Honningsvag
Funny how the Aida seems to be somewhere we just arrive at. When I first cruised to the Canaries this ship was there occupying the best berth as it did when I went to Iceland the first time.
Regardless of that, the picture certainly shows the sort of day we opened our curtains to; cold, snowing and looking far from promising.
Some people had booked helicopter flights over the northern cape and around the Honningsvag area but they all had to be cancelled because poor visibility.
There was ice fishing, the Mageroy island exploration [the one I did] as well as four tours out to the Northern Cape itself. We hoped they would get better weather and set off on our trip.
I'm not sure where it was but the weather broke for us, and we had blue skies which our guide said she had seen on very few occasions, and she lived in the region.
Our first stop was in a small place called Kamoyaer where there is a gallery called "East of the Sun" run by an artist called Eva. She uses paper pieces to create her collage artwork which it is very beautiful. She was featured on Sky Arts not so long ago, a fascinating programme.
Entrance to the gallery East of the Sun
This is the local guest house with its very own outdoor sauna and entrance to the fjord so you can have a healthy dip in the cooling waters. Mm, not for me I'd die of the shock.
Houses and just behind them some split level places. Note the small windows; a way to keep the heat in we were told.
We climbed back on the bus and made our way to a point which is quite close to the Northern Cape and its monument and museum but as we were not on that specific tour we avoided following that snow plough and went straight on, up to the Horn, a strange outgrowth of rock which was not hewn down by the ice. It looked just like a rhino horn....and at that moment the sun came out.
Driving on an ice road was great fun and something I had always wanted to do. The poles indicating the position of the road were easily seen in places. The driver laughed and said, " if you see one pole either side of you, you're OK, if they are both on the same side, stop and gently panic!"
He laughed and said it only happened to him once and fortunately he had chains and a lot of luck.
The snow here is pristine and deep. Some of the snow drifts the snow ploughs had cut through were as tall as the bus and the snow swept along like sand grains do over sand dunes. The wind had sculpted beautiful shapes into them and they hung in folds and swags, glistening in the sunlight. It was how I would imagine travelling across somewhere covered in glitter.
The sea, as she said is usually grey and turbulent but we saw a very benign version of it; blue and calm. Again she said she couldn't remember a time she'd seen it like this and was taking photos to show her friends and made a quick audio track about it too.
We headed back to the ship, well we thought we were. Instead we took a detour and visited the Christmas Shop.
One cup of coffee, a loo visit and some fabulous ginger biscuits later I couldn't leave without spending some money.. I bought a pair of gloves made by the local Sami people and two fridge magnets which summed the place up really. The gloves are lovely and warm and the shape is perfect to wear although it possibly doesn't look it.
We started to lose light as we started our journey back to the ship but I was still in time [we were pulling off quite early today] to pop into the souvenier shop, pick up some bits and pieces and then get back on board. I would have loved a longer stay but we had to get going as the weather was already closing in and we were heading straight into hurricane force winds; exciting but will make us late for docking in Alta.
love it!!
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