The Hurtigruten sailed through rough seas last night, so I experienced seasickness for the first time. I teetered into the breakfast smorgasbord, but my usual fish favourites turned my stomach, so I had a nice bowl of barley porridge with mountain berries then went back for a snooze in my cabin.
When I woke up again, we had arrived in charming Honningsvåg, the northernmost town in Norway.
I had a bus tour at 1:30 PM, and I was determined to make it, so I got up and headed into the dining room at lunchtime. I was still extremely queasy, so I ended up with a banana and two slices of rye bread. Then I asked a waitress to bring me some peanut butter, made myself a sandwich, and forced myself to eat half of it.
I went for a short walk and felt marginally better. I stopped into a 7-Eleven and asked if they had ginger ale. Doing this completely in Norwegian, the cashier picked up on the “ale” part and started telling me that the liquor store was closed. I explained that ginger ale was brus (pop), not øl (beer). Apparently, they don’t have ginger ale here, but he did sell me an energy shot containing ginger and lemon. There’s no caffeine in their energy drinks here, and they contain very little sugar.
Along my walk, I enjoyed the recycled art created by local students who scavenged beaches for discarded garbage. This initiative is called Global Challenges.
I had read previously that Honningsvåd had a copper statue of Bamse, the heroic Saint Bernard who served aboard the WWII Norwegian minesweeper Thorodd, so I was thrilled to locate it. He had saved the lives of two sailors and died in Montrose, Scotland while still on duty; while his statue in Honningsvåg faces Scotland, an identical one in Montrose faces Honningsvåg.
I was glad to make my bus tour, even though I was still feeling a bit green. We drove to the North Cape, the northernmost point in Europe accessible by road. Being high in the Arctic, there  were no trees, so the landscape was completely otherworldly.
I saw a lot of reindeer along the way. Most were earthy shades that camouflage with the landscape, but the odd one was white which is caused by a genetic mutation called leucism. Not to be confused with albinism, leucism reduces pigmentation in the skin and hair but doesn’t affect the eyes. Interestingly, some leucistic reindeer have hearing problems or even deafness.
We passed a touristy Sami roadside kiosk that had three tired looking, roped-up reindeer, one of them a big white beauty. I was actually glad that the bus didn’t stop here.
Back on board, we had a Sami dinner. Whitefish and Reindeer sure tasted good after half a peanut butter and banana sandwich!
A few fun facts about this area:
- The police work two hours a week.
- It’s fairly mild in winter, but there are gale-force winds that can make the wind-chill bitterly cold.
- There’s a tiny beach that locals have nicknamed Copacabana Beach. The water reaches a balmy 10°C in summer.
I have a long 36-40 hours ahead of me crossing the Barents Sea. I’m hoping for smooth sailing… wish me luck! 🤢
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