Today, the ship docked in Longyearbyen (literally "Long Year City"), which claims to be the world's northernmost town, despite there being a couple of settlements farther north right on Svalbard. But maybe if your population drops to 30 or fewer every winter, you don't count as a "town"?
Everyone got off and was driven into town by bus. We could technically have stayed aboard, but they would not have served lunch, so we went along with the rest. We could take our time exploring, while the others only had a couple of hours before returning to the buses to go to the airport.
The bus dropped us at the city center--a shopping mall, large Coop superstore, and a scattering of hotels and restaurants. Longyearbyen has a surprisingly robust "foodie" culture, it turns out.
The history is long and convoluted, beginning in the 1600s and involving Dutch, Russian, Norwegian and British whalers, seal-hunters, trappers, and eventually coal mining. Ownership was disputed for a long time, with a consortium of nations finally agreeing that Norway would have absolute sovereignty, but permit fishing and hunting rights to 8 other countries: Canada, France, Japan, Australia, Denmark, the US, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
After a couple of hours at the museum, we bought a couple of bird/wildlife books and headed back up to the 'city' for lunch.
Pedestrian "street" so as not to always walk along the highway.
We had a tip from Gaby, one of the guides, that there was great Thai food to be had, so we did that. Sheila chose a favorite dish, Pad Prik Khing, based on the photo of green beans, carrots, and bell peppers, but was somewhat disappointed to receive only chicken and rice. On further thought, fresh veg are at a premium here, so it made sense to not "waste" them on tourists, and lunch still very tasty (if a tad too spicy--medium was the least amount of spice offered).
We shopped for a few necessities at the pharmacy and Coop, then went to the Visitor Center to call for a taxi back to the ship, where we arrived about an hour before the incoming passengers and their luggage and general chaos. Lars took a bunch of photos while we waited for the taxi.
Shortly after setting sail, there was a mandatory lifeboat drill. Lars was thrilled by the experience, as you can see. But he made up for it with healthy choices from the dinner buffet.
Glad you guys had a nice day on the island! If your ankle is up to you you could show the locals a dance or to so they can revive the group. Love the last comments and pics of Papa "loving" the lifeboat drill & the plate full of desserts fruit and rice. :-) Not sure what the brown cubes are, but looks like caramel.
ReplyDeleteI think the brown cubes are probably Norwegian "brown cheese", which is in fact sweet and kind of like caramel.
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