Sunday 13th August
Longyearbyen -78.2232° N, 15.6267° E. The worlds most northern city.
It has a population of 2,150. Plus tourists.
It got its first tourist hotel in 1897 – but it wasn’t profitable. BUT a US Industrialist tourist, Longyear, in 1901, met an exploration team looking for coal. he saw their samples and bought the mining rights. And thus a coal industry was born up here.
The town was almost completely destroyed by the Germans in 1943 after the archipelago became an important strategic point for allies troop. Two battleships came and destroyed all by four buildings.
The coal industry was back in operation by 1948.
By 1950 they realised that bodies in the cemetery were not decomposing due to the permafrost. They are now sent to Norway for burial. It is actually law to say it is illegal to die here. hahaha.
So now its a small coal mine and a tourist town. Due to the permafrost most of the roads are dirt – the tar roads hold heat and melt the permafrost. If that happens the town will sink into the mud.
Snowmobiles are the main winter transport. There are dozens of them everywhere, sitting on pallets, waiting for the snow .
Listed as one of the 15 most isolated places in the world.
August average temperature is 6 degrees in the day and 2 at night. BUT – last night we only had very light jackets and slept with the window open a bit. Where is this cold weather I was promised?
Yes….I dare say I will rue the day I said that. As I am freezing in Franz Joseph Land.
Sunday 13th August.
What a day. We started with a VERY slow start, a sleep-in, then a lie in, some computer time, some washing and then off to find late brunch. Some might call it Lunch but that might make it seem that we were wasting our holiday. This was a scary prospect…as food had been so expensive in Iceland, and as always in Norway, and this was so much more isolated. But to our surprise we found food to be reasonable.
We wandered down the main street. Pretty impressive to see a glacier perched up looking straight down the street at us. And imagine our surprise, when after looking at a few things I deducted that this was a tax free haven. After asking we found this to be a fact! Who would have thought.|
Our first tour of the day was called “Longyearbyen in a Nutshell”. Our bus picked us up with the most delightful driver. He said he was not a politician so was not politically correct. It was great. Such a character.
(Lots of “out the bus window” photos sorry!)
We started with a drive around town. No street names. There are only about 5 streets so houses are numbered. Longyearbyen A#17.
The original town had three sections – the mine management, the government area and the miners area. There was no mixing. There was a fourth area with movie theatre, facilities etc that all three groups spent time together at.
The town is built on permafrost. Few roads to stop warming. Most houses are built on stilts for the same reason. The stilts go down a few meters into the permafrost. No concrete. Water and sewerage are in above ground pipes.
Rubbish is sorted then shipped back to Norway. Some goes to recycling, the rest goes to Sweden where they are paid to take it.
As for the sewerage, grey water and kitchen waste…… Every house has a kitchen sink mulcher. Then it ALL goes down the same pipe ….and into the ocean!
See the pretty water!
The original post office was one of four building to survive the WWII destruction.
Wood doesn’t rot here. It’s too cold and dry – so these stumps are from a building destroyed in the bombing.
The mine used a cable car system to deliver the coal. It is all over the place with beautiful frames. It has survived for so long for the same reason.
The Uni runs semester courses for research students – arctic studies, ecology, climatology, polar bears, Aroura, satellite research etc etc.
We then went out of town, out past an amazing bay, some wet lands and up a huge mountain.
No bears here in summer. They need ice an snow. But in winter they are all over. You MUST carry a gun when outside the city limits and have to hand over your gun when you go into a bar or restaurant.
Past huge dog complexes.
In summer they do sled rides on the roads. We past a few out doing this.
Barnacle Geese.
We saw a reindeer.
Up the mountain we saw so many research places. The place that films the Aurora. Satellites, telescopes, radio aerials, NASA base, many of the old mines.
We then went to visit the World Seed Bank. Built deep into the permafrost are chambers that contain the seeds of most plants used in agriculture. There are hundreds of thousands of different seed. A seed bank has just proven it’s worth. Egypt was able to rescue seeds from the Syrian bank just before it was destroyed recently.
