Northern (De)Lights!

Still heading North, and our next stop took us back to Honningsvåg near the North Cape . . .


As we'd visited before the plan had been to head out on an excursion, only high winds and drifting snow meant we couldn't get out of town.


So that left us with a sunny couple of hours to revisit the delights of Honningsvåg . . . but this time in the snow (of which there was a lot, mostly piled up on the sides of the roads in giant heaps).


And again it was the snow that made the day, as we crunched our way along . . .

. . . dodging the snow shoveller as it worked its way through those heaps of snow, shunting them away for dumping in the sea . . .





. . . while old ladies scooted past us on their wooden sleds with their shopping!


By mid-afternoon we were heading back out to sea, watching the scenery go by.  This included passing by Finnkirka, a rock formation which resembles a church from a distance, and which was apparently used as a landmark by the local fisherfolk, indicating that they weren’t too far from a safe harbour:

The next day saw us reach the final destination on the Northbound section of our voyage - arriving in Kirkenes, close to the Russian border.



Here we'd booked ourselves onto an excursion to the Snow Hotel, which was located a short drive out of town - past First Lake, Second Lake and Third Lake (as named by miners who evidently lacked anything resembling a poetic turn of phrase!).




The hotel itself is mostly constructed from packed snow (which has better insulating properties than ice), although it has an ice bar through the main entrance, followed by a series of rooms (decorated with snow carvings) leading into a permanent facilities block:

Another highly enjoyable trip (everything looked fantastic in the sunshine), although I'm not sure I'd want to stay in the hotel (no windows, so it felt quite claustrophobic).  The hotel is part of a larger complex though - the cabins with large north facing windows (for viewing the Lights) looked much more comfortable.  It was also another husky sledding centre so we got to see more dogs (plus they also had reindeer!).

On the drive back to the ship, we stopped (rather precariously) at a viewpoint above the town - stunning vistas looking across to the ship and the sea:

So far, these posts have said a lot about the days, but what about the nights?  And more specifically the Lights (Northern), which were of course a big inspiration for the whole trip.  Over the last couple of nights we had seen them, but on the night after leaving Kirkenes, we had a brief window where they were truly lovely . . .

(Kudos to Martin for persevering with trying to capture what we could see on camera - not easy on board a moving ship!)

Inside the Arctic Circle

The next few days took us into the Arctic Circle . . .

First stop, Svalbard, the northernmost point of the trip - didn't see any 'armoured' bears (a la His Dark Materials), unless you count this very impressive sculpture!



Weather was dismal and damp, and our port of call, Longyearbyen, was a triumph of function over form . . .


. . .  pipes running through the town, mine workings, utilitarian housing blocks, and abandoned snowmobiles (left where the melting snow had stranded them).


Svalbard Museum was pretty good though, and the sun even came out as we left . . .

After a day at sea we were back to the coast of mainland Norway to visit what is (mistakenly as it turns out) often described as the most northerly point of mainland Europe - the North Cape.

We'd booked the North Cape shore excursion, which stopped off at a so-called native Sami 'camp' - there was a tent, an old boy dressed in traditional costume, and a reindeer or two - but most of the site was given over to the tourist shop!

The North Cape itself had a fantastic visitor centre, with some great cliff views - and the weather was at least dry, if a little dull.


Back to Honningsvag, where by the afternoon it was raining again . .  so we had another damp walk round a very deserted looking town, before returning to the ship.


Later that night we sailed past the North Cape which actually looked much more impressive from the sea.

Next stop, Tromso, one of the largest cities north of the Arctic Circle.

Got up to an unrelentingly wet day - had planned a long walk and a cable car trip up the mountain to take in the views - managed the long walk (refused to pay for the bus) but gave up on the cable car (wouldn't have been able to see anything!).

Ended up in the Arctic-themed 'Polaria' centre instead (which had the advantage of being warm and dry), and as it turned out it had some really good exhibits, and stunning panoramic films.

The large seal aquarium was also great fun (you could walk through a tunnel underneath it).  We were there for 'feeding time' which involved lots of stimulating activities for the seals, who all moved far too fast for us to take a halfway decent photo.

From there we eventually headed back out into the rain - walked over Tromso bridge to see the outside of the Arctic Cathedral - then retraced our steps on the long trudge back to the ship.

The rain did eventually begin to ease off, and we called in at the Botanic Gardens (nearly opposite the ship's berth) for a quick look round - would have been really lovely with a bit of sunshine.

By the time we got back on board we'd walked miles, and were more than ready for hot chocolate and a sit down!

After the uninspiring weather in the Arctic Circle, really hoping for some sunshine for our next port of call - Geirangerfjord . . .