Repvåg

The way to Repvåg took us across the Skáidi (Sami word meaning "where the rivers meet") plateau which is pretty barren and resembling the landscape where we crossed the polar circle. 



There were plenty of reindeer grazing and a few scattered huts here and there. This area is apparently a popular cabin area for the people of Hammerfest. 

Taking a break from the E6 we drove onto the E69 which goes all the way to the North Cape. Since we're seeing that as part of an excursion on the Hurtigruten ship, we settled with taking a little sideroad out to Repvåg instead. Repvåg is situated in the bay of the Porsangen fjord, Norway's 4th largest fjord, and it is literally nothing more than a harbour and a handful of colourful houses with fish heads nailed to the wall. 

Yet again the landscape out here is pretty wild and we encountered a small herd of reindeer who decided that the road in front of our car was the perfect path for a leisurely stroll.

It was nice and sunny, however stepping out of the car in Repvåg, the chill factor was considerably higher than we've had so far. 

At the harbour, amongst the boats and rorbuer, there was a hotel/restaurant which was very interestingly decorated with a fishing boat, net full of crabs, murials of whales etc.

Unfortunately the restaurant didn't open until an hour later, but the guy there made us some salmon sandwiches. As we were eating, a fishing boat was leaving and it was a shame we didn't have an hour to spare to get some fresh fish when they returned. Or we could do as most tourists there do; fish our own. Repvåg is a pretty little place and well worth visiting, just remember the restaurant opens at 17.00!

On our way back we met a truckload of tourist buses, presumably heading for the North Cape. Along the roadside we also saw fiske gjelde (wooden poles where stockfish is hung to dry).

Again we had to go through some tunnels, one where the water kept dripping. The story about this tunnel goes that a troll lived on this side of the fjord, but had a lover on the other side whom he had been visiting every night before heading back in the morning. However this was in winter time when he it was dark all the time and when the summer came he forgot about the sun and left it too late to go back. He was hit by the first ray of sun and, like all trolls being hit by sun rays, he turned into stone and the mountian by this tunnel is said to be him (apparently it looks like a troll) and the water in  the tunnel is believed to be the tears of his lover.

Later on we passed an area called Lakselv (salmon river) where they interestingly have three offical languages; Norwegian, Sami and Finnish. We're now off to the heart of Sami land; Finnmarksvidda and one of its two main settlements, Karasjok.