What can be cooked from squid: quick and tasty

MURMANSK, October 19 - RIA Novosti, Anastasia Yakonyuk. In the departure hall of the Norwegian airport, after check-in for the flight to Spitsbergen, the border guard dispassionately stamped in the passport: "I left Norway." Nobody makes a note of arrival at the archipelago, and according to the documents, the person arriving here turns out to be "nowhere" - as if "in another dimension."

And not only according to the documents - life on this end of the earth is so different from the continental way of life that you will not immediately understand what really exists, but what it only seems, in what time you found yourself and in what country.

However, you won't be able to get lost here: there are only a few large settlements on Svalbard, fairly divided between Norwegians and Russians.

Norwegian Longyearbyen is the capital of the archipelago and the world's northernmost settlement with a population of over a thousand people - a local metropolis. It got its difficult-to-pronounce name (the Norwegians made it even more difficult to Longyearbyen) from an American engineer who laid a coal mine here. In addition to the mine, Longyearbyen has an airport, university, museum, school and kindergarten.

Russian Barentsburg a couple of decades ago in terms of population was significantly ahead of Longyearbyen. Now from 300 to half a thousand people live here, depending on the season. The mine remains the center of life, there is also a Russian consulate, a house of culture, a sports complex and a bust of Lenin.

The third settlement can be called "uninhabited" point - the former Russian village of Pyramida, where over a thousand people lived. Today, with its houses, a house of culture, a sports complex and swimming pools, it has turned into an open-air museum.

Sharp mountains in a cold edge

The relief here seems to be drawn along a ruler - it is no coincidence that the word "Spitsbergen" is translated as "sharp mountains". However, the Norwegians call the archipelago "Svalbard" - which in turn means "cold land". This combination - peaked peaks and icy waters - have been the usual scenery of life on Svalbard for five centuries, according to researchers.

The archipelago was ceded to Norway in 1920, but with a reservation: all countries that signed the Spitsbergen Treaty in Paris could conduct economic and scientific activities here. There were about forty of them, but, apparently, the fierce Arctic winds cooled the political fervor of most of the applicants, and in the 21st century only Norwegians and Russians remained on Svalbard.

Longyearbyen - the city of the polar bear

The doors of houses and cars are not locked here: firstly, even if someone covets someone else's good, they will not carry it far - there is water around. Secondly, everyone knows each other and stealing from a neighbor is like spitting in a well. And, finally, an unlocked door can one day save from attack the real owner of the archipelago - a polar bear.

There are slightly fewer polar bears than the inhabitants themselves. Therefore, around the outskirts of the houses there are peculiar barriers, kindergartens resemble fortresses, and when leaving the house for a walk, everyone takes a gun with him.

However, it is possible to shoot at the owner of the archipelago only as a last resort: in all the rest, experienced hunters advise carefully, sideways out of sight of the animal. At the same time, bear attacks on people happen here almost every year, only this summer such a meeting ended tragically - a polar bear killed one of the British tourists who camped in the possession of the owner of the archipelago.

You can meet a clubfoot at any time of the year, but this fall, it is not only bears that pose a threat to local residents. At Arctic foxes and deer. This virus has not been on Svalbard for 30 years already. Hunters and scientists sin on Russian defectors, assuming that it was foxes and arctic foxes who brought rabies from Siberia on the ice.

However, ordinary Longyears have no time to find out the reasons: in a month you need to have time to get five vaccinations - then rabies does not threaten a person. The danger comes not only from foxes and arctic foxes, but also from reindeer: every resident of the archipelago has the right to kill one deer per season.

"As a hunter, I must deliver the lower jaw of the shot animal to the governor. Since the virus is transmitted through saliva, it can be detected and thus controlled," said one of the hunters of the village, Ulaf Storö.

But those who will never become a carrier of rabies are cats: keeping them in Longyearbyen has been strictly prohibited since 1988 (though, they say, the Murki of Barentsburg do not know about this).

Another sign of Longyearbyen is the shelves for shoes in every institution: be it a museum, a school or a fashionable hotel. This tradition is a legacy of the miner's way of life: most of the residents worked in the mine, and when entering the premises, everyone had to take off their shoes so as not to carry coal dust into the house.

