Honningsvåg, Norway –

July 1 –

Despite the captain’s warning that we might have some inclement weather, we had a calm night.  We actually got a wake-up call at 11:45 PM (yes, I said PM) because we wanted to see the midnight sun.  As you can see it was nowhere near the horizon.  Thank goodness for sleep masks!

The midnight sun from our veranda

This morning we arrived in Honningvåg on the island of Magerøya.  This is the northern tip of Norway.  Our current position is 70°58.91 N, 025°57.80 E.  About 20 miles from here is Nordkapp which is the end.  We opted to take a tour not to the end but instead to a fishing village called Kamøyvær.  To get there we drove past an arm of the Barents Sea and a fjord or two.  The waters here are full of plankton; hence fishing is good because the cod come to feast on the plankton.  Along the way we saw a few reindeer. Unfortunately we passed them so quickly that I couldn’t snap a photo.  The reindeer are only here during the summer months.  The Sámi people bring them here by boat at the beginning of the summer to graze.  There are no native trees here, just lichens, mosses and some grass.  It’s basically arctic tundra.

These were among the few trees.  They have been planted there and along with the fences are meant to provide avalanche protection for the town below.

We arrived in Kamøyvær which is a tiny village, population 63 people, 7 cats and 4 dogs, on a little inlet filled with fishing boats.  The attraction here besides being able to see some fishermen and their catches is a place called the Gallery East of the Sun.  The artist is a transplanted German woman from Nuremburg named Eva Schmutterer.  More than 20 years ago she met and married a man from this place.  He didn’t want to live in Germany so they settled here.  Eva was in the gallery and explained her work to us.  It is very unique, unlike anything we’d seen before.  She creates collages from old magazines.  On the back of the work you can see it’s a collage, but the front is in vivid color and can best be described as resembling stained glass or modern impressionism.  All of her work portrays the natural vistas here. Her art is unique and clearly shows the stark beauty of this place.

Gallery East of the Sun

When we left the gallery we walked to a nearby fisherman’s building.  He must have just come in because he was cleaning some fish.  He had a couple of huge king crabs hanging.  Of course I had to take a photo of an old Virginia crab with a Norwegian one.  Once again I was struck by the wind-burned faces of the fishermen and their reddened and gnarled hands.  To do this for a living in this place takes a very tough person.

Fishing harbor in Kamøyvær

Fishermen working on their catch

Drying some of the catch

Two crabs - one from Virginia, one from Norway

We drove back to town and made a stop at one of only a couple of ice bars in Norway.  The place is completely constructed of blocks of ice cut from a local lake each spring.  There were three ships in town today so the place was packed with people and totally chaotic.  We left before getting anything to drink because it was just a mad crush of people.

I forgot to mention that earlier in the day we stopped in a little shop directly behind where we were docked. It was a shop run by some elderly Sámi women. I say elderly but I don’t really know that.  Anyway, everything for sale was a product made from reindeer. There were pelts, antlers, knives, utensils etc.  We weren’t in the market for any of it and I’m not sure we could even bring some of it into the country.  Al asked one of the ladies if he could take a photo since she was dressed in traditional garb.  After he did she began talking in what must have been the Sámi language.  It sounded almost Russian to me, but who knows.  The only word that sounded remotely like anything we knew was something like “capitalismo,” at least we think that’s what she said.  We offered to pay her for letting us take her picture, but that evidently wasn’t what she wanted.  We finally said goodbye and went on our way. 

Sámi Lady in full costume

Parking the zodiacs in the Quest's marina

The ferry to the mainland and the rest of coastal Norway

One other interesting thing we learned about this place which is at the northernmost point of the European continent.  Near the end of WWII as the Russians were advancing including to Honningsvåg, the Germans occupying the place burned everything to the ground.  The only structure left standing was the church.  The residents who were here took refuge in the church and in caves until houses could be rebuilt, no small feat since there is no timber here and materials had to be brought in by boat.  Additionally it was winter when this happened. I can’t even imagine what the people endured!

Not the most exciting photo, but this is the northernmost point in Europe

After we left Honningsvåg since it was such a calm evening the captain sailed us around the island past the North Cape.  It was around 11 PM, still very light, but a few clouds and sea fog were over and beneath the sheer cliffs of the cape. It looked very mysterious.  It was another lovely day here in the Arctic Circle.  Now we head south again.