Features January 15, 2003 To the Edge of the World and Back Celebrating the midnight sun Orit Blankrot The Link MONTREAL (CUP)—The three-hour long journey from Hammerfest to Nordkapp is full of lessons: one is to revere nature and its beauty, and another is to let noth- ingness be a humbling experience. Nothingness alludes to the isolated coastal towns that edge up past Norway's Arctic circle, and refers specifically to those scattered along the E6 Arctic highway that points up to the North Cape. I am on my way to visit the the world famous North Cape Hall. There, together with tourists from all around the world, I will celebrate the midnight sun. The closest major city to the North Cape is Hammerfest. Though considered a large city in the Arctic, it is poorly inhabited by our standards, with an estimated population of 9,000. Even though it is so remote, many of the locals are flu- ent in English, which is taught in schools across Norway. There is a downtown core made up of restaurants, a library with Internet access, an indoor pool and a few touristy shops. Houses with red and white rooftops are strewn along the hillsides and waterfronts. Hammerfest is the last significantly populated city before reaching the North Cape, known as Nordkapp in Norwegian. It is from this small fishing and hunting vil- lage that our July excursion began. The bus departed at 7p.m., equipped with 20 passen- gers and half that number of champagne bottles. Bubbly is part of the Nordkapp tradition. At midnight, it is common for those who visit to pop open a bottle of champagne. The notion behind this ritual is that the place is so majestic and remote that it deserves to be greeted with a toast. As the bus drove past Hammerfest, the only sight up ahead was a rainbow. Rainbows became commonplace during our drive. This did not, however, detract from their beauty. At one point, the bus travelled under the sea through a seven kilometre tunnel that dips 200 metres below the narrow channel that separates the island of Mageroy from mainland Norway. When we finally emerged, a double- rainbow loomed, beaming and brilliant. Later on, we witnessed a herd of reindeer running across the road. During spring and summer, it is custom- ary to see reindeer grazing along the coast. They are herd- ed from the inland by the indigenous people of the Lapland region, the Sami. The flock is ferried across the Mageroy Sound by Norwegian naval landing craft. We were lucky enough to spot Sami natives alongside a herd of reindeer in what looked like a makeshift, tented vil- lage. They were dressed in traditional costumes, decorat- ed according to the colors of their native flag: blue, red, yellow and green. The Sami have inhabited Finnmark for the last 2000 years. The Finnmark region encompasses the northern territories of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Norway has the largest Sami population of all, with 45,000. Herding and hunting reindeer is part of the Sami folk- lore and culture. In fact, the reindeer population in Lapland outweighs the human population three to two. It is not uncommon for a Sami to dine on reindeer for lunch, dinner, and dessert. The drive along the coast up to Nordkapp was redun- dant, but perfect. The landscape was dotted with lakes and filled with smooth snowcapped mountains and patches of snow. The tundra valleys were blanketed by dwarf birch, moss and lichens. The sheer simplicity of the voyage is what made the experience so unique. There we were, on a bus, driving on a never-ending road, seeming- © page 22 http://otherpress.douglas.bc.ca ly to the end of the earth. At that point, everything outside of nature seemed so trivial. Aside from the tiny villages that became fewer and further between, the only thing remaining was nature’s fauna and flora. It was left untouched for all of us to see. Almost three hours into the drive, the bus climbed over its final hump and a dome- shaped structure appeared in the distance. The North Cape Hall sits at 71°10’N, the most north- ern point of Scandinavia and Europe accessible by road. Most tourists visit the hall during the summer, because the weather can become very severe during the winter months, dipping down to -50 degrees C on the inland. The consolation for the coastal regions is that they are warmed by the Gulf Stream, but the warmth is not nearly enough. Winter at the North Cape is consumed by a permanent frozen darkness, with only northern lights flickering over the icecap. The hall, whose road is closed off from November 1 to May 1 when it is open only to snowmobiles, is the only major structure in Nordkapp itself. Nobody permanent- ly lives there, though there are a few fishing and mining villages nearby that account for the 4,000 residents on the island of Mageroy. Neighbouring towns, like the cruise port and fishing town of Honningsvag, are adapting well to the tourist influx. They offer tailored excursions such as bird-watch- ing safaris and deep-sea fishing trips to catch salmon and trout, two of Norway's most famous exports. There are arranged visits to Sami campsites and to the Sami Parliament building which opened in 1989, as well as midnight sun adventures to North Cape Hall. Entering the hall was like walking into a busy airport. There were so many different, faces, colours, shades, eth- nicities and languages spoken. For tourists of Asian, South American and central European descent, it seems that the journey to Nordkapp has become somewhat of a pilgrimage. Everyone shuffled around to the souvenir shop, the restaurants, the museum, the post office and the under- ground chapel. In the chapel, one girl from our tour asked the tour guide if the chapel is ever really used. “Sure,” he said. “Many couples have gotten married here. We even have a honeymoon suite on the top floor, with an amazing view.” The spectacular view he spoke of is probably what attracted royalty to Nordkapp over the last few hundred years. It has been visited by kings, princes, priests and poets. In 1553, Nordkapp was christened by an English ship captain named Richard Chancellor who was searching for a northeast passage to the Orient, when he was instead rerouted in a storm. 4 The first tourist to reach that same point is believed to be Francesco Negri, a priest from Italy who was deter- mined to discover how people can survive so far north. When he reached his destination, he wrote: “I am now standing out—North Cape on the outer most point of Finnmark—on the very edge of the world. Here the the other pres] world ends, as does my curiosity.” Later on, it was discovered that the most norther| point, although inaccessible by road, is actually a sm¢ peninsula named Knivskjellodden, located at 71°11’8 just west of Nordkapp. Still, the North Cape Hall is, by far, the more popul: tourist destination of the two and is ranked among one the top tourist stops in the world. It offers an observatid lounge with a panoramic view out to the sea, calld “Grotta Bar.” There are telephones too, just in case yq want to give a ring to a friend or family member ba home. I took advantage of the opportunity to call my si ter to wish her a happy birthday from this isolated poi with bone-chilling winds. Soon after that, my tour mates and I went down a fe flights of stairs to the hall’s theatre to see a movie abo Nordkapp and its surrounding areas. This is included the price of entry into the hall—a steep $90. But those who wish to know what it feels like to be so clo to the top of the earth, it is worth every last cent. Also worth every penny are the souvenirs. They we pricey, but irresistible. The most common purchase wa postcard with a picture of the signature Globe that stan on the promontory of the North Cape Cliff. The Globe and the Children of the Earth, a“ sculpture featuring seven children from all corners of t world, distinguish the plateau on the North Cape Roc which is 307 metres above the sea. The giant granite cl formation represents the final frontier to the Aref Ocean. It is also the place where 16,000 of its 200,000 visit per year are lucky enough to witness a crisp view of t midnight sun. At North Cape it is possible to see the midnight sun 7 nights of the year, from May 14 to July 30, but it is an body's guess on which days it will appear. At the stroke of midnight of July 29, when our grou visited the North Cape, everyone poured outside on the fiercely windy edge with thick coats and wof jumpers, to watch the sun peer through the clouds. It never fully happened. Still, you could hear the souy of a thousand shutters snapping. Unfortunately o group had visited on a foggy night which left us with obscured view of the midnight sun. Nonetheless, we popped open the champagne aif made a toast for just being there. Ten minutes later, that was left was daylight. It had passed by in the blink an eye, but it didn’t matter because we were standing the land of the midnight sun, and every minute of it ; lucky.