Day Seven - the half way point

Today's ports of call:

Departed Berlevag 22.45 arrive Batsfjord 23.45

Depart Batsfjord 00.15, arrive Vardo 03.15

Depart Vardo  03.30, arrive Vadso 06.15

Depart Vasdo  06.45, arrive Kirkenes 09.00

Depart Kirkenes 12.30, arrive Vardo 16.00

Depart Vardo 16.45, arrive Batsfjord 19.45

Depart Batsfjord 20.15, arrive  Berlevag 21.45

Depart Berlevag 22.00, arrive Mehamn 00.45

Weather at 11.00am, cloudy skies, calm wind, temperature -8C

Kirkenes is the turnaround point for the Hurtigruten ship's and we will now be on the southbound route. But first, a few little pieces of Kirkenes trivia:

1. Kirkenes is further east than Istanbul (due to the idiosyncrasies of longitude).

2. The mother of US actor René Zellweger was born and grew up in Kirkenes. Her parents met at the Hurtigruten ferry.

3. It is only 6km from the Russian border.

We docked at 9am and had booked ourselves onto an excursion to the local Ice Hotel.  

Here we were able to look through all the rooms (which are kept at a constant, and natural -4C), pet all the sled dogs and feed the reindeer. This seemed rather ironic as a short while later we were downing cloudberry shots and tucking in to reindeer sausage. The rooms in the hotel also have to comply with Norwegian fire regulations, so despite them consisting of nothing but ice, they still have to be fitted with smoke detectors. It was interesting to see but I'm not really sure I would like to stay there.

There had been some overnight snow and the surrounding countryside looked very picturesque in pristine white. We also passed one or two frozen lakes and could observe people fishing through holes in the ice, whilst the professionals were in port in the shape of three huge Russian trawlers.

Once back at the dock, we commenced our southbound journey in a snowstorm, but having said that, the weather in this region changes from sun to snow and back to sun again very quickly.

Our main course for dinner consisted of more reindeer. At this rate I am going to be going home with a big red nose.