If there is one thing I will remember about Tromsø it’ll be the sound of seagulls. In part because our hotel was right in the port area every time we would walk out we’d hear the haunting, lonely sound of dozens – though it seemed like hundreds – of seagulls.

Tromsø is an interesting place, though for us at least two days was plenty. A city of some 65,000 people, it’s the third largest city in the world above the Arctic Circle and the northernmost city in the world with more than 20,000 people. Yet because of the Gulf Stream it is warmer than cities hundreds of miles further south. Of course, that’s relative: the photos we saw of winter in Tromsø look plenty snowy and cold. And dark. From mid-November until mid-January, you can’t see the sun in Tromsø. I’m not sure I could handle that.

And yet there was lots to enjoy about the city. First – and to our enormous pleasure – it’s a great city for food. We had simply the best food we had anywhere in Norway here. Perhaps because it’s a university town it had a real lively vibe to it with lots of activity in the evening. (I was going to say there was activity “after nightfall” but in mid-August nightfall is late and brief.) There was way more ethnic food here than I’d expected. I was just assuming that way up here it would be all bland Scandinavian food but there is a surprising number of immigrants – perhaps war refugees? – from North Africa and the Middle East. And so there I am walking around town and I stumble on an Ethiopian restaurant. Above the Arctic Circle!

In fact, back in the 19th century Tromsø was known as the Paris of the North. While it’s not known exactly how or why it got that nickname (trust me, it’s not Paris), one theory is just that the people of Tromsø even back then were simply more sophisticated than southern Norwegians ever would have imagined. That was pretty much my reaction, too.

We had stopped here on the way north during our “coast of Norway” cruise but really didn’t see anything that intrigued us. That, of course, is why we’re not cruise people: seeing a town over a couple days and nights is a very different (and better) experience than seeing it for a few hours when there are hundreds of other day trippers there, too.

As Norway’s major city north of the Arctic Circle, it is and historically has always been the jumping off spot for Arctic adventures. The Polar Museum here does a really good job of introducing you to what polar exploration in the 19th and early 20th century was like. But that’s not what we were looking for during our brief stay so instead we enjoyed the food, the historic collection of 19th and even 18th century wooden buildings, and the cool vibe. I managed a hike north to the botanical garden and south to a “beach.” Both were … OK. Then it was off to Trondheim for two final days in Norway.

Before we leave Tromsø though one last oddity. From the airport a nice highway takes you through a long tunnel into the city. But in the tunnel was something we’ve never seen anywhere in the world: a roundabout. Yup, apparently there’s a north-south tunnel and an east-west tunnel and there you are, god knows how many feet below the surface, in a roundabout at the intersection.

Who says you can’t still find new and unusual things in the world?

OK, we didn’t actually get to the end of the earth. With three more days sailing north and then east along the northern edge of Europe it felt like the end of the earth. There’s not a lot more to say about the boat trip. As we moved further and further north the weather seemed to get ever more gray, the settlements got a little more remote, the sun rose ever earlier. When we finally turned southeast on the last day en route to Kirkenes – just a couple miles from the border with Russia – it seemed likely that I would never be further north than the 71 degrees latitude we were at then.

After six days we were decidedly ready to get off the boat. There’s only so much of the coast line that you want to see and only so many villages and towns that you want to spend a couple hours in. One of our stops – Tromsø – is a city that could be worth spending time in, but we’re coming back there on our own after the boat trip is over.

And then there’s the food. To their credit, the food was often surprisingly good. But while the menu changed a little over the six days, we were getting pretty tired of the same options over and over again. And then there was just the weirdness of the food service. For one, they had obviously just implemented new technology, where the waiter would come to your table with a smart device of some sort and enter your order there. Sounds like it would make things a lot more efficient, right? Oh God no. It was painful – and painfully slow – watching them try to figure out how to enter all the right information. I’m sure ordering took four or five times longer than if they’d just written the order.

On top of that, there was just random weirdness. Maybe to make the menu look bigger they would have the same item listed in different sections, often with a different name. But exactly the same dish. On the breakfast menu, “Eggs, over easy or sunny side up” translated as one egg, always sunny side up. One day the egg was genuinely cold. Another day, without warning lunch was served an hour earlier than normal; we got there two minutes after it closed (early) but they served us anyway; others who arrived a little later were turned away. On two occasions they substantially reduced the dinner menu without explanation. And though they claimed to offer a fancy dinner option, and told us when we checked in they just didn’t know what nights it would be offered, it just never appeared.

There was lots about the ship and the cruise that was wonderful, but the food service was weird.

So that was it: six days up the coast of Norway. Lots of great scenery, a few beautiful fjords, enough rain and drizzle to last a long time. And always the question going round and round in my brain: why do people live this far north? It’s strange enough in the cities but when you pass these utterly remote residences you just wonder. Why do they live there? At least during our week the summer is cold and rainy, while in the winter it’s colder and dark. What is life like up here then? Not sure I’ll ever find out.

We left Bergen on the MS Havila Castor, sailing our way to the far north of Norway. It’ll take six days to reach Kirkenes, at the very top of the Norwegian mainland at the border with Russia.

Two companies — Havila and its older competitor Hurtigruten — today run ferry services that shuttle people, tourists, mail, and freight along this extensive coastline. The fist steam ferries began running between Trondheim and Tromsø in 1838. By 1908 service covered the whole route from Bergen to Kirkenes.

Today, these companies feel like a cross between a ferry service and a cruise line. Some passengers travel short distances, while others spend a week or two going up the coast, down the coast, or even round trip. The boats offer comfortable accommodations, tasty Norwegian cuisine, shore excursions, and plenty of clean Scandinavian design.

Early in our journey we sailed deep into Geraingerfjord, the mother of Norway’s spectacular fjords. The next day we spent a few hours on shore in the elegant university town of Trondheim (which we will return to after the boat trip). And this morning, halfway into our trip, we crossed the Arctic Circle. And with three more days to go!

So far this has been a great way to see Norway. We spend a lot of the days and evenings sitting on our own balcony just watching the landscape glide by. The scenery includes mountains, islands, pretty harbors, little towns, and no end of isolated houses that you can’t even imagine how people get to.

It all sits under moody skies, patches of fog, occasional wind and rain, and sudden bursts of sunshine. And the long summer days seem to get noticeably longer with each northbound day. We love watching the landscape slowly darken between 10 and 11 pm. But not for long: Sunrise tomorrow is scheduled for 3:12 am.