Sights in Finnmark
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Nordkapphallen
So you've finally made it to Nordkapphallen, Europe's northernmost rip-off - an opinion shared by the regular letters we receive from readers who've felt exploited. To reach the tip of the continent, by car, by bike, on a bus or walking in, you have to pay a toll. This allows unlimited entry over two days but it's small compensation for the vast majority who roll in, look around, take a snap and roll out.
This vast bunker of a place, topped by a giant, intrusive golf ball, is a love/hate kind of place. Within are a tediously detailed account of WWII naval actions off the cape, a cafeteria and restaurant, the striking Grottan bar with views of Europe's end through its vast…
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Alta Museum
Alta Museum is in Hjemmeluft, at the western end of town. The cliffs around it, a Unesco World Heritage site, are incised with around 5000 late–Stone Age carvings, dating from 6000 to 2000 years ago. As the sea level decreased after the last ice age, carvings were made at progressively lower heights. Themes include hunting scenes, fertility symbols, bears, moose, reindeer and crowded boats. The works have been highlighted with red-ochre paint (thought to have been the original colour) and are connected by 3km of boardwalks that start at the main building. The short loop (1.2km; allow around 45 minutes, including viewing time) is the most visited. You can also graft on a s…
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Royal & Ancient Polar Bear Society
Dedicated to preserving Hammerfest culture, the Royal & Ancient Polar Bear Society features exhibits on Arctic hunting and local history and shares premises with the tourist office. The place is, it must be said, a bit of a come-on (the Norwegian name, Isbjørklubben, simply Polar Bear Club, lacks the portentousness of the English but is nearer the mark). For around NOK160, you can become a life member and get a certificate, ID card, sticker and pin.
For around NOK200, you also receive a schnapps glass and, as the demure young receptionist will explain without blanching, get dubbed with the bone from a walrus's penis. It's well worth that extra around NOK35 for the conve…
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Gallery
Juhls’ Sølvsmie (Silver Gallery) is a wonderful building, all slopes and soft angles, designed and built by owners Regine and Frank Juhls, who first began working with the Sami half a century ago. Their highly acclaimed gallery creates traditional-style and modern silver jewellery and handicrafts, and displays the best of Scandinavian design. One wing of the gallery has a fine collection of oriental carpets and artefacts, reminders of their work in support of Afghan refugees during that blighted country’s Soviet occupation. Staff happily show you around and you’re welcome to buy items.
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Vardøhus Festning
The star-shaped Vardøhus Festning – yes, of course it’s the world’s most northerly – was constructed in 1737 by King Christian VI. For a fortress, it’s painted in gentle fairy-tale colours. On a nice, sunny day it’s pleasant to stroll around the flower-festooned bastions, past turf-roofed buildings and Russian cannons. You pay the admission fee either at the guard office or by dropping it into the WWII sea mine that guards the entrance.
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Church
As so often in these small Finnmark communities, the church is the most interesting structure architecturally – and all too often the only building to have survived the devastation wreaked by retreating Nazi forces. Vadsø’s didn’t. Built anew in 1958, it’s simple enough yet rich in symbolism. The twin peaks are intended to recall an iceberg, the Orthodox-inspired altarpiece looks metaphorically over the frontier and the rich stained glass depicts the seasons.
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Gallery
Local artist Eva Arnesen designed the Nobel Peace Prize diploma that was awarded to Jody Williams and the campaign to ban land mines. Her gallery is about 4km south of town, opposite the Statoil petrol station. Arnesen’s paintings evoke the colours of the region from the northern lights to the bright palette of summer. The handsome pair of carved and silvered polar bears on Rådhus Plass was fashioned by her husband, woodcarver Knut Arnesen.
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Vadsø Church
As so often in these small Finnmark communities, the Church is the most interesting structure architecturally - and all too often the only building to have survived the devastation wreaked by retreating Nazi forces. Vadsø's didn't. Built anew in 1958, it's simple enough yet rich in symbolism. The twin peaks are intended to recall an iceberg, the Orthodox-inspired altarpiece looks metaphorically over the frontier and the rich stained-glass depicts the seasons.
reviewed
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Museum
Outside, this charming little museum presents a traditional Sami settlement, complete with an early home, temporary dwellings and outbuildings such as the kitchen, sauna, and huts for storing fish, potatoes and lichen (also called ‘reindeer moss’ and prime reindeer fodder). Inside are Sami handicrafts, farming and reindeer-herding implements, religious icons and artefacts, and winter transport gear.
