Svalbard is like a different planet

Approaching Svalbard

If Earthlings ever inhabit another planet I would imagine it to resemble Svalbard. Remote, cold, barren, with hardly any vegetation, a tiny settlement with barracks for sleeping and communal buildings for eating, exercising, working and going to school. There would be perpetual sunlight (ok, I admit, there might be perpetual darkness during winter but let's not spoil the stereotype). There might be wild beasts to fear (any resemblance to polar bears is purely coincidental). On the same planet there could be an earlier settlement set up by the Soviets (quite possible, no?). Local natural resources would be used as a power source (coal mining, perhaps?). Private individuals could not settle on this planet unless they were employed by one of the companies that has interests on the planet and that is involved in tourism, coal mining or research.

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Svalbard was so different from anything I have ever seen. The flight attendants warned us while we were still undoing our seatbelts that we should proceed to the airport building immediately after disembarking. I thought it weird that they would say that, after all, what else were we supposed to do?

Taking photos immediately after disembarking

I knew immediately what I was going to do as I stepped out of the aircraft. Considering how often I get to land on another planet I was going to take photographs, obviously! It's what everyone else was doing as well.

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We only spent two full days on Svalbard which in hindsight was a mistake. I could have stayed longer. But when we planned our vacation, I was worried that it would be too cold and of course we knew it would be expensive so we thought it best to limit our time there. As it turned out, we had two beautiful sunny days, which according to our guides were unusually warm. We had pre-booked activities for each of the two days to ensure we had something to do. Now I have the urge to go back to spend at least one day there without activities, to stroll around town, check out the grocery store (do they sell vegetables?), visit the coffee shop and a restaurant that is not attached to our guesthouse.

Rest stop while hiking

Our first day was an adventure packed day that included kayaking across the fjord, hiking up a hill and doing the same on our way back. It was an unusually warm day which meant that we sweated more than expected and consequently would have needed more water than we took along. Everyone was dehydrated when we finally made it back.

But it was all worth it. The views from the summit were magnificent and we saw reindeer up close on our way. The guides told us that reindeer are completely unafraid because they have no natural enemies on Svalbard. Even polar bears prefer seal to reindeer.

Reindeer

Speaking of polar bears, we didn’t see any which according to our guides was lucky. The guides carried guns just in case, because occasionally they do encounter a polar bear.

On the second day we booked a boat trip to Pyramiden, a ghost town that was once a bustling state-run Soviet coal mining settlement. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, coal mining was not economically profitable any longer and in 1998 the inhabitants of the settlement were sent back to where they came from. Everything still remains there, the buildings, furnishings, schoolchildren’s artwork, posters advertising local events and so on. One of the buildings has been resurrected as a hotel where it is now possible to overnight.

Main street in Pyramiden

The population of Svalbard consists of mostly Norwegian and Russian nationals, followed by Thai.

Wait, Thai?

Yes, we saw many Thai people working as kitchen and hotel staff and as help on the tourist boat. I was reminded of the time when I was traveling in Thailand and local women asked me about getting a job in Europe. I guess Svalbard is one of those places where they come to earn money. I wonder how much they researched their destination before they decided to accept the job and if they had in mind such a cold and remote place. It therefore came as no surprise that for lunch on the tourist boat we were served grilled salmon and whale steaks, accompanied by sticky rice prepared by the Thai staff.

Lunch: grilled salmon and whale steak with sticky rice

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So, Svalbard, will I ever be back? I definitely want to, although I’m not sure whether the weather was uncharacteristically warm during this summer of a heat wave across Europe and I might not have liked it as much in harsher conditions. I’m glad that I visited now because in future I expect the tourism industry to grow and it might become another of those places crowded with busloads (or cruise shiploads) of tourists with selfie-sticks everywhere.

Lysefjorden

This was the day we were supposed to go hiking. By now I probably don’t have to mention specifically that it was raining again. Packing up our tent in the rain became routine. We were hoping that – like the day before – the rain would stop and we would at least have a nice afternoon for activities. So we headed towards Lysefjorden, a popular tourist destination where we wanted to hike high above the fjord to the Pulpit rock, a scenic point with a view across the fjord. We took a ferry this time since there is no way to travel among the fjords except to either take a ferry across or a very long detour by road.


When we arrived at the foot of the hike it was still raining and there were no signs that the rain might stop soon. We realized that there were many people around us hiking and they didn’t seem bothered by the rain. So we figured we might as well do the same, put on our rain jackets and just go. It did actually stop raining soon after we set off and stayed that way for most of our hike. The view from the Pulpit rock was magnificent and the trip was well worth it. There is a mountain hut at the foot of the hike where we warmed up afterwards.

