Hammerfest

Monday, June 27

The ship provided a shuttle bus to get us into town, and it dropped us off at the Tourist Information office. In the same building was the Polar Bear Society museum, which traced the history of the pioneers who explored this area by ship, chasing the abundant fishing grounds and the animals like whales, walruses, polar bears and seals for their furs, oil and meat. It was very informative.

We then walked in the balmy sunny weather to the local church, which was unusual in its design both inside and out, but very beautiful. The old church in the graveyard was the only building left standing after the Germans departed, adopting the "scorched earth" policy in Northern Norway as well as many other places in Europe.


It was only a short walk to the Reconstruction museum, which showed how the people moved back into town even though there were no houses for them, and how over the years the state developed the town and its facilities. We enjoyed a lovely coffee and cake here before moving on.

There was a zigzag walking trail up to the lookout on top of the hill, and to save Noelle's knees I went the whole way to the top to get some great pics. She was happy sitting down for a while and chatting to people who passed her either going up or down! We also took in the Meridian Pillar which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, as it was one of many spots used in the 1800's to measure the meridians of the earth. 

At midnight we were up on deck in the sunshine while the captain slowly cruised past the North Cape, the northernmost tip of Europe. It was calm and mild on deck, and the sunshine was amazing!