The next morning I got up early! After having seen the Northern Lights the night before the second objective of my trip, visiting the North Cape, was up for that day!
I woke up that morning in a cold cabin. The ship I was traveling on is from 1956 and insulation materials as well as heating systems were not so advanced back in the day. Additionally I had an outside cabin, whose outside "wall" had the freezing waters of the North Atlantic on the other side.
Anyways, I dressed quickly and made my way up to the breakfast room, which was nearly empty. Just two or three people were sitting quietly infront of their coffee and buns, looking out onto the snowy shores of Northern Norway. I investigated the buffet and after a couple of minutes I decided for some basic things like cheese, cold cut and some jam. I was still too drowsy to be brave enough to try all the Norwegian breakfast specialties like rotten fish and so on.
I was sitting alone by the window enjoying the view and the warm air coming out of the heating vents. After all it had been a very cold night in my cabin. I was sitting long at the table and was drinking the horrible instant coffee nevertheless. I just needed to warm up again and since there was no proper alternative I settled with this colored water!
As I said, the room was nearly empty and the people not so talkative. The evening before I hadn't been talking to the people neither; I had been outside most of the time and had just come to the ship. I was still looking for my way around the ship and was looking for "my" place to sit during the day. Most of the other passengers were in their 60s or 70s and had been on the ship for nine or ten days already. They knew each other and had more topics to talk about.
After some time however, one older lady came over and asked me if I could help her with her digital camera. The day night before, when the Northern Lights were up, she had been pressing some buttons on her camera, changed all the settings and wasn't able to reset it. She addressed me in English, but from her accent I realized that she was German-speaking and so I answered to her in our mother tongue.
It turned out, that she was from Switzerland and that she had been on the ship since Bergen and was also going to the North Cape. She invited me over to the other table, where there were more Germans and Swiss. I was resetting her camera and she was really grateful about it and promised not to change the settings again.
Soon the ship arrived in Honningsvåg, the closest port of call of the Hurtigrute to the North Cape. All passengers, who were going on the North Cape Excursion were dressed in warm and windproof clothing and were waiting by the door to disembark.
At the dock the bus that was supposed to bring us to the North Cape was already waiting and since it was something like -25°C in Honningsvåg we all hurried to get in. The excursion guide was from Switzerland and since most of the people were German-speaking she was doing the guiding in both English and German. On the way she was telling about the area and about the history of the North Cape!
At one intersection the plow was already waiting for us; The street up to the North Cape is closed during the winter and is just opened for the bus of Hurtigruten. The bus has to drive behind the plow, which is clearing the streets from the snowdrifts.
We were going through a barren landscape without any trees, everything was covered in snow and the wind was really strong. The snow was flying and it looked totally surreal, I knew I was in the Arctic and it totally felt like it as well! The ride was pretty eventless otherwise; we were going for about 40 minutes over this road and then suddenly at the end of a small hill there it was: The North Cape!
We got out of the bus and the wind was nearly blowing us off our feet. While the rest of the group walk straight into the Nordkapphallen, I walked around the building and went to the North Cape Plateau with the world famous Globe! I was enjoying the few minutes alone at this hostile place; the wind was blowing merciless and the temperatures were far below zero!
I walked around the area and enjoyed the loneliness of this place. I had warm clothes on and so I didnt mind the coldness nor the wind. I walked over to the Children of the World Monument and then after some time into the Nordkapphallen.
It was weird to be in there since it is designed to welcome the thousands of visitors coming every day during summer; now it was deserted and seemed totally over-sized and mispositioned. I walked around the visitor center and watched the 15 minute long movie about the four seasons at the North Cape. I went to the North Cape chapel and the bar, which was closed however.
After a while walking around it was time to go back. I went upstairs again and to the bus, which brought us back to Honningsvåg where we reembarked the M/S Nordstjernen.
After all the North Cape is just a barren and quite boring piece of rock some 307m over the vast emptiness of the Arctic Ocean. However, somehow it is magical; It is officially - not factually - the northernmost point of the European continent, it is one of these famous "ends of the world" and it is simply a place that exhilarates the senses. It is hard to explain, but now I can totally understand the appeal that emanates from this place!
~M~
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