Andiamo: 6/20–Honnigsvag

Another dreary day, but at least it isn’t raining right now. And the temperature isn’t all that bad – low 50’s – pretty good considering we are now in the northernmost city of Norway (there is a distinction between city and town – so Hammerfest has the “town” designation, while Honnigsvag has the “city” or something like that). The captain says it isn’t the end of the world here, but you can see it. Cute.

We originally had a car planned for today too, but the car rental place closed, and while they called us and asked if we still wanted it (they would deliver), we decided in the end to – gasp! – take a ship’s tour. I know, I know, shocking, but it was a cool little tour of the Mageroy island (where Honnigsvag is located) and we thought it might be nice.

We scotched going to Nordkapp, where everyone goes to see the absolute northernmost part of the continent (everyone including 6 bus loads of crew who were beside themselves with excitement), because we had read that it was crowded and touristy. The Mageroy island tour would give us a better sense of how these hardy souls lived up here.

We enjoy the scenery as we drive along the highway on our way to our first stop in Kamoyvaer. Taking pictures from the bus window of the coastline and lakes, as well as the beach. Yes, beach! And while it was empty on our first pass by (it was early) when we returned at the end of the day, there were plenty of people there. Hardy Norwegians!

It’s beautiful up here, in a desolate way. Sparsely populated, with brownish, green hills gently sloping up into craggy, rock strewn peaks. Nothing around, until you round a corner and happen upon little fishing outposts like this…

More gorgeous scenery ensues, until we arrive in Kamoyvaer. Here we taking a walking tour of the little village (60 people maybe? In the summer, far less in the winter). It’s cute and quaint, with a fish processing “factory,” a snug little harbor and some gorgeous wild flowers.

Across the bay, there is an island that our guide says is owned by someone in town. On the shores there are cloudberries, which are a Norwegian delicacy, grown wild, that people pick and then sell at markets. People sail their boats over, pick the berries, then bring them back and pay the owner of the island a percentage of what they will receive from selling the berries. It’s an honor system, but then, in this small part of the world, everyone knows everyone so you really can’t get away with stealing the berries.

Next we have time to visit a local artist, and we think: here we go, the usual tour stop. But this artist actually has some great works. She creates collages from recycled magazines. At the end of the summer, all the residents of Honnigsvag bring their old magazines to her so she can work throughout the winter. She culls the pages for the right colors for her art (portraits she sketches first to get the image down on paper), then glues them all together, but in reverse – so that the finished art is doesn’t seem to be created from overlapping paper, but somehow melded together. I can’t explain it, but there are some fantastic pieces here. We wander through the gallery, with a lot of folks buying pieces. Maggi purchases a little reindeer souvenir, and we are almost out the door when I stumble on a great vertical frame with 3 prints – Northern lights, Summer sun and Winter scene. It is really stunning and would fit perfectly on our kitchen wall. But time is running short, there is a long line to pay for items and we are loathe to hold up the bus to SHOP of all things, so we reluctantly hop back on the bus, ignoring our pangs of not-buying remorse.

Our trip continues northward, past the turn off to Nordkapp, and onto the world’s northernmost fishing village of Skarsvag. On the way we see herds of reindeer. Where’s Santa? But these reindeer don’t look anything like Rudolph (or Donner or Blitzen for that matter), more like spotted deer, and not so many with antlers yet.

Soon, we stop at a scenic overlook, where we can see Nordkapp – look for the pointy looking rock jutting out on the left…

…and a spectacular view down a fjord-like inlet behind Nordkapp.

A few minutes later, we crest a hill and coast down into Skarsvag, which is a one street little village, crouched at the base of gently rolling green hills on one side, and lots of water and, of course, lots of fishing boats, on the other.

We follow our tour guide around the little fishing harbor and past some boat barns. Along the way, we learn why red painted houses are the most prevalent, red paint was the cheapest paint available when the houses were rebuilt. If you were rich, you could afford to buy blue or green paint, but most were not, thus the predominance of red. We also learned there was no road on the island until 1956. Before that, the modes of travel were by boat or by foot. Our last stop is the Vinterhus – which is the obligatory Christmas store.

It’s small and cramped and packed inside – the line for the bathroom stretches out the door. I skeedaddle for the backdoor, while Ed patiently waits in line. Then we all reconvene out front and head back to the bus.

On the way back into town, we see tons more reindeer – they are everywhere – and so unafraid. They just stand at the side of the road looking at us.