The loft attracts tourists and photographers from all over the world, with nature that takes your breath away. But even Norwegians can get short of breath in the face of Loften's mountains, fjords, wildlife and fantastic photo lights.

Mars has the perfect combination of enough daylight to make the most of the days, and enough darkness to make the most of the nights. That is the goal when the photo line visits Lofoten, and here comes a little travelogue.

Tuesday

We flew up from Oslo and made the entire approach to Evenes airport over the Lofoten Islands in glorious sunshine.

The trip from the airport to Svolvær took about 3 hours, and at least half of the time our jaws hung down on our chests as we watched nature unfold outside the car windows.

In the afternoon and evening we settled into cabins in Svolvær with a view directly north over a frozen lake. A group joined a nearby mountain peak that gave a view of the whole of Svolvær as the sun went down.

Then we could take our seats in the cabins and start scouting for the northern lights... which suddenly began to appear over the mountains in the north. And that's how it went that night, out on the ice with a headlamp, tripod and camera, with "ooooh" and "ooooh" and "wooow" could be heard on all sides.

Wednesday

A new group made the trip up to the top near the cabins - now to see the sunrise. Once again we were treated to a spectacular sight as the sun and heat filled us.

After breakfast, the trip went to Henningsvær. On the way we stopped to photograph a small cove, and here even a seal appeared! On the way out to Henningsvær, the shutter came as a surprise and filled the whole town with fog. We thought at first that this was silly, but instead we got a ghostly veil that broke with the sun and created fantastically exciting photographic light.

The trip continued back to Svolvær and out to sea with a RIB boat for a sea eagle safari. The eagles became visible to us early on and came closer and closer to the boat. Some circled over and several sat on the rocks around us. At most we could count up to 20 birds at the same time. Completely wild!

But things were to get wilder when what is Norway's largest bird of prey started taking fish in the water around us. They circled, turned at lightning speed, plunged with claws outstretched and grabbed fish from the surface. Everyone holds their breath. So click, click, click, click, click…

"Did you get any?". "Is it sharp?". But we didn't have time to look at the camera. The eagles swooped down on several sides at the same time, circled in the air above us and argued over the catch. It was just a matter of snapping wildly and hoping that the battery and memory card lasted. What an experience!

After dinner, we traveled to an old and dilapidated house on Grimsøya, which is decorated with a mural by the graffiti artist Pøbel. The house has been abandoned for many years, and is getting increasingly tired, but is holding out.

It was really exciting to explore both the house and the barn next to it, and it is possible that some people thought it was a little scary too...

Thursday

Road trip! We spent the whole day driving around Lofoten looking for moments and photo spots along the way. In addition, we visited some sunny highlights such as Nusfjord, Ramberg, Hamnøy, Sakrisøy and finally Reine, before we turned around and ate pizza in Leknes on the way home to our new accommodation Furu, not too far from Borg.

Friday - Surfs up!

Surfing Friday, but first top tour Friday for a group that would like to make the most of the day. So while some stayed to sleep, some edited photos, some went for a short walk by the accommodation, Holandsmelen (435m) was climbed. 435 meters may not seem so wild, but it was more than steep enough for a bunch of Easterners and a Belgian.

At the top we had a view of both Haukelandstranda, one of Norway's finest beaches, and a 360º view of the entire area. We also got to see the plateau below which also has a great view, and which would have saved us both a lot of time and not least effort if we had realized that we could go to and drop the top. But cooler to have gone all the way up!

We drove out to Unstad, Norway's most famous destination for Arctic Surfing. After an intro course to surf and safety, we got wetsuits and fought our way into them, ready to own the waves.

It soon became clear that the waves were a little bigger and stronger than us, and that we had to settle for borrowing them a little. But in return it helped with a bit of training, so later in the session it became a higher level. Anyway, all the way people had a great time.

We finished the session while the last rays of the sun painted a completely crazy sunset in the sky. When we also returned to the Lofoten Surf Center and got a burger and hot juice, an already good day was completely fantastic.

Little did we know what awaited us. Because when we were back at the hostel that evening, the sky was clear and the northern lights were out to give us a proper farewell. Tuesday's modest "ooooh", "ooooh" and "wooow" were replaced by "LOOK THERE!!!", "OOOOOOFYYYFAAA*****", "WHAT IS GOING ON!?!" "IT'S ABSOLUTELY WILD!". And that was that. The whole sky was in green fire and flame. The northern lights danced and pulsed with white and purple, changing places and appearing out of nowhere, disappearing and reappearing. And no one who caught it will ever forget it.

The Aurora forecast app reported the best conditions at 04.00:XNUMX in the morning, so a tired group bet everything and went out to Unstad to get the show of the ages... and returned home even more tired with no show at all. But that's how it is sometimes with the northern lights. You have to go out and see. It doesn't matter what the notice says.

Saturday

We unpacked from Furu hostel and returned to Kabelvåg. There we visited the Lofoten folk high school and took part in a great lecture with Inge Vegge, filmmaker, speaker and adventurer.

Inge talked about the year he lived in a stone cabin on a beach in Lofoten, what he learned and how it can be transferred to everyday life.

He talked about lowering consumption, listening to the body, removing stress and living a little more at one with nature and thoughts. And he showed lovely pictures from all his adventures.

The afternoon went to lunch and ice cream on the pier in Kabelvåg before we found our way back to the plane and our folk high school.