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Svolvær Lofoten – The Capital?
Svolvær is a small town in Nordland County, with just over 4000 inhabitants, but it’s the
administrative centre of the Vågan municipality. Visitors can find here a well organized transport
service, with airport, sea harbour and ferry.
In 1919 Svolvær became an own city with its own municipality, separated from Vågan, but in 1964
the town was merged again with Vågan.
An ancient name for the capital of Lofoten
We don’t know how old is Svolvær. In a document of 1567 the city was named as Suoluer. The “u”
was “v” and the last part of the name, uer, was the ancient norwegian for vær, that means fishing
village.
In an epitaph of Christoffer Olsen from 1569, the place was mentioned as Suluer. In 1610 the name
became Solfuer and after some years, in 1614, Solverd. Svolwæhr was the name the place took in
1723.
What to visit in Svolvær
There are some monuments you can see in Svolvær, such as statues and busts.
• Fiskerkona: the name means fisherman’s wife. The bronze statue, made in 1999 by Per
Ung, says goodbye to fishermen on a harbour.
• Fiskerhøvdingen: or fisherman’s head. Made by Jens Steffensen, the statues is in
Havlyparken, near Krigsminnemuseum, a commemorative museum to the dead in Lofoten.
• Gunnar Berg: the bust of the painter Gunnar Berg (1863-1893) is in Svinøya.
• Jack Berntzen: a norwegian philologist and singer (1940-2010). The bust is in
Kaipromenaden.
In the centre of the city you can find Svolværkirka (Svolvær Church), built in 1934 and designed
by the architects Harald Sund and August Nielsen. The church is a small and long building with a
tower.
Svolvær municipality inaugurated the church on april 25, 1934.
Visitors can get a taste of history of Svolvær visiting some ancient buildings in the city.
The most ancient building in Svolvær is Børsen Spiseri in Svinøya, near Svinøybrua (Svinøya
bridge). The house was built in 1740.
In the same complex there is Krambua, an old shop. Krambu is a norwegian word that means small
shop.
There are other old buildings, like fishermen’s cabins and storehouses, from 1800 in the city.
Nature in Svolvær
If you like nature and adventure, you have to visit the best known place in Svolvær: the mountain
Svolværgeita, that means goat of Svolvær, because the mountain has two horns.
Another wonderful place is called Linken and it’s a small peak on the mountain Kjeldbergtind: a
god choice for trekkers.
In Raftsundet you’ll find Trollfjorden, one of the most popular fjord in Norway, a special place that
gives you entertainment both in the summer, with boat tours, and in the winter, with rafting tours
Rorbu in Svolvær
Lofoten islands have a lot of attractions that give travellers a wonderful experience, with the real
taste of norwegian tradition. One of them is the so called rorbuer. But what’s a rorbu?
Rorbu, or the fisherman’s house
Rorbu is a norwegian word made by roer (rower) and bu (cabin). You’ll find many rorbuer in the
villages of islands. They are fishing villages and the rorbuer are now restored to offer visitors an
accomodation with comfort and facilities.
The classical and historical wooden building is a sort of red coloured pilling, part built on land and
part in the sea. It’s a typical fishermen’s house you can see in the western and northern Norway.
Svolvær and its rorbuer
So, if you have in mind to visit Lofoten islands, don’t miss Svolvær, in the Vågan municipality, a
small city but the capital of the Lofoten. In the district, one of the most popular place in Lofoten,
you can see the coastal life of Norway.
There are many rorbuer in Svolvær, cosy and redeveloped seahouses, well appreciated by tourists
every year. It’s possible to find also new rorbu in Svolvær, recently built to enlarge the offer of
accomodation in Lofoten.
These rorbuer have modern services (bathroom, shower), but they mantain also the old style of
seahouses, so they look like authentic cabins of the old fishing era.
The history of rorbu in Svolvær
The history of rorbu cabin in Svolvær comes since 1800, when some cabins was built for
fishermen that came to overwinter here during the cod season of the Lofoten.
At the beginning a rorbu was a very spartan house, with only two rooms. The fishermen used one of
them to live (sleeping, cooking) and the other like a storage (fishing gear and food). A rorbu could
host more than one person, even up to 10 fishermen, that lived in a crowded place.