Our camp that night was the best ever (minus the cold and the wind and the rain, of course). It had free internet and a large cafeteria where we spent the evening drinking beers and checking our emails, nicely warm and dry. The next day we packed up our tent again in the rain and headed back towards Sweden. Our original plan was to stay another day to climb the Kjerag boulder, but that would have been a day trip and we didn’t want to hang around and wait for the weather to clear.


It was a good choice to drive on that day as it wouldn’t stop raining so riding in the car all day was efficient use of our time. We drove east on a road across the Hardangervidda mountain plateau which was a very scenic route.

Another interesting aspect of Scandinavia that we discovered during our trip was that their most common food is – believe it or not – hamburgers! In addition to McDonalds and Burger Kings everywhere they have no-name fast food places that serve hot dogs and hamburgers. These fast food places, located at gas stations, were more or less our only choice of food while driving across Norway and Sweden so I believe I have never eaten so many hamburgers per week in my life.

The fjords

After Oslo, we headed west, towards the fjords. With all the cold and the rain we tried to make reservations for some accommodation that would offer more shelter than a tent but after a few telephone calls I gave up realizing that everything seemed to be sold out and we should have made reservations a long time ago. Or gone with a campervan.


So we drove westward along the coast, again it took us most of the day to cover a distance of about 500 kilometers as there are no highways, there are speed limits, speed cameras, road works and all sorts of obstacles on the way so there is no way to get quickly from one place to another in Scandinavia. It seems they either don’t travel much by car or the population density is so low that building decent roads is not cost effective or they probably take a ferry or fly when they need to cover larger distances.


We arrived in Sandnes, a small town near the seacoast in the evening and checked into a campground. By now I was almost oblivious to the cold, damp, windy, rainy weather and just faced my destiny and hoped to survive. We were fortunate that this particular campground had a communal kitchen/dining room where we could cook our dinner and eat it in a sheltered place. The next morning it rained again, so what else is new? The forecast was that the weather would be clear in the afternoon so we spent the morning sitting around the dining room, making tea, spiking it up with authentic Norwegian vodka and waiting for the rain to stop so we could go bicycle riding to the city of Stavanger, about 17 kilometers away.


When the rain stopped the day turned almost sunny, although there was still a cold, cold, cold wind blowing. In addition to that, I managed to fall off my bicycle, skinning my left elbow and bruising all over, but I was relieved that nothing was broken and I was able to continue riding.


We had coffee in one of the restaurants near the harbor in Stavanger and I felt much better when I noticed that they had outdoor electric heating units that were switched on so we could sit outside and take in the sights while keeping warm at the same time. (Note: in case someone doesn’t believe me how cold it was, why would they use electric heating in August?)

Oslo

We arrived at the Oslo campground in late afternoon. It had just stopped raining so we could put up our tent. The one good thing about the windy weather in Scandinavia is that the ground dries soon after the rain because the wind acts just like a blow-drier. Marko and I went for a run and we planned to cook something for dinner in the evening and buy beer at the camp shop. But we discovered that they don’t sell alcohol after 8:00 PM in Norway so we were out of luck as far as beer was concerned. They sell beer and cider in supermarkets while wine and hard liquor can only be purchased from specialized shops. This reminded me of South Africa, except there only wine is sold in supermarkets.


Oslo is a fairly small city, just twice the size of Ljubljana. We could take in most of it by walking. A few sights were farther out so we did ride on a boat to see some restored Viking ships (yes, more Viking ships!). They also have a Metro train which we rode to the Holmenkollen ski jump. It is situated on a hill high above the Oslo fjord, visible from everywhere, and interestingly they built the Metro to reach all the way up there.


Having only seen the Slovenian ski jump at Planica in my life, I assumed that all ski jumps were built into natural mountains. So when I saw the Holmenkollen, which is a steel construction sticking high up into the sky, I was amazed. We went up to the top where the ski jumpers take off so I was able to see the same view that they see just before they jump: the entire city with the fjord below. Looking across at other hills in the vicinity, what do they have there? More ski jumps! It is as if every hill has a ski jump and no wonder the Norwegians are among the top ski jumpers in the world.


Interestingly enough, I believe that soccer is their second strongest sport, at least it seemed that way because we saw soccer fields and soccer matches almost everywhere we went. The kindergartens have miniature soccer fields and school age children who were on their summer vacations seemed to be in soccer camps. While the current Norwegian soccer team isn’t highly successful (they didn’t qualify for the last 3 world soccer championships) I am waiting to see what will happen in a few years when the younger generation grows up.


Another sight a tourist couldn’t possibly miss in Oslo is everything related to the Nobel prize, so we visited the town hall where the peace prize is presented each year and there is also a related museum. The museum mostly focuses on Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian who received the Nobel peace prize for his work with refugees.