When you think of Norwegian villages, you probably picture primarily red and white sided houses and buildings. But Sortland, which is the capital of the Vesterålen archipelago, is unique in that the entire city is painted blue.

Local artist Bjørn Elvenes had the idea to develop a colour palette of different blue hues, as well as a palette of approved accent colours that could be used to paint the town. As a home owner, if you decided to re-paint your house in an approved colour, you would receive a discount on the paint.

And so the blue town - and really, a village wide-art project - was born.