What is it like to live on a desolate, windy island with the North Pole as your closest neighbor? As it turns out, Honningsvag, Norway is not so bad at all!
Actually, Honningsvag was my favorite city visited on our 14-day coastal Norway cruise on the Holland America Koningsdam.
Interestingly, this was the only town where we did not schedule an excursion. We walked around the town and found these things on our own:
- Statue of a World War 2 dog hero
- Trolls
- Ice bar
- Community theater play
- Midnight sun
Plus, we crossed the Arctic Circle!
Honningsvag
Honningsvåg is the northernmost town in mainland Norway. For this reason, it is called the gateway to the North Cape. It has a population of 2,484 and was only declared a town in Norway in 1996.
There are about 100 cruise ship calls during summer season making Honningsvag the largest cruise port in northern Norway. Likewise, the port can accommodate 4 cruise vessels at the same time.
Honningsvag Climate
Even though Honningsvåg is located at the northernmost extreme of Europe, it has a subarctic climate, thanks to the Gulf Stream. Also, there is no permafrost because the mean annual temperature is 36 °F.
Bamse (1937-1944)
The first thing I saw when disembarking the ship and walking into Honningsvag was a statue of Bamse, a St. Bernard, who was a World War 2 hero.
Bamse, whose name means “teddy bear” in Norwegian, not only saved lives of sailors but he broke up fights between the men and made sure they never missed a curfew by fetching them from the pub.
He was a member of the crew and ended up dying in 1944. Over 900 people came to his funeral to say goodbye and thank you to the local canine hero.
Trolls
Everywhere I looked I saw giant trolls. The trolls of Scandinavian myths are famously ugly giants that turn to stone in the sunlight. They are much bigger and stronger than humans and are very dangerous and evil by disposition.
In Norway, it is believed that a troll brings good luck to any person who owns one. I should have very good luck because I brought 6 of them (small size) home with me where they reside on my mantle. Anyone wanting to learn more about the fascinating folk lore of trolls can check here.
The Artico Ice Bar
I knew there was something called an “ice bar” in Honningsvag and set out to find it by following a map. I almost missed the non-descript wooden building but after entering I found a beautiful gift shop complete with a sleeping dog where I purchased the tickets. They then directed us through another door and handed us a heavy water proof poncho. Because the owners want the visitors to feel the ice, they did not provide gloves. Finally, we were allowed to enter the ice bar which was very cold indeed.
Although 4200 LEDs illuminate the bar, it is still rather a dark blue color and takes a few minutes for the eyes to adjust. Then, the wonder of it all begins. Everything, and I mean everything, is made of ice.
An employee served us each 2 non-alcoholic drinks in an ice glass carried on a tray made of ice. There were many benches and seats in various configurations all made of giant chucks of ice. The walls were made of ice as was the serving bar. There was a real size igloo. The owners love ice and try to show it in its perfect state encouraging visitors to touch and feel the ice in all its glory.
It took fifty-five blocks of ice from the lakes of Lapland each weighing 1764 pounds to create the ice bar. Amazingly, the ice is changed yearly to keep it fresh.
Visitors can stay as long as they like which is easy for them to offer since at 23 degrees, no one wants to stay too long.
A screen projecting on ice and snow shows images of the area in winter as well as the aurora borealis. The light, sound and the images create an incredibly beautiful, almost surreal world.
“Our Northernmost Life”
As we wandered the streets of Honningsvag, we came upon the North Cape Café Theater not far from the dock advertising their show called “Our Northernmost Life”. The next performance was in one hour so we bought tickets and came back at the designated time.
The theater resides in the Honningsvag Cultural Center located in a former chapel built after WW2. A small snack bar served coffee and waffles.
Young, local performers sang, dance and acted for 40 minutes, giving a wonderful presentation of life on a desolate, windy island with the North Pole as their closest neighbor. They were not professionals but the performers gave it their all and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Midnight Sun
Norway is known as the “Land of the Midnight Sun” because the sun appears at midnight. In the middle of the night when the sky is normally a blanket of darkness, the sun can clearly still be seen.
During the summer, in the North Cape of Norway, (about 13 miles from Honningsvag) the sun shines for 1800 hours without interruption for a total of 75 days from May 14th to July 29th. Since I was visiting in July, I was lucky enough to see it.
In Conclusion
Although all of the Norwegian coastal villages were beautiful, Honningsvag was my favorite. Because we discovered so many unexpected things on own just walking around, everything seemed more real. I highly recommend a visit to Honningsvag.
Great adventure. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Debbie!
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