Honnegsvag and Hammerfest

This morning’s wake-up call at 4:45 AM came way too early.We had chosen an excursion which departed from Honningsvag, a city on the island of Mageroya, traveled to the North Cape for breakfast and then met back up with the ship in Hammersfest.

Our guide was Alexia who was born in Slovakia but lives in Mageroya and was kept very busy presenting her narration of the scenery in German, Norwegian and English. I thought possibly she was not native Norwegian since she was not pronouncing Norwegian words the way the shipboard Nords do. She was full of facts and had a lovely accent. 

Some history and trivia from Alexia: 

Snow fences made out of wood are everywhere in the North Cape. They stop the wind from transporting the snow. Automatic arms that block roads such as at train crossings also block roads in the North Cape. The only way to travel on some of these roads in the winter is to make a convoy and follow the snow plow (they plow 3-4 times a day). Tourists who didn’t follow the convoy and wanted the “experience”of driving got stuck and needed to be rescued. The cost for that “excursion” was 10,000 NOK. 

Roads are hard to build as there are many different kinds of sedimentary rock, including sandstone and slate.

Some of the 50,000 indigenous Sami people herd reindeer. In the north, they herd reindeer; in the south they fish.  They are the only people who can own reindeer. On Mageroya, there are 5 Sami families who have reindeer. They need to have at least 800 in a herd. Never ask a Sami how many reindeer they have as that is like inquiring about someone’s bank balance. 

Reindeer in Norway travel varied distances between winter and summer grazing areas, including swimming across rivers. Females drop their antlers, and can be found while hiking. Reindeer are afraid of people. At 20 meters, they will run away. They do not attack.

The Samis have their own language. They have 50 ways to describe a reindeer and 14 words for snow. They believe that their god is in nature, and their main god is the sun. We passed some smaller grass roofed huts which are called Sami siido. They use these huts for refrigeration.

Stock fish is dried cod. Clipfish is salted and dried cod. I have not had either but hope to have a chance to try these before the end of the trip. Last night we had a menu of food traditionallyneaten by the Sami people including herring and reindeer. The herring was very salty and fishy tasting but was good in small doses. The reindeer tasted very much like beef. Perhaps it is tough if overcooked because ours was quite rare. 

Breakfast spot