Exploring Hammerfest, Norway
This is blog post #13 from our tour of Europe. On Saturday, July 5th, we were docked at Hammerfest, Norway, from 08:00 until 23:00. We had no plans, but I ended up having a very busy day with some excellent hiking. Located at 70.4° North Latitude, Hammerfest has a population of about 7,900.
The first of 225 photos I shot this day was shot at 04:22. It shows the table up on Deck 9 where I was just finishing off a particularly lengthy blog post that I’d been working on for 3 hours. If you think time loses meaning when you’re on vacation, you should try it when it’s daylight 24 hours a day 🙂
A broad look across the harbour from our downtown dock. Apparently some cruise ships get the industrial dock seen in this photo, but we got lucky.
We had breakfast then went to the spa as is our usual routine. The next photo shows the heated ceramic loungers we usually end with.
From a window on the way back to our cabin I spotted this cool welcome sign on the sidewalk.
A closer look at a bit of the industrial area. The gas plant with the flare is on an island that’s further away than it looks with this telephoto shot (about 300mm).
Cathy and I didn’t go ashore until 1:00. The first thing I noticed was a musher’s truck, but I didn’t try to get more information.
Wandering with no destination in mind, we came to what look like a great walking trail for possible later use.
That trail led from a small RV parking/camping area that would make an excellent base for exploring the town.
We were now close to the famous Hammerfest Church, a Church of Norway (Protestant) parish church, so walked up the hill to it. Designed by architect Hans Magnus, it was consecrated in 1961.
The stained glass is unique.
The organ, built by the J.H. Jorgensen company of Oslo, has 1782 pipes.
The colours used add to the feeling of calm in the building.
The cemetery across the road was the next place we visited. It is heavily protected by avalanche guards. There is a chapel, but it was locked.
A park just down the road attracted us, but a famous hiking trail across the road is what drew me more strongly. Cathy and I parted ways here.
This trail leads to quite a network of trails up on the top of the ridge, but I promised Cathy I’d be back before dark 🙂 I started up right at 2:00.
The trail was lined with several species of wildflowers.
Here’s a close look at the avalanche guards. Very impressive!
I expect that upright post was an early attempt to control rockfalls.
The trail is quite steep, and the number of people on it steadily decreased.
This is the view from the top of the ridge, where almost everyone – at least almost everyone from the ship – quits.
I looked at the trail map again, but none of them went the direction I wanted, which was up, so as is often the case, I headed off to do my own thing. My “up” route started by going past a Sami cultual camp for tourists.
Looking back, there are multiple layers of wooden snow fences, that a wire fence that encircles Hammerfest to keep the reindeer out of town, then another snow fence in the Sami camp enclosure.
At 2:40 I reached a large cairn on a false summit which had been visible from the last trail map. But from here I could see another summit, so I continued on.
Meeting a reindeer was a wonderful surprise.
From the actual summit, the view to the south looks over the communities of Rypefjord and Indrefjord and far beyond.
Dropping down and to the northwest a bit following another reindeer, I got a good view of the communities surrounding the lake Gávpotjávri.
Climbing back up and west, I lucked into finding a couple of stone circles and a pit. World War II lookouts, or much earlier?
Me, walking slowly back towards the crowds, at 3:25.
Back at the Sami camp, I spotted a baby 🙂
Back at the trail map, I pointed out where I’d been – a summit called Rakca, elevation 176 meters asl.
I was back in the city at 3:55 – it had been a really nice 2-hour, 7.0-km hike.
The beautiful fountain “Mother and Children” was created by Ønulf Bast. It was presented to to the city by former US ambassador to Norway Charles Ulrich Bay, in memory of his mother, who came from Hammerfest. The sculptor used his own children as the models.
The Hammerfest Town Hall.
There was a very busy square where about a dozen food trucks were offering a great variety of food from around the world, and a lot of people were enjoying it.
A large ship sculpture and another eating area behind the main food-truck area – a particularly fine public area.
I was back on the ship by 4:15 and was settled in for the evening when it occurred to me that there was a historic site of UNESCO significance across the harbour. After just coming back from a 7-km walk, Cathy at first thought I was kidding, but no, I really needed to see it, so right after dinner I headed out again.
This little stretch of beach would be a nice place for a picnic or such for a few weeks a year.
The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest to the Black Sea, through 10 countries and over 2,820 km. These are points of a survey, carried out between 1816 and 1855 by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, which represented the first accurate measuring of a long segment of a meridian. So you can understand why I had to see it 🙂
The site has excellent interpretation and I was there for quite a while reading the panels and waiting for a small tour group to leave so I could get the photos I wanted.
There are some excellent views both at the site and along the walk to and from it.
Yes, this was a great way to end the day.
The final photo from Hammerfest shows one of the laser-cut rock sculptures in the plaza in front of the Vår Energi Building.
Back at the ship, I had added another 6.55 km to my count for the day. Not bad 🙂
We sailed at 11:00 pm for the short route to Alta where we would tander ashore, with no firm plans yet.
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