A Taste of Scandinavia in Poulsbo, WA

Little Norway on the Fjord – Poulsbo, WA

Poulsbo, sitting at the edge of Liberty Bay, is a delightful, highly Scandinavian-influenced, community. This quaint, picturesque, little town has a strong Norwegian heritage. Its founders came from Norway via Michigan and Minnesota to settle in a landscape that was similar to their own snow-peaked mountains and fjords. Other Scandinavian immigrants soon followed.

On a prior visit to Poulsbo, we had docked at the city marina, so this time we decided to anchor out in the protective confines of the bay and dinghy into town for our on-shore leave. We arrived late afternoon, so we hung out on the boat and enjoyed a nice sunset and a peaceful night at anchor.

The next morning we dinghied over to the city marina to tie up so we could have lunch and shop. We were surprised to see Teddy Bear (above) docked at the marina. We first encountered this interesting yacht in Anacortes, WA when we took possession of our Fathom 40.

Poulsbo has an array of gift shops, galleries, and stores with unique and unusual items to look through. We found a Mexican Cantina-style restaurant for a tasty lunch which in hindsight is about as far away from Scandinavian food as I guess you can get.

Thinking back to our first visit to Poulsbo, we remembered a nice bakery in town, although it was late in the day, we tracked down Sluys Bakery. We each made mental notes to decide what we wanted to pick up the next morning for breakfast when I would return by dinghy for a pastry run.

Something seemed to be amiss in the water in the bay, especially in the marina. Not sure what it could be, can only imagine. Wouldn’t want to accidentally fall into the water in this area.

The next morning we awoke to a pea soup-type fog; it took forever to lift.