Ballstad

View over Ball­stad

Ball­stad is on the south tip of Ves­t­vå­gøy, one of the big­ger Lofo­ten islands. The litt­le town has about 1140 inha­bi­tants as of 2016 and it is geo­gra­phi­cal­ly orga­ni­zed around three bays that are used as har­bours. That is a major requi­re­ment for any sett­le­ments on the Lofo­ten islands, whe­re every town is a fishing vil­la­ge, or was a fishing vil­la­ge in the past, at least. Ball­stad still is a fishing vil­la­ge, the­re are ple­nty of fishing boats in the har­bours, and the­re is the asso­cia­ted fish pro­ces­sing indus­try. Addi­tio­nal­ly, the­re is a litt­le shi­py­ard as well as a gal­lery, shop, …

The­re are nice accom­mo­da­ti­on oppor­tu­ni­ties for tou­rists in Ror­bu hou­ses, the­se woo­den hou­ses direct­ly on th water­line, once used as simp­le accom­mo­da­ti­on for visi­ting fishers in the high fishing sea­son. The­se days, they have been tur­ned into nice, often upmar­ket accom­mo­da­ti­on for tou­rists. Not just is Ball­stad a love­ly place, but it has a stra­te­gi­cal­ly con­ve­ni­ent posi­ti­on for tou­rists, more or less half-way down the chain of Lofo­ten islands, so you can reach most other places within a day.

This pan­ora­ma was shot free hand, wit­hout tri­pod and pro­per pan­ora­ma gear. So it is not quite per­fect, but good enough for an impres­si­on.

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