Part Five - Over the Top of Norway

We continued on our way, heading over the top of Norway, disembarking at Honningsvag.

We piled onto a bus so we could drive up to Nordkapp, the North Cape, the northernmost point of Europe.

We entered the North Cape Hall. It had panoramic views, a cafeteria, post office, small theatre, WCs, and a large gift shop. (This is someone's photo taken in the summer). 

With the thawing of the snow in the sun and the freezing in the wind, it was quite icy. We donned our crampons for the short walk to the monuments. The Milestone Monument points out to Barents Sea. The sun was delicious but it was very windy.

Jennifer and Norbert climbed up to the sculpture platform.

The actual northernmost point is that white point but it's only reachable on foot.

 

At this point we were about 2100km from the North Pole.

On our way back down to the ship, we saw several road crews hauling snow away.

The next day we arrived at Kirkenes, our easternmost port. 

During WWII, Kirkenes was occupied by Germans and heavily bombed. A huge bomb shelter was excavated in the middle of town. 

Thousands of people would gather there during air raids. The shelter was quite roomy and well lit. 

From Wikipedia:

"During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, Kirkenes was one of the many bases for the German Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe's Jagdgeschwader 5, and apart from that, the area served as a main base for supplies to the Murmansk front.

People of Kirkenes returning home after the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive.

Reportedly, Kirkenes was second after Malta on a list of European towns experiencing air-raid alarms and attacks, with more than 1,000 alarms and 320 air attacks. The town was released by the Red Army on 25 October 1944 when the German Wehrmacht was pushed out and fled the area after having destroyed most of the remaining infrastructure. Only 13 houses survived the war.

We then were taken to a facsimile of a border crossing between Russia and Norway. The numbers on the posts indicate what number the border crossing was for each country.

We then were taken by bus, the 15km to the Russian border.

We could look through but, of course, could not venture beyond the gate.

Border selfie.

This completed the northward leg of our cruise. Some passengers (not in our group) disembarked here to fly back to Bergen. New passengers joined the cruise for the southward leg. 

to be continued...