid for the construction of 4 large Italian sea vessels with stockfish instead of currency.

We saw racks and racks of stockfish at the end of their outdoor hanging time, as well as many empty racks and a warehouse filled with stockfish in the process of additional indoor aging and drying, and processing for export.  We had the opportunity to sample stockfish flakes and fermented stockfish roe.  The flakes were a bit like fish jerky, although Japanese bonito flakes are also very similar.  The fermented roe is served as a spread like caviar and has a similar briny taste.  There was also a creamy cod spread made with reconstituted stockfish that was tasty.  

The stockfish factory also had a small museum attached with displays explaining the various steps required in stockfish fishing and processing.  Lofoten Seafood also farms salmon and had displays on salmon aquaculture as well.  We have seen many floating salmon pens throughout our cruise through and around the fjords of Norway. 

 
The last stop of the tour was Haukland Beach, a large sandy beach surrounded by towering fjord walls. This is quite a beautiful site.  There were lots of locals camping in tents in campgrounds that surround the beach and hiking trails heading up into the steep sides of the fjord.  

We had a great tour guide who was very tall (over 6’ 7”) and great at delivering stories and jokes about life in Lofoten. 

 
The clouds had eased a lot in the afternoon, yielding frequent sun breaks, and there was no rain during our afternoon tour.  The tender ride back was a little bumpier due to chop and swells induced by the wind, but we got back on time and dry. 

 
We got back with enough time to spend a while relaxing in the thermal spa before dinner.

We were on our own for dinner, so we dined at a table for 2 in the restaurant.  We both ordered a reindeer stew, which was really delicious, and one of the tastier meals we’ve had on this cruise.  

After dinner, we were joined by Mark and Jan for Name that Tune trivia.  We did OK, scoring 21/24 with two teams tied with 23 points as high scorers.  The tiebreaker was what was the run time of Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi.  The correct answer was 4’ 9”, and one team remarkably guessed 4’ 8” for the win.  

We closed out the evening with a second show by Becki Biggins, this time featuring women singers from the Great American Songbook like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Peggy Lee.  She again put on a high-energy and excellent show, but this time backed by a canned soundtrack instead of the live band.  Now that we are further along in our recovery from jet lag, it was a bit easier not to nod off during this performance.  

Tomorrow we arrive in Tromsø, Gateway to the Arctic.  We should be tied up at the dock at 8 a.m., and have our inclusive tour “Panoramic Tromsø” at 1:10 p.m.  We will probably wander through the town in the morning after breakfast since the ship ties up right on Tromsø’s waterfront.