Inside Bodo in Norway – European Capital of Culture in 2024 and wants to celebrate with a spectacular ceremony… and an opera about fish

I stroll along the quay of Bodo harbour, breathing in the salty air as I stare in awe at the spiky green islands and surrounding snow-dusted granite peaks. It is simply world class, the setting of this town the size of Folkestone, sandwiched between mountains and sea, just inside the Arctic Circle.

When Bodo (pronounced ‘bow-dah’), along with the remote province of Nordland, was declared European Capital of Culture for 2024, there was astonishment in Norway.

The government had instructed the bidding committee not to tender and did not offer any financial support. But the bigwigs in Oslo had expected without the Viking-like spiciness of their wayward compatriots far in the north.

Nothing illustrates this spirit better than the decision to hold next year’s opening ceremony on February 3 on a floating stage in the harbor – and Queen Sonja of Norway will be there in the deep Arctic in the depths of winter.

The ceremony will also feature a floating stage designed to mimic an otolith – which, as we all know, is the tiny ear bone in a fish.

“It will be breathtaking, especially when the Northern Lights come out that evening,” says Julie Abelsen from the tourist office when I meet her in the city center. ‘Light represents hope for the future and is one of our themes.’

Julie tells me how a NATO air base, with its vibrant international community, was Bodo’s lifeline when she was growing up.

“The base closed in 2022, but we didn’t sit around and cry. We youth were determined to restart Bodo as something new.”

Certainly, I find a youthful atmosphere in the city. ‘Cold to cool’ is a theme expressed in enormous multi-coloured walls where avant-garde street artists have gone about their business.

Integrating the heritage and culture of the Sami (pictured) – the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia – was key to the cultural offer, writes Martin

Floating: Brightly colored fishing boats in Bodo harbour

There’s a striking new waterfront library, a thriving café culture and restaurants serving artfully presented dishes such as Arctic Skrei cod and reindeer meat.

Integrating the heritage and culture of the Sami – the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia – was key to the cultural offer. There will be storytelling and theater in giant lavvos – spiked animal hide shelters used by traveling reindeer herders.

A kaleidoscope of other traditional events are planned, many of which will spotlight the Arctic’s relationship with the ocean. There will be a concert by diving musicians in an underwater cave and an opera about stockfish – both world firsts.

As winter darkness turns to summer, festivals of music, dance, sculpture, opera and theater will flourish in the midnight sun.

Bodo’s chance to shine in 2024 comes alongside the equally underrated Tartu in Estonia and the spa town of Bad Ischl in Austria.

After ticking off most of Europe’s obvious choices, the EU is giving this lesser-known trio their moment in the sun (midnight or otherwise).

Martin visits the harbor quay and describes ‘guzzling salty air as he stares in awe at spiky green islands and the surrounding snow-dusted granite peaks’

Kjerringoy is located in a bay where red-brown painted boathouses and grass-roofed fishing huts have been restored to become a museum of the bygone days of stockfish drying and trading, says Martin

Bodo’s dazzle is greatly magnified by the Norland region, which shares the title of Capital of Culture.

I drive an hour north towards the old trading post of Kjerringoy, on a road through a landscape that pushes all the fantasy Norwegian fjord buttons.

I wind through deep-cut coves whose silky waters reflect the glacier-polished cliffs.

Kjerringoy is located in a bay where red-brown painted boathouses and peat-roofed fishermen’s huts have been restored to become a museum about the bygone era of stockfish drying and trading. It is this most traditional culture that villagers have chosen to highlight in 2024.

Elsewhere, at the Kjerringoy Land Art Biennale on a nearby lake, I find contemporary creations that could qualify for the Turner Prize.

But I find myself enjoying the wind-waved water, the mountains and the snow more, while a bald eagle soars above my head. These seem to me nature’s truest art.

The next day I drive east towards Norland National Park near the Swedish border. The Gulf Stream keeps the Norwegian coast ice-free and relatively mild, but my route feels quite Arctic.

White mountains rise on all sides, and the park behind them is a kind of Scandinavian Middle Earth. I see a lone elk floating through a strange pearly light. The park hosts exhibitions on Sami culture and local art as part of Bodo 2024. But as with Kjerringoy, it is the surrounding nature that is painted from a truly epic palette.

Bodo may have been a surprising choice as the 2024 Capital of Culture, but it has long been the capital of an extremely fascinating region.