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Kjeldsen Fish Plant
The third site, the Kjeldsen Fish Plant is at Ekkerøy, 15km east of town. It retains its old stores and lodgings, a mass of arcane fishing equipment, the old shrimp processing and bottling room and - to make you wince at childhood memories - a vast black vat and boiler for extracting cod-liver oil. Plan to arrive when hunger is beginning to bite and you can enjoy an excellent fish meal in the Havhesten Restaurant.
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Andersgrotta
Drop down the steep stairs of Andersgrotta into this cave that once served as an air-raid shelter and bunker as wave upon wave of Russian bombers sought to knock out the Nazi ore shipping facility. There’s a multilingual presentation and a nine-minute video also tells the tale. Wrap up warmly since the temperature is 3°C, even in summer.
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Kautokeino Cultural Centre
If you’re interested in fine modern architecture, make a similar small detour to the outskirts of town and the Kautokeino Cultural Centre, winner of several awards. It’s the base for the Nordic Sami Institute and also Beaivváš, the world’s only professional Sami theatre company, which tours throughout the region.
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Church
Behind the altar of Hammerfest’s contemporary church, consecrated in 1961, the glorious stained-glass window positively glows in the summer sun. The wooden frieze along the organ gallery depicts highlights of the town’s history. The chapel in the cemetery across the street is the only building in town to have survived WWII.
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Hammerfest Kirke
Behind the altar of Hammerfest's contemporary Hammerfest Kirke, consecrated in 1961, the glorious stained-glass window positively glows in the summer sun. The wooden frieze along the organ gallery depicts highlights of the town's history. The chapel in the cemetery across the street is the only building in town to have survived WWII.
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Energy House
The Energy House, a new interactive centre, explains natural gas extraction, which is bringing increasing wealth to Hammerfest, and also alternative energy sources such as wind and tidal power. Coincidentally, it’s on the site of northern Europe’s first hydropower station.
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Salen Hill
For panoramic views over the town, coast and mountains (there's a free pair of binoculars for you to sweep the bay), climb 86m Salen Hill, topped by the Turistua restaurant, a couple of Sami turf huts and a lookout point. The 15-minute uphill trail begins at the small park behind the Rådhus.
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Tuomainengården
The Tuomainengården is a mid-19th-century Finnish farmhouse, with its own bakery, sauna and blacksmith. Esbensengården (Esbensen estate, Hvistendalsgata; adult/child around NOK30/free) is a mid-19th-century opulent merchant's dwelling, complete with stable and servants' quarters.
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Reconstruction Museum
Hammerfest’s Reconstruction Museum recounts the forced evacuation and decimation of the town during the Nazi retreat in 1944; the hardships that its citizens endured through the following winter; and Hammerfest’s post-war reconstruction and regeneration.
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Nordkapp Museum
Honningsvåg's small Nordkapp Museum, co-located with the tourist office, illustrates the impact of early visitors to the Cape, Sami culture, the hard days in the immediate aftermath of WWII and the daily life of a town that, until the advent of tourism, lived from the sea.
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Reindeer Safari Park
This reindeer safari park may not be so much of a treat for the children if you’ve been driving in Eastern Finnmark and stopped to relate to browsing roadside reindeer but it’s worth the visit if you’ve rolled in on the Hurtigruten.
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Church
The timbered Kautokeino church, which dates from 1958, is one of Norway’s most used, particularly at Easter. Its cheery interior, alive with bright Sami colours, has some fixtures salvaged from the earlier 1701 church that was torched in WWII.
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St Michaels Catholic Church
With a strong claim to be the world's most northerly catholic church, St Michaels Catholic Church, serving a congregation of barely 90 souls, is immediately recognisable by the striking mosaic of the eponymous saint that extends the length of its facade.
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Vadsø Museum
The Vadsø Museum has three elements: the Tuomainengården (Tuomainen estate, Slettengate 21), Esbensengården (Esbensen estate, Hvistendalsgata), and the Kjeldsen Fish Plant at Ekkerøy, 15km east of town. Each has it's own entry.
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Kautokeino Kirke
The timbered Kautokeino Kirke, which dates from 1958, is one of Norway's most used, particularly at Easter. Its cheery interior, alive with bright Sami colours, has some fixtures salvaged from the earlier 1701 church that was torched in WWII.
reviewed
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Hornøya
In summer, the tourist office runs to the island of Hornøya with its picturesque lighthouse and teeming bird cliffs. To be all alone after the last shuttle pulls out, reserve one of the only three beds at the lighthouse (around NOK250).
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