Dying and being born is prohibited by law

Svalbard, although it is a Norwegian territory, in many respects lives by its own laws. They are dictated not only by the king and god - the governor of the archipelago, who is endowed with much broader powers than the head of any other province, but also by life itself in extreme conditions.

Only the able-bodied population has the right to stay here; the passage to the archipelago is closed for the unemployed and pensioners. Those who have lived here for 10-15 years are real legends of the island - old-timers.

In Longyearbyen, it is forbidden by law to die - there is no cemetery, and if someone is going to leave this world, he must first of all leave Svalbard. However, it will not work to be born here either - all pregnant women go to the "mainland".

Stina, an employee of the travel company, has two kids. “They were born on the mainland, in Tromsø - the last weeks they had to live with friends, we don't have our own homes on the 'mainland'. Well, dad managed to have time for the birth of children, otherwise it would be completely sad,” says Stine.

They moved here, like many other Norwegians, in search of romance and decent earnings - they became uninterested in the comfortable and calm part of Norway. They did not immediately get used to the peculiarities of the local way of life, but now they doubt whether it is worth leaving.
"We don't feel cut off from the world. It's almost never boring here: we hold many different events, festivals, tourism develops, people change. True, life here is too expensive. For example, beer in a store is cheaper than milk. with two children, you have to choose milk, "says Stine.

Svalbard has a duty-free zone, which is why beer and other alcohol is seductively available here. True, in the local supermarket alcohol is sold only by tickets - within three days from the date of arrival. When buying a drink, tickets are stamped, and you cannot buy them a second time. You can also buy alcohol in specialized stores, but only with special cards that limit the supply of alcoholic products - 24 cans of beer and two liters of strong alcoholic beverages per person per month.

However, you won't be able to get lost here: there are only a few large settlements on Svalbard, fairly divided between Norwegians and Russians.

Sharp mountains in a cold edge

Longyearbyen - the city of the polar bear

But those who will never become a carrier of rabies are cats: keeping them in Longyearbyen has been strictly prohibited since 1988 (though, they say, the Murki of Barentsburg do not know about this).

Dying and being born is prohibited by law

A young anthropologist from St. Petersburg, Andrian Vlakhov, recently returned from Svalbard, where he spent three months collecting material for his dissertation on the Russian community in the archipelago. His area of interest is the industrial anthropology of the Arctic. He told us how people live when they have only one bottle of vodka a month, and you can't leave the village without a gun, and why do they even go to such a place.

Modern social sciences, for example, social anthropology, which is still known in our country as ethnography and is considered a recording of songs and dances of the peoples of the world, in fact, involve the use of qualitative research methods. The generally accepted standard is to go live in the community, try to talk to each of its members, perhaps make friends. I drove without a legend, although, of course, the ideal option is when no one knows that you are an explorer.

I needed the trip because I am writing a dissertation on Svalbard. I wonder why people go to the Arctic, what they do there, why they stay to live. In fact, there are not so many works devoted to life in the archipelago: Russian scientists, probably, for a long time thought that the entire population of Svalbard was alcoholic miners, about whom there is nothing to write about, and it is difficult for foreign researchers to work with residents of the same Russian village of Barentsburg. because nobody speaks Norwegian - they hardly speak English.

Andrian Vlakhov

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Preparation

I have done a fairly extensive preparatory work, because a scientist cannot just go and go, as we say, in the field: you need to learn as much as possible about the place from all available sources, formulate the questions that you will ask people, draw up a work plan.

In addition, in order to travel to Svalbard, it was important for me to establish contact with the Arktikugol trust. Not to say that the territory is secure, but getting there is not so easy, so it was necessary to make friends with those who run everything. I came to Moscow twice to talk about the purpose of my trip, which is not surprising: a person who decides to go where normal people do not go, raises questions.

The work of an anthropologist involves not only conversations with local residents, but also recording an audio-tape, photographing and video filming, mapping, so, of course, I took the necessary equipment with me.

