Introduction
Geocachers on the
ship
After
another very rough sea overnight which disturbed our sleep, we went out on deck
while the ship docked at Vadso early this morning. The port was quite a long way from the main
town and only one person got off for a look around. Paul
realised that he had a GPS deviceand was looking for a “Geo Cache” we watched him looking all around a gate and
he seemed to eventually find something and then came back.
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| Vadso |
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| Geo Cacher |
Turn around point
We arrived
at Kirkenes on time at 9.00 where many left the ship and others joined it. There were several excursions on offer or do
your own sightseeing around the town.
Kirkenes is very close to the Russian border and the people of North
Norway have a very good relationship with their Russian neighbours and although
a visa is needed to cross from Norway into Russia, there is a special agreement
here that allows free movement for up to 30 miles inside Russia. The Norwegians go to Russia to buy fuel and
alcohol as it is much cheaper there and the Russians come to Norway to buy
electronic goods that are not easily available in Russia.
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| Ice in Kirkenes Harbour |
Husky Dog Sledding and Snow Hotel Excursion
We went off
on a Husky Dog sled excursion. A coach
took us on a 15 minute drive to the Snow Hotel from where the excursion started.
Paul and I
sat in a 2 person sledge which was driven by a ‘Musher’. The huskies made such a noise before we left
as they were impatient to get going and were trying very hard to run but couldn’t
because the anchor was stopping them. When
the anchor was lifted they ran off very fast across the snow and obviously
loved it. There was a bit of fighting
between dogs running side by side and we were told that this was probably
because one of them felt the other was not doing his/her fair share of
work. We were taken across frozen fjords
and lakes on a sledge pulled by 7 huskies.
We had a short stop and then
went off again eventually arriving back at the Snow Hotel. It was really good fun and the dogs were
lovely and friendly.
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| Husky Dog |
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| Paul with one of our Huskys |
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| Ride on Husky pulled sledge |
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| Husky Dogs waiting to go |
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| Husky Dog Sledge Ride |
Afterwards
we were given a very nice hot fruit drink to warm up in a hut with a roaring
log fire and then were taken to see some
reindeers that are kept at the Snowhotel and we were given lichen to feed them
with.
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| Reindeer |
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| Feeding Lichen to the Reindeer |
Finally we
were taken around the Snow Hotel. We
were allowed to look in all 20 bedrooms and the lounge and bar of the hotel
where everything was made of ice. It was
like a hotel in a freezer. Each room had
up to 5 beds and one wall of the room had a sculpture. The sculptures are done by local ice articles
and ranged from a rose in a double room
to the Winnie the Pooh characters in a family room. The hotel only allow guests to stay one night
one of the ice rooms but have more luxurious heated accommodation for further
nights. The ice hotel is rebuilt each
year in 3 and a half weeks ready for the first guests over Christmas but they
have to make their own snow as there is not enough natural snow at that time of
year. It was an amazing experience.
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| Snow Hotel Reception |
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| Snow Hotel Bedroom |
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| Snow Hotel Bedroom |
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| Snow Hotel Bedroom |
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| Ice Bar in Snow Hotel |
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| Tour of Snow Hotel Room |
We then
rejoined the ship to take us on our southbound trip back to Bergen, although today
we are travelling north again into the Barents Sea and then west before moving
southwards back towards Bergen.
Late
afternoon we stopped at Vardo, which is the most easterly town in Norway and is
known as Ultima Thule (as the latest object orbiting the sun has been called). We were there for an hour so took the
opportunity of walking up to an old fortress which dates back to the late 13th
century. There were also a few ice
sculptures around.
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| Vardo Fort |
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| Snow Sculptures in Vardo |
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| Vardo |
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