Bodo, along with Bad Ischl, Austria and Tartu, Estonia are 2024 European Capital of Culture cities. This is the first time a city north of the Arctic Circle has held this title and the 3rd Norwegian city, Bergen in 2000 & Stavanger in 2008. Events are planned throughout the year.

The small boat dock in Boda. The Port of Bodø does not receive public funding & is wholly owned by the municipality of Bodø. They have 14 employees w/financial, administrative, operational & marketing responsibility for day-to-day operations. From cruise ships to fishing fleets to tourist attractions to private boats…a big job!

Walking along the pier we came across many of these stone art pieces. The pier, sheltering the harbor, extended quite a ways to a lighthouse. The breeze was pleasant, probably a calm day for Bodo.

This anchor is now a piece of art along the Bodø docks recognizing US support during WWII. Bodø was attacked May 1940 by German Nazis as were many of the cities & towns throughout Norway.

We’re in town hall. This wall has an arrangement of furniture mounted perpendicular to the offices. It’s quite disorienting. The building is beautiful. It’s open & airy & all the offices are built on the outer wall with glass walls.

The modernist Bodo Cathedral of the Church of Norway was built in 1956. It is one of the first churches in Norway with a detached steeple. At the base of the steeple is a WWII memorial.

We went hunting for painted wall murals in Bodo city center. This Russian artist’s work is inspired by life, family, nature & books. Rustam Obic has a strong commitment to peace, knowledge & love.

We had a map & spent quite a bit of time finding some of them. This was tucked away in small alleyway.

The islands around Boda support the world's densest concentration of white-tailed sea eagles. The area is known as the Sea Eagle Capital.

There are lots of sculptures & flower gardens in public areas. Fishing is a way of life here. It has been the basis for settlement & employment along the entire Norwegian coast.

We took an audio bus tour 18 miles south of Bodo to Saltstraumen. The Saltstraumen maelstrom, a powerful whirlpool, is an unusual natural phenomenon occurring 4 times every 24 hours. The tides cause one fjord to drain into another. The result is a watery chaos that shifts over 400 million cubic meters of water one way & then the other every 6 hours. That’s a lot of water!

This is an eddy in the middle of the fjord. The tide is coming in strong & pretty soon this will form a whirlpool. The Saltstraumen maelstrom holds the Guinness world record for the strongest natural whirlpool in the world.