Of course, if you are going to the 78th degree of north latitude, even in summer, you should take care of warm clothes. I can say that I was lucky with the weather - on some days it was 10-11 degrees Celsius, but already in September it was impossible to do without a down jacket.

Barentsburg

Scientists in Svalbard, as a rule, live in a scientific town, conduct experiments there, study algae, almost never intersect with miners. I initially asked to be accommodated in a dormitory, in the same room as the miners themselves, so that it would be easier for me to get to know them and collect the necessary information.

Barentsburg is not a place where you can stop a person for an interview on the street. Firstly, because it is rather cold here, and secondly, in fact, as in all border regions of Russia, many people, according to the old Soviet habit, are afraid of spies. As a story: in the second week of my stay in the village, rumors reached me that I was a KGB officer and that I was going to take everyone into circulation. People can be understood - it is difficult for them to imagine that someone will leave blessed Petersburg and come to their godforsaken Barentsburg to live here for three months without any hidden purpose.

In general, rumors are a separate topic. Let's say that gossip reached me that I was seen three times making my way at night to one of the girls along the corridor of the hostel in shorts and with flowers - and this despite the fact that the nearest bouquet can be obtained only on the mainland, in Norwegian Tromsø.

This, perhaps, can be explained by the fact that at first I really talked a lot with the female half, or rather a quarter of Barentsburg - women are always more contactable and more willing to share information that may be of interest to an anthropologist.

With the men the most effective method talking is quite obvious. The problem is that drinking in Barentsburg is tense - since Soviet times, one bottle of vodka has been put per person per month. It is not forbidden, however, to drink the beer of the local brewery in unlimited quantities, but you will not get drunk with it. As an option - go to the Norwegian part and buy everything there, but this is again a non-trivial task in Svalbard. You need to have a boarding pass for the flight, on which you can take up to two liters of strong alcohol. By the way, my own one of the locals begged me almost immediately upon arrival - I, in fact, did not feel sorry for it. Illegal alcohol can also be found in Barentsburg itself, but it makes the hangover a thousand times stronger.

If you're sober yourself, data logging isn't difficult. But when you drink with the miners, you need to constantly remind yourself that talking about life is great, but you are also a scientist and you have certain tasks. Every time, returning to the hostel after such interviews, I tried to overcome the urge to fall asleep and first wrote down my impressions so that nothing would be forgotten.

The conversation usually began with the question "What brought you here?" The first and simplest answer is the desire to make money. For an apartment, a car, a son's wedding, a goat, a cow - whatever. Then, however, it turns out that in fact I always still wanted to see, but how is it - the Arctic, how is it to live when three months is the polar night, three months is the polar day, and the rest of the time is a shift? Or that it’s so great to see the ocean and mountains from the window that you don’t even want to leave, or that someone loved adventure literature in childhood and when there was a chance to go on an adventure himself, he did not miss this chance. Some say that they were born in the conditional Norilsk, then lived in Donbass for 20 years and suffered from the heat, and then they took it and moved here.

Drinking in Barentsburg is tense - since Soviet times, one bottle of vodka per person has been put in place per month.

My work is somewhat similar to that of an investigator: I never interrupt my interlocutors, but only ask leading questions. Well, for example, to find out what people are doing after plowing eight hours in a mine. So you came out of the face - and then what? Well, I drank beer with the boys, well, I went to the rocking chair, and then what? Someone enrolls in the recently opened circle of the Norwegian language, someone in the local library reads Ukrainian books left over from Soviet times, someone goes fishing, someone collects pebbles to bring as a gift to his wife.

When you ask people here what is missing the most, Barentsburg residents never start with fresh fruits and vegetables, but they always complain that there is almost nothing to do in free time... There is no normal internet in the village. Enough to write to relatives and sometimes go to Skype. Previously, at least a movie was played, but now you have to pay for each rental copy, so you don't show much. Watching TV is boring too. Therefore, a fairly rich collection of films, including pornographic ones, circulates in Barentsburg. The latter is quite popular among local residents (here it is worth recalling that three quarters of the population are young guys). Movies are being exchanged so far, it seems, free of charge.