The tradition of rorbuer in Lofoten is very old. Initially, fishermen slept under their small boats, in a
very bad conditions. It was King Øystein that ordered to built the cabins, around 1100.
Why to choose a rorbu in Svolvær
If you go to Lofoten, you have to feel the old fishing atmosphere that fishermen had in the past. You
will not sleep with others in the same bed, obviously, but living in a rorbu in Svolvær will give you
quiet and silence.
Now the rorbuer are restored and they are a part of the tourist industry in Lofoten: a stay steeped in
a cultural and historical house to enjoy the old norwegian tradition.
Hostels in Lofoten
If you are planning a tour in the amazing archipelago of Lofoten islands, you need an accommodation that offers you the real atmosphere of this place. So, the Lofoten hostels give you the right and genuine taste of northern scenery.Lofoten islands has a long tradition in the tourist industry and you can find here all kind of lodging, such as fishermen’s cabins and hostels room, located in the harbour area, in the centre of the cities or near the airport.
The Lofoten hostels are the best choice to get a comfortable accommodation and visitors can get quality and clean rooms and good and friendly staff. All over the islands it’s possible to find cheap hostels, with facilities and available beds that suits you.
Once you got here, you can experience a lot of outdoor activities to taste the real norwegian nature and its wonderful scenery. Midnigt sun, silence, northern lights, fishing, hiking, or simply a visit to the several villages of Lofoten make your journey fantastic and unforgettable. Sleeping in one of the Lofoten hostels is the best way to restart your life and get relax after a day spent around the islands and villages. Here you’ll find also youth hostels, cheaper accomodations intended for young travellers.
The hostels in Lofoten provide you an inexpensive lodging in a dormitory (blanket and pillows are available) with rooms for women and men and shared bathroom and kitchen. In some of them you can find also internet connection. Some hostels are old fisherman’s cabins, located in fishing hamlets, with picturesque surroundings that offer you walkings and attractions. Others are a series of buildings, with many rooms available.
If you want an economic accomodation and not to renounce the comfort of an hotel, so you have to choose one of the Lofoten hostels. They’re not a basic accommodation, but many of them offer you very useful services: TV, PC and internet access, laundry.
In the hostels you can also rent a bike, a boat, both motor- and rowing. The staff of the hostels in Lofoten speaks not only norwegian, but other languages, like english, spanish, german, polish and can organize for you guided mountains and sea tours and hikes and rafting and kayak tours.
Lofoten Northern Lights
www.fjordcamp.no Foto: NorNet as
Lofoten islands are an extraordinary experience for tourists and travellers, that offer visitors a lot of attractions during the year. One of the most spectacular and scenic phenomenon are northern lights a natural and mystic wonder in the northwest of Norway.
You can see Lofoten northern lights from October, in the late autumn, until the winter and early spring. In this period the lights are more frequent and give you an unforgettable sensation. It’s important to get a good weather, with a dark sky and no clouds.
What does cause the northern lights?This unpredictable event is due to energetic particles in high part of atmosphere, originated by solar wind. The particles collide with oxygen and nytrogen atoms and produces lights. The real name of northern lights is aurora borealis.
So, this is a phenomenon of the northern emisphere of the Earth and visible over the Arctic Circle. In theory you can see northern lights all over the Norway, but the best place to experience the natural lights is in the north of the country.You can enjoy the northern lights in Lofoten because the islands are in the auroral zone, a place around the magnetic pole, with a quiet sun and long dark. The effects of Lofoten northern lights are variable, from waving patterns to haloes and wisps, from arcs to spiral curtains. They are colorful and flickering lights that make the sky dynamic and dancing. A very unique and amazing sight! The most common colours of the northern lights are pale green and pink. They seem to be erupted above the mountains, like the energy of the Earth that blows up from the centre to the sky.
Altough the phenomena cannot be guaranteed, due to the weather’s conditions and the event itself, the northern lights are not rare in the Lofoten islands. If you plan a trip in Lofoten, we recommend you to stay for several days, so you can visit and experience all the attractions here and get more possibilities to catch the northern lights.
Aurora borealis is a polar experience that cannot be missed in your life.
