How Bodø Has Become Norway's New Culture Capital

10.04.2024 - 17:51 / cntraveler.com

Two white-tailed eagles circle overhead as the rib pilot kills the power and we idle on shimmering waters, necks craning skywards as the sun bounces off the snow-capped peaks and islands that line the Bodø archipelago in northern Norway. The vivid afternoon sun has cast everything in high definition, making it hard to imagine that just a couple of months ago the peak of midwinter afforded just one hour of sunlight a day. “We have the same amount of sun each year in Bodø as Sydney or Benidorm,” says the pilot as we bid farewell to our avian friends and pick up speed again. “It’s just that here, it’s distributed differently.”

It’s early March in Bodø and, sat just north of the Arctic Circle, this diminutive city of 50,000 people has just emerged from winter, with spring nudging sunset to a respectable 6 p.m. Still a little way off from a month-long period of midnight sun, when nights are bathed in golden light as the sun lingers above the horizon, I’m blessed with clear skies for an outing to the Saltstraumen—the world’s strongest tidal current.

Aerial view of the Fjords around Bodø, Norway

Twice a day, as the tide surges in and out between Saltfjorden and Skjerstad Fjord, it forces 1400 million cubic feet through a narrow strait, with the resulting maelstrom a star local attraction that can reach up to 20 knots. With the shore lined with anglers benefitting from fish flung upwards by the current, the pilot deftly negotiates his way through fast-emerging whirlpools as choppy seas dance to vast underwater forces—a mesmerizing spectacle that embodies the extremes of nature that characterize this corner of the world.

It’s my second trip to this stunning region, the first being a quick stop en route to the picture-perfect Lofoten islands. This time, though, once freed from my oilskins, I’m here to become better acquainted with a city in the midst of an exciting metamorphosis. While Bodø, pronounced “bood-ah”, has always been blessed with breathtaking landscapes, with nine national parks equipping its population with ample hiking trails, ski runs, and secluded islands, recent years have transformed the city – something evident on a late-afternoon stroll around the city, as locals head-to-toe in outerwear criss-cross the city’s pedestrianised centre. Having been largely flattened by the Luftwaffe during World War II, Bodø’s rationalist post-war rebuild is visible in the boxy buildings that line the shores and a skyline punctuated by the angular 1950s cathedral.

Yet a decade ago the city’s identity took a tilt with the completion of the stark white Stormen concert hall and library on the waterfront, replacing a rundown car park with two beautiful, big-hitting cultural institutions in the heart of the city.