My skills in teaching Russian and English languages... I just went to the local school and offered to help. Naturally, I did not ask for money: I was primarily interested in the opportunity to communicate with their parents through the students. In Barentsburg, there are now two teachers for all 11 grades - one for primary school and one for all other classes and subjects. A common activity: children from several classes gather in the classroom at once, with the fifth, say, literature, the sixth - Russian, the seventh - mathematics, and the eighth - chemistry. There are a couple of people in each class, and the teacher walks from student to student throughout the lesson and explains his topic to everyone. Children, I must say, are very good and much more intelligent than you can find in large cities on the mainland.

It is quite funny on September 1st in Barentsburg. Strictly speaking, it does not take place on the first, but on the ninth, because a new batch of miners is brought from vacation around August 28 and people spend the next week and a half in quarantine. On the line, the entire school of 20 people becomes a semicircle around six first-graders and enthusiastically congratulates them on the beginning of school life.

I am very attached to children, as they are to me. When I left, they hugged me and cried - I had to promise them to come back soon.

For three months I walked the village along and across and climbed everything that I could - all the nooks and crannies, abandoned houses, sheds - in a word, what people perceive as their everyday life. I climbed the mountain, where there are cell towers, wandered along the coast of the ocean and laid out with pebbles all sorts of words dear to the heart of a Russian person. Here I, of course, broke the law, because it is forbidden to leave the village without weapons and notifying the authorities - all because of polar bears, which are more than people here, three thousand against two and a half. I myself have not seen a bear, but during my stay in Barentsburg there was a rumor that a bear was wandering along the southern outskirts of the village. Locals generally love stories about a she-bear, preferably with two cubs, which once came right up to the houses themselves. In fact, the bears of large settlements are more likely to be afraid, but in another Russian village, according to stories, one bear completely lost fear this year and wandered around the village for so long that they were already tortured to drive him away. In Svalbard, in fact, bears are protected where better than people: They cannot be fired at until you try to fire them off with a signal flare. Although in Barentsburg they showed me the available collection of weapons - very impressive.

I, of course, violated the law, because it is forbidden to leave the village without weapons and notifying the authorities.

Longyearbyen

You can't just get to Longyearbyen, Norway from Barentsburg. From time to time, "Arktikugol" organizes a "shop tour", when people are brought there by helicopters, but more often they have to be attached to a Norwegian tourist ship.

Longyearbyen, like any other settlement on Svalbard, was a mining town, but for 20 years it has ceased to be such. In the early 1990s, the Norwegians realized that nothing could be built on coal mining alone and legalized private property. The local coal mining company has taken out of its control all areas of activity not directly related to it, and this has a very good effect on the city.

In terms of infrastructure, Longyearbyen makes a much more pleasant impression - there is fast internet, a supermarket with food you are used to, a hotel, several bars, a museum, a cultural center, a university center, an airport. There is even a Thai restaurant.

But in all other respects I liked Barentsburg much more. Our village is stately, it stands on the bank of a fjord, and in Longyearbyen there are only barns on the bank - there is no scope or something.

Outcome

The nature of Svalbard made a very strong impression on me. There is nothing to compare when outside your window you have a green-green ocean and snow-capped mountains, and at the beginning of September there is such a blizzard for three days that it is impossible to leave the house - it blows into a snowdrift.

But most of all I was amazed by the people. In megacities, we have lost the habit of what is still the reality of small cities - here everyone is in plain sight. We can always lock ourselves in our apartment and isolate ourselves from the world. In Barentsburg, this is impossible - if you don't communicate with people, after a while you will freak out.

And the people here are amazingly open and sociable - even though they work in a relatively closed company. An ordinary person will never leave a warm home and family to go here. You have to be a little desperate, and this desperation is in the nature of all the inhabitants of Barentsburg. Here you also fully feel what the books describe as the spirit of polar explorers: mutual assistance and the desire to help another are not just words, this is what really matters for people living in the harsh north.

