Breakfast at the North Cape

We had booked four off-ship excursions as part of our cruise; the first being breakfast at the North Cape (the most northly place in Europe), Unfortunately, this involved waking up at 5am which was a bit of a struggle!

The ship docked at Honningsv åg at 6am. The quay here, like most quays along the Norwegian coast is too small for a lot of cruiseships to dock, so the passengers then have to be taken ashore by smaller boats. Hurtigrutren however managed to dock just fine. Onshore there were 5 coaches ready to whisk us away (2 for Norwegian speakers, 1 for Germans, 1 for English/Spanish and a final one for English/French speakers). Each coach had a tour guide who gave lots of interesting stories and antidotes about the places we passed on our way to the North Cape...one involved passing the most northerly petrol station in the world which also probably sold the most expensive petrol in the world.

We drove through Mageroya, an island that only got connected to the main land in recent times. Before that the 100 inhabitants living here had to reach the mainline by boat, like many islanders around these part still have to do. On these islands and also the sparsely populated mainland it is common to not lock your front door. When one village, like one we passed, consists of 14 inhabitants it's not really needed.

We had a couple of photo stops along the way and the weather looked promising.

It is said that the North Cape is covered in fog for 300 days of the year but it was looking as if we might be lucky enough to have a fog free day

Just as at the Arctic circle, the excitment built as we reached the North Cape although the coach load of jabbering Spanarids prevented us from getting carried away.

Again, just as at the Arctic circle, the first thing you notice is the wind...it was very very windy. Europe's most northerly point is marked with an iron wrought globe at the top of a 300metre cliff which just drops off into the ocean. Even this early, it was pretty full of tourists.

But we managed to get sole possession of the globe for some pictures

 After a bit more fun...

...we decided to head indoors for some much needed breakfast (overlooking the globe monument, of course!). At the tourist centre they also have a 15 minute video about the Nortrh Cape. Initially, we were pretty sceptical about sending 15 mins watch a video when we could be outside but it turned out to be an excellent film of still photograps and short clips capturing the seasons around the North Cape against some very stirring background music and was very worthwhile.

Before we knew it, it was time to board the coaches again to meet up with the boat at Hammerfest, the world's most northerly town. Currently there is a battle between Hammerfest and Honningsvåg over which one is the most northernly town in the world. Hammerfest holds the title, but its rival is however further north, but didn't get town status until much later then Hammerfest.Another proud statement the Hammerfest-ians can boast about is being the first town in Europe to have electric street lighting. The town has also been rebuilt three times, having been flattened by a hurricane, and burnt to the ground twice, once by retreating German soldiers.

But the most important thing about Hammerfest though, is that this is where Isbjørnklubben (The Polar Bear Club) is located and it is possible to become a member of The Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society. However membership can only be gained in person so it is quite an exclusive club and one which Anne Helene is now a proud member of! Hooray! Now she has to travel here every June for their annual meeting!

We boarded MS Midnatsol at about 12.40 and put our feet up. Our next excursion was to attend a midnight concert at the Arctic Cathedral in Tromsø this evening so we decided to take a mid afternoon nap (as soon as the rather mundane task of dong laundry had been completed)!