Hammerfest was our first port of call this morning. We didn’t stop long enough to go exploring but we did find out that it has long been considered one of the most northerly towns at 700 39’ 48” … on a par with the northernmost point of Alaska and the centre of Greenland. Hammerfest has the Gulf Stream though so it has been a thriving fishing port over the years. Currently, local hopes are pinned to the oil and gas industry. To the northwest is the oilfield of Snovit and the gas fields of Albatross and Askeladden. Eventually oil and gas will be transported by sea to customers in mainland Europe.
The highlight of this day was our arrival at Honningsvag, the capital of the North Cape. It is fairly small with about 2500 inhabitants. With its excellent harbour, 4000 to 5000 ships call at Honnigsvag each year. They of course bring trade and industry to the area. As with many villages and towns in northern Norway, they were left razed when the Germans retreated at the end of the Second World War. In Honnigsvag, only the church remained. Apparently the German General there had a particular fondness for the organ in the church as he used to play on it.
The excursion from the ship on this day was to Nordkapp or the North Cape. As we travelled by bus, we climbed constantly and while en route crossed over the 71st parrallel, past an airport, a camp site, a youth hostel and a Sami camp. There were beautiful views of the fjords around the cape area and we were extra fortunate as we had brilliant sunshine and a relatively warm day. Our guide made certain that we knew how lucky we were telling us that a few days earlier it has snowed!
Nordkapp was given its name by Richard Chancellor, a British seafarer who in 1553, was searching north of Siberia for the Northwest Passage to India. The plateau, which is marked by a large globe statue, rises 307 m above sea level so the view from there is spectacular. North Cape is just over 2000 km from the North Pole and is Europe’s most northerly point of land. At Nordkapp Hall, there was an excellent widescreen video showing the four seasons at the cape.
A highlight of this excursion was seeing numerous reindeer grazing on the sub-Arctic landscape at the side of the road. Didn’t see Rudolph though, but wondered whether or not we had seen Prancer and Dancer!
We stopped at a Sami camp where we saw Sami’s in their traditional clothing, and examples of their tepee-like shelters which are used when they travel.
As the day ended, our weather began to change. The winds swung around to the north, and got very cold. Dark clouds scudded across previously sunny skies. Dinner was spent once again with our table-mates, Yvonne and Heintz. Conversation in French - German - English has been a challenge at times, but lots of fun too … thank goodness Heintz spoke enough English to help us through some of the translations.
The evening ended with a request from the crew for us to go out on deck, white towels in hand, to salute one of the south-bound sister-ships as she went by. The passengers on the other ship did the same. We headed to bed and to sleep as the ship rolled back and forth.
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