At some point, my relationship with many here ceased to fit into the “respondent-collector” format. I found people in Barentsburg with whom I became close and still keep in touch (thanks social networks!). Now I correspond with both adults and children and hope to meet in March or April - by that time I will analyze the available materials and understand what data is missing. Well, on March 20, a total solar eclipse is expected, which will be visible only on the Faroe Islands and Svalbard and nowhere else on Earth - I really want to see it. In local hotels, all rooms for these dates were bought out in two years, but I hope there will be a place for me in Barentsburg now.

From time to time, "Arktikugol" organizes a "shop tour", when people are taken to Longyearbyen by helicopter.

The sun does not appear over the horizon for four months a year, polar bears are perceived as a common and always urgent problem, and Santa Claus lives in an abandoned coal mine on the side of a mountain.

In this article, we will tell you how to go to the beautiful Arctic archipelago, where it is forbidden to have cats, leave the village without a gun and die.

Svalbard, or Svalbard as it is called in Norway, is an arctic archipelago made up of three large and many small islands. It was from here that many expeditions to the North Pole went, because this is one of the points closest to it. Despite the fact that this is the territory of Norway, the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 gives the archipelago a special international legal status, which allows a number of countries - including Russia - to carry out economic activities here.

The largest and most tourist city of the archipelago is the Norwegian Longyearbyen, the second largest is the Russian village of Barentsburg. There are also several research bases and mothballed settlements here.

The Arctic climate of the archipelago is slightly softened by the Spitsbergen Current, part of the Gulf Stream, so the average monthly temperature ranges from + 4.4 ° C in July to -20.7 ° C in February. Winter months remain quite harsh, with the absolute minimum recorded in March 1986 at −46.3 ° C.

More than half of the archipelago's area is covered with glaciers, which have been actively melting recently due to global warming. Off the coast of Svalbard, Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi played his Arctic Elegy to draw public attention to the problem of melting polar ice and the destruction of the Arctic.

How to get there

Norwegian Air operates regular direct flights from Oslo to Longyearbyen (the journey takes about three hours). The price for a flight there starts from 67.40 euros, and on average is 70-90 euros, but for some dates it can reach 400 euros, so it is better to plan your trip in advance. You can fly on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (flights on Friday are traditionally more expensive).

Return flights are carried out on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (the frequency of flights depends on the season) and costs from 89.90 euros.

Longyearbyen. Photo: Victoria Pozdnyakova

Getting to Oslo for experienced travelers will not be difficult: you can fly from Moscow on a direct flight for 12-15 thousand rubles round trip, you can choose more a budget option, having reached Helsinki from St. Petersburg (500-1000 rubles by bus), and from there, flying to Oslo with the same Norwegian Air (from 29 euros).

Northernmost airport

The first impression that awaits a traveler upon arrival is the northernmostSvalbard airport located five kilometers from Longyearbyen. For those expecting to see a snow-covered landing strip and an unheated hangar, this small airport will be a pleasant surprise - it is no different from its mainland counterparts.

Arriving and leaving the archipelago, you will have to go through passport control. Please note that Svalbard, being part of Norway, is not part of the Schengen area. Therefore, when setting off from Russia, a tourist needs to make sure that he was given a double or multivisa, otherwise he will not officially have the right to fly back to Norway - which, given the circumstances, will create a very annoying situation.

You can walk to the city, but it is not recommended to do this because of the danger of meeting a polar bear. Each flight arrives at the airport with a special shuttle bus , which collects tourists and delivers them to hotels, and when it comes time to leave, delivers them to the airport. You can buy a ticket directly on board, and pay for it by credit card... The cost is 75 NOK (there are discounts for students and children).

Longyearbyen

Those who reach the center of Longyearbyen (or simply Longyearbyen) are greeted by rows of cheerful colorful houses, snowmobiles parked with them and developed infrastructure. This is the largest city on Svalbard, and now only the cable car stretching into the snowy distance and the outlines of abandoned mines remind that coal was once mined here. The mining settlement was founded back in 1906 by the American John Longyearbyen. After the First World War, the company was bought by a Norwegian companyStore Norske, and things went uphill: By the start of World War II, Longyearbyen had more than 800 inhabitants. All of them were evacuated during the hostilities to Scotland, and the abandoned city was destroyed by Nazi destroyers. However, local residents managed to rebuild it in record time.