After a very quick dinner we headed off on tour no 2. This one was to a new very small business. One of the operators came here as a chef and was upset by the lack of fresh as well as many other things. A few to together, leased a small space and started a permaculture business to supply local restaurants.
They grow micro-greens – sprouts, coriander, peas etc.
They have worm farms – to re-use the waste and to feed the quail (mainly for eggs) that they incubate and raise.
We saw more reindeer. This time we got a great look at a few different groups.
This place recently got hit by a landslide. See all the windows are gone. It pushed the building off the stilts and down the hill.
A great tour.
Lots of different transport here. Even the scooters are different. hahaha.
Fun day. Lets see what tomorrow brings.
Polar bears everywhere. Even in the flood boards.
Monday 14th August.
Today is the stat of the ‘real’ part of the trip. The 15 day expedition with Poisoden Expeditions on MV Sea Spirit, my Antarctic ship.
The trip doesn’t start today. We just check into their hotel, have a team meeting etc. They check that we have all arrived ad that we have all out luggage.
So we packed up and walked the 700 metres down to our new hotel. We debated catching a taxi, but then realised that one of the only long paved sections is down the main street.
Lucky we are travelling light!
NOT!
We dropped the gear then spent time doing photos and internet. And then off for another walk around the shops and the town. More Beanie shopping.
After room check-in – it was time for a nap. My second since starting this adventure!
Then the evening activity. A visit to Svalbard Bryggeri. A local brewery. The northern most brewery in the world. The first product made and sold in Svalbard.
The brewery was started by a Norwegian who came here to work in the mines. Much of this town still runs on old mining rules – shoes off inside, alcohol rations (24 cans beer, 2 litres of spirits and unlimited wine) etc. This guy set up a home brew kit and was making his own beer. That was illegal in Svalbard, so it was hidden. He started reflecting on the fact that not one single product was being made on the island. He wanted to be the first to produce and sell his product.
He applied to the government in Oslo for a change of the law. “No”. He decided to not quit so EVERY month, for five and a half years he submitted another application to the government. “No”.
And then one day he got a phone call saying the law had been changed. So…now what to do. He called a brewer and asked him to come up to help start him off. “No”. So guess what? He called him every day for over a month until the gut said “OK, only for three months”.
And the northern most brewery in the world was created. Oh course he ives here now as well.
They make five regular beers, and three seasonal beers.
Christmas Beer, Very Pale Ale for the return of the sun celebrations and Very Dark beer for the winter celebrations. Every bar and shop in town sells some of their products.
They can only sell three of the regular beers as two are two high in alcohol so much be sold in Norway.
They import the hops from the Check Republic and the malt from Finland. The hops are compressed like ‘pony pellets’. I tried one. OK for the first few seconds then sooooo bitter and horrid. LOL
16% of our water comes from the 2,000 year old Bogerbreen Glacier.
Spitsbergen beer is 94% Svalbard and only 6% imports.
Remember nothing decomposes here – not even buried people! And there are no sheep, cattle or horses, so the hops and malt waste has to be exported to Sweden at a cost.
As the brewery grows that are buying more gear. The latest to arrive after the dark is a furnace. they will dry the waste then burn it. That will produce hot water. three quarters of this hot water will be used to supply the town, and there will be no waste to ship out.
We tasted the five beers.
White Beer – a wheat beer.
Pilsner – a clear beer based on the Check Pilsner.
Pale Ale – an over cooked caramelised malt brew.
IPB – Based on the mix that was sent to soldiers in India by the English. The beer would go off in the transport. A mistake was made where the hops were added directly to the fermenter. But this beer survived the journey. So “Dry Hopping” became a thing.
Stout – a dark over cooked ale with chocolate milk to give the colour and flavour of coffee and dark chocolate.
The motto of the brewery is “How we changed the law to make the real Polar Beer!”
SO …. you cannot park your dogs at the front of this hotel. How inconvenient. You drive your sled into the pub then have to tie your team up at the flag pole.
And a special photo for you Andy Burke
Next Tab – but sadly no photos for 14 days. The wonderful Sarah will be adding words each day or so.