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The midnight... Read more
The midnight sun may be enjoyed 14 May–29 July, unless it is a cloudy night.
Nordkapp – The North Cape, the North Cape Horn has always been a well-known and important point of orientation for all boats and ships navigating the area. The rock has had a great variety of names and it was only in the mid 16th century that it was given the present name.
In 1553 an English commander, Richard Chancellor passed Nordkapp and named the cliff as Nordkapp, the North Cape. From that time, it has been called Nordkapp. At that time it wasn't exactly the center of interest. But only 100 years later, the first "tourist" was reported to have climbed up to the plateau. He was an Italian priest named Francesco Negri. It took him more than two years to go from Italy on foot, by boat, on horseback, on sleighs, and on skis. In 1664, finally having reached his destination, he noted in his travel log: "Here I am now on the North Cape, at the extreme tip of Finnmark, really at the end of the world"
In the 18th and 19th centuries, a journey to Nordkapp was still an adventure – and an expensive one at that. One needed an own ship, to rent one with crew or to arrange an expedition through hundreds of kilometers of wilderness. This is why there were quite a few high-ranking people among the first tourists: Prince Louise Phillippe of Orleans, Oscar the second, King of Norway and Sweden, King Chualalonkorn of Thailand. He got his name and date carved into a rock on the top of the plateau. This rock can be seen in the Panorama hall in front of the souvenir shop. And Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany was here also.
In 1875, London Travel agent Thomas Cook organized the first group travel to Nordkapp for 24 participants. At that time traveling to Nordkapp was very different compared to how it is now. There was no road leading across the island to the plateau. Travelers were taken by rowing boat from Skarsvåg or Gjesvær to Hornvika, just below the north cape. From there they had to climb up the steep and rocky ravine, to reach the height of the plateau. The first modest wooden buildings started to appear to the plateau. One of those was a hut Stoppenbrink's Champagne Pavilion.
In Honningsvåg city center and in the North Cape area itself one can get around by foot. Practically all traffic from and to the North Cape goes through Honningsvåg, 34 km or half an hour to the south by car or bus.
The only way to get to the North Cape itself aside from hitchhiking or hiking (only for the most adventurous) is taking a taxi, or the local bus 330, which runs a few times per day in the summer and not at all in the winter.Hurtigruten charters special buses going to North Cape. Tickets are bought onboard. The ship stays several hours in Honningsvåg so there is time for such a trip.
LOCAL TIME
11:41 am
May 25, 2022
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LOCAL CURRENCY
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We came to Honningsvag (Norway). Everyone wants to go to extreme European North Cape (in Norwegian - Nordkapp) from here. You can buy transfers for $119 on the ship (price in 2013), but it's not worth it because you can buy a bus ticket at a pier in the... |
There are a lot of beautiful places and geographical objects on Earth – the highest mountain, the deepest oceanic hollow, the longest and deepest river, a pole of heat and a cold pole, the most extreme points of continents etc. There's an interesting situation with the most northern point of... |
After
Honningsvag,
MS "Midnatsol" continued its way along the most northern edge of Europe, sailing now in the Barents Sea (the conditional border between the Norwegian and Barents seas passes in the area of
North Cape
). On the right side, you can see the coast and... |
Around noon our ship approached the northernmost tip of Norway. We're already familiar with the place which we visited in 2009 during our cruise on one of the ships of the Hurtigruten company from Bergen to Kirkenes. The most northern point of continental Europe is Cape Nordkinn (7108'02'').... |