In the 1960s and 80s, coal mining in Longyearbyen practically ceased (currently only remote mine No. 7 is functioning). The workers' barracks were turned into comfortable hotels and residences. Now the main income of the city comes from tourists, most of whom are Norwegians. Longyearbyen is also an important center for Arctic research.

The population of the city at the end of 2015 was 2,144 people.

The laws

When going on a trip, it is never superfluous to check local legislation - who knows what actions that are considered completely natural at home will be censured and even punishable in the country of destination. Longyearbyen is a prime example of this, because it is forbidden to die in this city.

This specific decree, limiting a person in his most seemingly natural rights, came into force about 80 years ago, when it turned out that in permafrost conditions the remains do not decompose and attract the attention of predators. Since then, the dead and seriously ill have been transported to the mainland to be buried there.

Also in Svalbard forbidden keep cats that pose a potential threat to the local Arctic bird population. The only cat in the archipelago, red-haired Kesha,lives in Barentsburg and is listed as a polar fox in the documents.

Finally, throughout Svalbard there is disposition do not leave the settlements without firearms orother means of protection from polar bears. In hungry seasons, these predators can attack humans - and there are about three and a half thousand of them on the archipelago. Hunting them is strictly prohibited, and killing a bear committed in self-defense should be reported immediately to the authorities.

The threat of polar bears is taken very seriously by the locals and is firmly established in daily life... There is a road sign at the airport exit and at the Longyearbyen border. There is another sign on the doors of the supermarket urging people not to go inside with guns. Walking children in kindergarten must be accompanied by an armed adult. Students of the local university are primarily taught shooting and the rules of conduct when meeting a polar bear. “You should aim at the bear’s chest - it’s too easy to miss in the head, - BBC journalist advises ... - If you are not armed, take off your mittens and throw them in the snow in the hope of distracting the bear. But if you see that he bared his teeth and growled, he is preparing to kill. At this stage, obviously, you can try to remind him that dying in Longyearbyen is prohibited, and hope that he will show respect for local law. "

Where to live?

There are several possible answers to this question, which is extremely relevant in the harsh Arctic climate.You can stay in a campsite located right next to the airport. V summer season it is quite comfortable here, there is hot water supply and a kitchen - and nothing prevents you from feeling the unity with the beautiful northern nature.

The city also has several hotels and guest houses. In the hostel Gjestehuset 102 for example, you can book a bed in a dormitory room for 35 euros, but you should hurry up because there is a lot of places in it, while other options will cost 100-200 euros per night. You can see them, for example, on booking.

What to see

Northernmost church

Longyearbyen is home to the world's northernmost Lutheran church - a small wooden building painted red-brown. It opened its doors in 1958 - the older building from 1921 was destroyed during the war.

At the entrance, visitors are asked to take off their outerwear and shoes in the wardrobe - it is quite natural for Spitsbergen residents to take off their shoes not only at home, but also when entering public places - a hotel, restaurant, museum or church.It is open 24/7 and has a cozy café where you can read a book or have hot coffee.

Northernmost university

The northernmost higher education institution in the world is also located in Longyearbyen.Svalbard University Center (UNIS) - a unique research institute where they study Arctic biology, geology, geophysics, climate change and protection environment, oceanology and electromagnetic phenomena.

The University Center was founded in 1993 to conduct Arctic research, thanks to which Svalbard is of great interest to the international scientific community. On the basis of UNIS, many world-scale projects are being carried out.

As a university center, UNIS is not accredited educational institution so it is not possible to get an academic degree here, but it does offer many courses for bachelors, masters and PhDs.

About 700 students study at the university every year, of which about half are Norwegians, and the other half are from more than 40 countries. Courses are taught by Norwegian and foreign teachers, experts in the field of Arctic sciences. Study is free and takes place in English.

