70° 39' 48"

Hammerfest, Norway.

All through the night, there had been that little chink of light through the curtains, but on opening them to find bright sunshine this morning, I might have given an audible cheer. That clear blue sky and crisp air on opening the verandah doors was wonderful.

Our morning plans had been adjusted and our 9.15am tour rescheduled to 2.45pm, so we got our things together and caught the shuttle bus downtown, not wanting to waste any of our time here.

Wearing old favourite, comfy shoes, there was no doubt as to the way to get there.

For Hammerfest is home to the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society and since that was the focus of the whole community, it seemed that was the place to go.

As if we’d not have headed there anyway?!

It’s actually a clever marketing ploy from the local tourist board, but nevertheless, there was a small museum with a few interesting things within, including this fish drying frame, to be referred to later. Many of the exhibits and the place itself reminded us of the ports we visited in Unalaska - a similar kind of community on the other side of the world.

Some of the historic images of Hammerfest revealed just how much the town has changed - or perhaps, how it hasn’t changed much at all.

Of course, there simply had to be handsome examples of the polar bear himself, too.

But having explored the Polar Bear Club, what more was there to see on this Saturday morning in Hammerfest? The answer was, not very much. We waited for the return shuttle bus to appear and I took a picture of one of several empty service buses that came and went from this town centre bus stop. There was simply no one around but us.

The shuttle soon brought us back to the quayside, where a bunch of reindeer were hanging around. I’m sure those two officers from Navigator didn’t really have venison as a menu option on their minds!

We had read of a monument in our guidebook; a World Heritage place, in fact. It appeared to be not so far from the ship and so armed with a map and with the help of the occasional signpost, we set off in search.

We had company along the way.

We also came across some spectacular views from behind all those buildings.

There, to the left of the view was a grassy mound, where on top was a monument marking the meridian arc. Here marks the northern point of the chain of triangulations that were used to calculate the first accurate measurement of the earth. I found it incredible to imagine that this very same meridian passes very close to Odessa - how can that be? My mental world map is so very distorted (thank you, Mercator!)

I took the Visitors Book from the secure box and signed it before placing it carefully back and locking the box again. As I turned around to rejoin my Hero, I startled one of the reindeer who had come close behind me, grazing quietly. I apologised and tried to tiptoe away without disturbing him further.

We would probably have been happy to leave it at that for Hammerfest, but we had our rescheduled tour to a “Sami Camp” to look forward to. I wasn’t expecting a great deal here I’ll admit, so I wasn’t really disappointed to find a single Sami couple hosting group after group of tourists in their camp comprising of two turf covered structures. Ever since I heard joiking on the radio last year and went on to buy weaving materials from a Sami community in northern Sweden, I’ve found the culture fascinating and was looking forward to a Sami encounter in person.

Miki and his wife were welcoming and offered a good insight to their life whilst we sat around on reindeer skins by the fire. He joiked three songs of significance to him personally, one taught to him by his grandfather and explained that joiks are circular, to be sung from any point and repeated as desired. I enjoyed hearing him joik and his calm and quiet manner of speaking was compelling.

I enjoyed the sample of smoked reindeer meat and salmon, and also the little pot of cloudberries. But I was also disappointed at the total lack of hand crafted braids or traditional Sami weaving here. Though both Miki and his wife were dressed traditionally, neither of them were wearing anything I identified as individually made and every aspect of their dress appeared to be manufactured. Never mind.

There was one last chance to get an overview of Hammerfest from up here, making the most of the clear afternoon air. As we stood overlooking the city, our guide pointed out the church.

Earlier in my blog post, whilst at the Polar Bear Club, I shared a picture of a drying rack for fish. I guess we can probably work out the reference used by the architect for the church tower?