Every design for Harstad

Harstad looks out over the Vågsfjorden from the north-eastern corner of Hinnøya, Norway's largest coastal island. History runs deep here. Trondenes, the municipality's millennium site, gathers old and new buildings and ancient remains in one place, with Trondenes kirke at its heart and Trondenes historiske senter to tell the story, while the schooner Skonnerten Anna Rogde carries the seafaring past.

Sheltered from Atlantic gales by mountains to the west, Harstad has milder winters than its latitude would suggest, with the Andfjorden to the west and the Tjeldsund Bridge linking the island to the mainland. It is the only town on Hinnøya, and every morning the northbound and southbound Hurtigruten ships meet here.

For anyone raised in Harstad, the map holds midnight-sun summers and dark-season winters, the festival weeks in June and the island they grew up on.