A Stop in Honningsvåg and a Trip to Nordkapp
It's literally the end of the road for Europe
Our ship sailed to another port in beautiful Norway: Honningsvåg, population 2,245. That means the 1,350 or so people on the Viking Sky increased the local population by about 60% that day, so you can see how some of these smaller coastal towns have embraced tourism to provide a healthy economic jolt. If you’re interested, you can click here to review the impressive lineup of ships scheduled to pay a visit to Honningsvåg in July alone.
In addition to being strikingly beautiful, Honningsvåg is notable because it’s just a short drive to Nordkapp, the northernmost point in mainland Norway and the northernmost point in Europe that can be accessed by car. It’s only 1,300 miles from there to the North Pole. At Nordkapp, the Norwegian Sea meets the Barents Sea and of course the sun was still above the horizon for 24 hours a day.
On the ride to the point, we saw multiple groups of grazing reindeer.
One attraction at Nordkapp is a giant globe, which lets you know you’ve reached the end of the line, as far as travel by land is concerned.
This next photo gives you a sense of the endless water stretching out through the Arctic.
As we rode back to the ship, the landscapes in every direction were stark but stunning.
As we sailed away, we were treated to yet another perspective of the Nordkapp globe.
I love how those pictures tell the tale: the close-up of the globe juxtaposed against the distant views ..... stunning. Then I pulled back on the map and now I have to ask: what do they eat? It looks like the natural resources for food must be somewhat limited.