Things to do
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Saltstraumen
The strongest tidal current in the world, moving around 400 million cubic metres of water through a three kilometre strait four times a day at speeds up to 20 knots. The whirlpools form on the turn, so the tide table decides when to go and the bridge above is the free viewpoint.
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Bodin kirke
A stone church of about 1240 with metre thick walls, standing in its own graveyard among the suburbs. It is one of the few medieval buildings this far north to survive the bombing of 1940. The churchyard around it is open all year and takes only a short detour from the road.
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Bodø domkirke
Consecrated in 1956 to replace the church destroyed in the bombing, with a freestanding bell tower carrying a war memorial. The glass behind the altar is the tallest stained glass window in the country. The concrete work inside is plain and the window carries most of the light.
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Keiservarden
A cairn on a flat summit of 366 metres above the town, named for Kaiser Wilhelm II who walked up in 1889. The path from Maskinisten takes about an hour and gives the full sweep from the Lofoten wall to the Landegode island.
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Kjerringøy
A preserved trading post of fifteen buildings on the coast north of the town, the best kept in the country and the setting for several of Knut Hamsun's novels. It is reached by two ferries and about an hour of driving, and the houses open in summer.
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Landegode
A steep island north west of the town rising to 810 metres, with a lighthouse at Eggloysa and a summer boat from the mainland. It is the shape on the horizon from every viewpoint in the town. Sea conditions decide whether the crossing runs on any given day.
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Mjelle
A beach of pink and white sand behind a headland north of the town, reached on a footpath of about twenty minutes from the road. The colour comes from crushed shell and feldspar in the rock, and the water is Arctic.
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Norsk Luftfartsmuseum
The national aviation museum, laid out as a propeller with a civil wing and a military wing meeting at a real control tower. It holds the only U-2 spy plane on display outside the United States, which is here because the 1960 flight that was shot down was bound for this airfield.
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Nyholmen skandse
A small coastal battery of 1810 on an islet at the harbour mouth, built when the town was blockaded during the Napoleonic wars. It is open ground with a lighthouse beside it and the wind is the whole experience. It is reached on foot from the centre in about twenty minutes.
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Scandic Havet
The tallest building in the town, standing on the quay with the top floor bar looking west over the harbour to the open sea. It is where to sit for the midnight sun without leaving the centre. Rooms on the upper floors face the same way as the bar.
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Stormen
The library and concert house that anchor the rebuilt centre, in white concrete by the London practice DRDH and opened in 2014. The library is open to anyone and its upper floor is the warm place to sit out weather. Concerts in the hall next door run through the dark months.
