Finse

We had an overnight stay at the Hotel Finse, built to attract tourists wanting to visit the lake and go hiking in the summer or experience extreme cold in the winter. There is no road access. Finse was the training base for many early polar explorers. These included Nansen, Amundsen and Shackleton; but not Scott, although a memorial was built to him and his team. The village has seen its population reduce from a height of around 200 to only four today – half of whom we met in the hotel bar (collecting their post as well as enjoying a beer and a chat).

We were almost the only people to disembark the train at Finse with most people using the train for the journey to Oslo in one go. We were pleased that we stayed a night – although the temperature dropped to minus 17, it didn’t feel as cold as we expected – we were properly prepared and it was a dry cold. The Finse “Explorers Hotel” (built in 1909, next to the train station) was very comfortable and seeped in history. The scenery was stunning and we were fortunate to experience clear skies.