Hammerfest and Honningsvåg
Day 49
Quite early I left Alta yesterday and continued the E6 in direction Kirkenes. To the left I could see the Altafjorden but soon the street turned right and went a bit up. Half of the Finnmark is above the tree line and so are parts of the E6. But it’s still amazing that you leave the coastal area with green pine trees and wet snow and after a bit of driving up you are in an area with snow covered mountains and just some downy birches here and there.
But after a while the road went down again and I turned left to visit Hammerfest. I made a short stop in Kvalsund before I drove over the bridge onto the island Kvaløya where Hammerfest is situated at the western coast.
I know the name Hammerfest for ages, I guess it was mentioned in my children’s encyclopedia. As many other towns in Norway Hammerfest is a modern town, since it was destroyed almost completely in WW2. For me the name sounds quite German, both “Hammer” and “fest” are German words as well. When I had a look in the tourist information I thought, that Hammerfest is a German town, because all people talked German. But that’s probably only because the Hurtigruten was just in town and many tourists that make a cruise with one of these ships come from German speaking countries.
After a shorter strolling through town I continued the road to Forsøl in the north of Kvaløya. Again the road went through treeless, snow covered hills and mountains. But the rocks at the coast showed moss and other creeping plants due to the mild coastal climate.
I returned and planned to continue my journey to Honningsvåg, one of the northernmost towns in Europe. Driving back was not easy in the beginning because the streets where wet and it was hard to see something against the low standing sun, even with sun glasses and flapped down sun shields. But soon the road changed direction and driving became easier. Now I continued the E6 a bit and turned left into the E69 (that’s where I made the pictures of the Purple Sandpipers) that leads to the town Honningsvåg and to the Nordkapp. It started to dawn and even to snow a bit.
After a while it was dark. I could see grey snow, dark rocks and the dark sea. After a while I couldn’t see anything anymore, just the reflecting tape round the plastic marks and the tunnels. Meanwhile we had +3 °C and it rained. (I guess, it can be alike in summer …) Already from distance I could see the lights of Honningsvåg. The last tunnel went beneath the sea and came out again on the island Magerøya. Some minutes later I was in Honningsvåg.
Now I had three wishes: Food, internet and a room. It took a while to find the only open restaurant, a pizzeria. Check! There I was allowed to use the private WiFi to get internet. Thank you, guys! Check! And there, with the help of Annika who was online I found a room in a hostel. Expensive but hey, we’re in Norway. Check!
Now, the morning after, I will have breakfast and then I will pretend to be a real tourist and visit the Nordkapp, the northern most point in Europe you can reach by car.
7 comments to “Hammerfest and Honningsvåg”
Elijah 2015-03-05 11:23
I really look forward to read your Nordkapp-experience!Just to see if it is worth at all going there against my gut instinct…
Ma HB 2015-03-05 12:21
Dear Olaf, higher in the north isn’t possible!
When I think of our pantastic yourney with the Hanseatic – northcup was the lowest destination. With the bus they brought us to this point. First we had to go in a very large theaterroom and they showed us a film about northcup!!
But that day perhaps it was a good decision because of the weather:
Strong fog, we nearly saw nothing.
Wish you a good time. Yours Ma HB
Annika 2015-03-05 18:32
Den Nordkapp-Film finde ich total schön–aber dafür muss man da zum Glück nicht hinfahren, den gibt’s bei YouTube ;-) Ich finde, dass die Fahrt über die Halbinsel aber schon absolut lohnenswert ist.
Annika 2015-03-05 20:16
Tolle Bilder! Die bunten Flechten, der Strand auf dem Weg nach Honningsvag, der Tunnel, die Reflektoren im Dunkeln. Seht toll!!!
way-up-north 2015-03-05 22:30
Elijah: I will publish an article tomorrow. In short: I think, it’s worth the journey if you are already nearby and if you take the first convoy to avoid the Hurtigruten tourists.
Ma HB: No, at least not with a car. I had more luck with the weather: A mixture of sun, rain, snow, fog, clouds and rainbows.
Annika: Den Film schau ich mir lieber auf YouTube an, dazu war mir dort die Zeit zu schade. Schließlich wollte ich ja auch lieber über die Insel Magerøya fahren.
Anna 2015-03-30 14:52
Hi!
I would like to hrea more anout nordkapp. im moving in Honningsvåg in May and dont really know much about a place :D
way-up-north 2015-03-31 19:21
Hi Anna, I don’t have so much tell about the Nordkap, but I guess, there’s much information on the web, since the place is so popular.
May I ask you why you move to Honningsvåg?