{"id":212,"count":3,"description":"<strong>The Vester\u00e5len islands are located north of the Lofoten. The area also consists of a large number of islands and peninsulas.<\/strong> The main towns in Vester\u00e5len are Harstad and Andenes.\n\n<strong>From the 5th century onwards, Vester\u00e5len and Senja served as a refuge for the Vikings.<\/strong> From here, they controlled almost all the lands around the North Atlantic Ocean and large parts of mainland Europe, as far as Istanbul.\n\n<strong>Brilliant shipbuilders and sailors settled on the islands and built settlements there. <\/strong>On a peninsula just north of Harstad, justice was administered and parliament met during the Viking Age. Fans of Viking history can visit the church built on that site when we stop in Harstad. \n","link":"https:\/\/seawindadventures.com\/en\/destinations\/vesteraalen-2\/","name":"Vester\u00e5len","slug":"vesteraalen-2","taxonomy":"destination","parent":0,"meta":[],"thumbnail":{},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seawindadventures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destination\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seawindadventures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destination"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seawindadventures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taxonomies\/destination"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https:\/\/seawindadventures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trip?destination=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}