08/09/2025
Onwards we travelled, westwards towards Hammerfest. It claims to be the northernmost city in Norway, but that seems to be disputed. Mostly because there is no official distinction between towns and cities Hammerfest also has the polar bear on the official crest, not because polar bears were ever resident here, but as a symbol of the town’s importance as a polar sea port.
The drive to Hammerfest took us around the steep coast of the island of Kvaløya. The road must have been a significant work of engineering. Very few houses or settlements can be found along the route as it’s just so steep.
Road to Hammerfest
We arrived and popped to the supermarket before driving to a parking area above the town where there were amazing views stretching over the bay to the port. In the harbour we could see large gas storage tanks. Hammerfest is one of the key ports for processing the natural gas from the Snøhvit gas field under the Barents Sea. Much of Norway’s wealth relies on it’s sources fossil fuel energy which boosted it from being a primarily agricultural and fishing based economy.
View from our parking -see the odd shaped natural gas tanker in the distance
The point where we parked was bathed in sunshine and the temperature outside read 20°C. It felt quite unbelievable that we would be walking around in t-shirts above the arctic circle. Paul even had shorts on.
Several coaches were up here with us, dropping cruise ship passengers at the Sami cultural centre. Out in the car park we saw an older lady pull up and get out of her car to look at the view. While she stood with her back to the car it started to trundle slowly towards her. Paul leapt out of the van and pushed against the bonnet, another man saw what was happening and went to help him. The lady turned around, furious (probably with embarrassment) and gave Paul short shrift for touching her car. Paul left it to the Norwegian man to explain what had happened and she looked very sheepish.
-
- Sami buildings at the cultural centre
-
- The coach parties were being entertained inside this large turf building
From the parking spot we followed a walk on the Gammelveien. This is a historic route that leads to other villages across the centre of the island, created many years before the road around the steep outer edge. In 1896 the community built up the road using local stone to make the track that we followed. The walk took us through the island’s only wood – a small copse behind the supermarket we’d visited earlier – and past German WWII fortifications.
Finally we ended up down in the town where more groups of cruise ship passengers were wandering around in the sunshine. We made a pit stop at the Vinmonopolet, the only place where strong alcohol can be bought. Wine and vodka were purchased, I didn’t think it was horrendous value but definitely more expensive than home.
-
- Bandstand with polar bear motif
-
- Hammerfest church. The deisgn is said to be based on fish drying racks
-
- Mother and Children fountain by the town square
With our heavy burden we finally walked back up a steep and eroded zig zag path to our parking spot.
Back up above the town we looked for somewhere to stay the night. We didn’t feel comfortable staying up on the viewpoint overnight, although people had. It felt very busy and too near to houses.
To this day I’m not sure why we didn’t just pop down to the official parking area which I am sure would have been perfectly fine. But before we knew it we were driving out of Hammerfest and south again. This happens sometimes, a scout around for the right spot leads us away from the place we intended to be. We missed out on a couple of attractions I’d been interested in (the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society – neither royal or ancient but it sounded like fun). Maybe we’ll be back one day for a longer visit.