Day 7 - Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Spitzbergen, Norway

Monday 3rd July 2017

Longyearbyen was founded as a coal mining settlement by the Arctic Mining Company from 1906.  Since 1920 the Svalbard archipelago has officially been a part of Norway.  At 78 degrees north, resting halfway between the North Pole and the Norwegian mainland.  Spitsbergen, the largest island of the archipelago, is the northenmost inhabited place on the globe at around 715 miles north of the Norwegian mainland.  More recently tourism and the Svalbard Global Seed Bank have replaced mining as the main employers, alongside arctic research.

Berthed in Longyearbyen, down the back end of an industrial area.  Weather was looking good with the sun out but the wind blowing, still not too cold.

After breakfast we put on our winter gear, and headed towards the shuttle bus that took us into town. Had a walk up one of the streets on the lookout for 'Polar Bears' none seen.

 

But we did see lots of snow mobiles parked up on wooden pallets - apparently the town has more snowmobiles than people -  decided to stop for a chocolate and a danish which was very good.  We then had a stroll back to the ship. No snow but more cloud this afternoon.

 

View from Longyearbyen looking up the valley

 

After a 'light' snack watched the afternoon film "Hidden Figures" which started Kevin Costner - about the unsung heroes of NASA, all the ladies who contributed to the calculations to get John Glen safely back to earth after the first US orbital mission to space. Particular reference to this era when women were not expected to make significant contribution and the colour bar was still in place. A very good film.

Went to the Pacific Lounge for pre-dinner hors d'oeuvres and to enjoy the sailaway down the fjord surrounded by snow capped maintains and at least five glaciers, really quite spectacular.  Saw our first snowflakes as we sailed.

 

The sailaway view of a glacier

 

Quick trip to the buffet for dinner then back to the pacific lounge for the evening trivia about Princess and their ships.  Surprise surprise we were triumphant equal with another team, after a tie break we were still level, so the quiz master rewarded both teams a prize (we got a couple of notebooks).