Lighting up the Arctic
IAM strolling along the Bodo harbour quayside, gulping salty air while gazing in awe at spiky green islands and encircling granite peaks dusted with snow. It is simply world-class, the setting of this Folkestone-sized city sandwiched between mountains and sea just inside the Arctic Circle.
When Bodo (pronounced ‘bow-dah’), together with the outlying Nordland County, was announced as a 2024 European Capital of Culture, there was bewilderment in Norway. The government had told the bidding committee not to bother applying and offered zero financial support. But the bigwigs in Oslo had reckoned without the Viking-esque feistiness of their go-it-alone compatriots way up north.
Nothing illustrates this spirit better than the decision to hold the opening ceremony on February 3 next year on a floating stage in the harbour – and Queen Sonja of Norway will be in attendance in the deep Arctic mid-winter.
The ceremony will also feature a floating stage designed to mimic an otolith – which, as we all know, is the tiny ear bone inside fish.
‘It is going to be mind-blowing, especially if the Northern Lights come out to play that night,’ says Julie Abelsen, of the tourist office, when I meet her in the city centre. ‘Light represents hope for the future and is one of our themes.’
Julie tells me how a Nato air base, with its buzzing international community, was the lifeblood of Bodo as she grew up. ‘The base closed in 2022 but we were not going to sit and cry. We young people were determined to reboot Bodo as something new.’
CERTAINLY, I find a youthful vibe around town. ‘Cold to cool’ is a theme reflected i n huge multi-coloured walls where avant garde street artists have let loose. There is a striking new waterfront library, a thriving cafe culture and restaurants serving artily presented dishes such as Arctic skrei cod and reindeer meat.
Incorporating the heritage and culture of the Sami – the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia – was key to the culture bid. There will be story-telling and theatre in giant lavvos – peaked animalhide shelters used by travelling reindeer herders.
A kaleidoscope of other traditional events is planned, many of them putting the Arctic region’s relationship with the ocean in the spotlight. There will be a concert by scuba-diving musicians in a submerged cave and an opera about stockfish – both world-firsts.
When the winter darkness morphs into summer, festivals of music, dance, sculpture, opera and theatre will bloom in the midnight sun.
Bodo’s chance to dazzle in 2024 comes alongside similarly undersold Tartu in Estonia and the spa town of Bad Ischl in Austria. Having ticked off most of Europe’s more obvious choices, the EU is giving this lesser-known trio their moment in the sun (midnight or otherwise).
Bodo’s dazzlement is heightened hugely by the Norland region which shares the Capital of Culture mantle. I drive an hour north towards the old trading post of Kjerringoy, on a road through scenery that presses all the fantasy-Norwegianfjord buttons. I wind round deepslicing inlets whose silky waters mirror glacier-polished cliffs.
Kjerringoy nestles in a bay where russet-painted boathouses and turfroofed fishermen’s shanties have been restored to collectively become a museum of the bygone age of stockfish drying and trading. It is this most traditional strand of culture that villagers have chosen to showcase for 2024.
Elsewhere, at the Kjerringoy Land Art Biennale on a nearby lake, I find contemporary creations which could contest the Turner Prize.
But I find myself revelling more in the wind-rippled water, the mountains and snow, while a whitetail eagle wheels overhead. These strike me as nature’s truest art.
Next day I drive east towards Norland National Park near to the Swedish border. The Gulf Stream keeps the Norwegian coast ice-free and relatively mild, but my route feels properly Arctic.
White mountains rear on all sides, and the park beyond is a sort of Scandinavian Middle Earth. I watch a lone moose drift through a strange pearly light. The park is hosting exhibitions of Sami culture and local art as part of Bodo 2024. However, as with Kjerringoy, it is the surrounding natural world that is painted from a truly epic palette.
Bodo may have been a startling choice as 2024 Capital of Culture, but it has long been the capital of an utterly captivating region.
• Discover the World offers a three-night stay in Bodo from £570pp including flights via Oslo, B& B at the Quality Hotel Ramsalt and car-hire (discover-the-world. com). Meet-and-greet parking is available at Heathrow or Gatwick with holidayextras.com.