The northernmost museum

In the same imposing building as the university center is locatedSvalbard Museum , where you can learn more about the Arctic nature and the development of the archipelago - from the whaling industry of the 17th century, Russian Pomors, Norwegian hunters, Arctic expeditions and mining, to the present day and the modern community of scientific research and tourism.

The most interesting exhibits include the personal belongings of travelers, each of which has a fascinating - and very often tragic - story. The exhibits of the type "a defective gun found with the remains of researcher N, who have been missing for several years" are very eloquent.

One section of the museum is dedicated to the present - the people living in Longyearbyen now and their stories.

In 2008 the Museum was awardedCouncil of Europe Prize for a great contribution to the European cultural heritage- and it is difficult to disagree with this assessment.

World Seed Vault

World Seed Vault - a huge seed bank created by Norway under the auspices of the UN in 2006. In the press, it is awarded with resounding names such as "Noah's Ark" and "Doomsday Vault" - and it is not surprising, because its purpose is to prevent the destruction of crops in the event of a global catastrophe: nuclear war, an asteroid fall, climate change, and so on. The room, located at a depth of 120 meters, is protected by explosion-proof doors. A special compartment is allocated for each country, and the total storage can hold up to 4.5 million samples.

Svalbard became the site of the grain storage due to permafrost, which will prevent samples from deteriorating even in the event of a freezer failure.

The store is closed for visits, but you can admire it from the outside, indulging in thoughts about the fate of civilization.

Snowmobiles. Photo: Victoria Pozdnyakova

Santa Claus Mine

The abandoned coal mine 2B is located on the slope of Mount Sarcophagus 2.5 kilometers from the center of Longyearbyen. This area is even considered a separate settlement - albeit more for historical reasons than for any other reason: the village of Nyubuen arose in 1946-1947 around the same mine. At first, there were several barracks in which workers lived, and in the second half of the 20th century, the only store in Longyearbyen was opened, and Nyubuen (translated from Norwegian "new city") rapidly gained popularity. Now it is also very lively here: two hotels, an art gallery, a cinema, night club and a restaurant, and a school is located between Nyubuen and Longyearbyen.

Mine 2B, like most of the coal mines in the archipelago, closed in the 1970s and has since looked down upon Longyearbyen from the mountainside as a monument to the coal rush. Local children believe that this is where Santa Claus lives, and every Christmas they put letters in a box specially installed on the road, from which the second name of the mine went. This object attracts adults no less - a beautiful view of the valley opens from the slope, and many interesting things have been preserved inside, for example, the mechanisms with which coal was extracted from the depths of the mine outside, or notes that tourists who have got here have left for several decades.

northern Lights

A trip north is an opportunity to admire one of the most amazing natural spectacles: the aurora borealis, or the northern lights. It happens all year round but in the dark winter months and until the end of March, the chances of seeing the aurora are much higher because it is not overshadowed by sunlight. By the way, for the same reason, it is recommended to leave the city, or at least move away from the illuminated streets. In more detail, you can calculate the dates and even the time of the aurora activity by forecasts.

Excursions

Despite the fact that there are many interesting things in Longyearbyen, people go to Svalbard not for urban architecture and infrastructure, but for natural beauty. Therefore, you can take part in one of the many excursions offered by local travel agencies - everyone will find an Arctic adventure to their liking., or ... You can ride a dog or a snowmobile, which, by the way, is the main and virtually the only way to get around here in winter, take a walk in the surroundings under the guidance of an armed guide, climb ice caves and glaciers, ride kayaks and admire the nesting of polar birds, watch the northern lights and visit other settlements in the archipelago.

Barentsburg

Barentsburg is a Russian mining village. It is named after the Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz, who officially discovered the archipelago at the end of the 16th century and was the first to map it. Actually, Svalbard itself ("Sharp Peaks") owes its name to him: it is believed that this phrase was described by the traveler, having seen the outlines of the archipelago from the ship.

The tourism industry in Barentsburg is less developed than in Longyearbyen, but there is still something to see here. For example, the only consulate of the Russian Federation on the archipelago is located here. Definitely a must visit museum "Pomor" telling a version of Svalbard history that may differ slightly from that offered by the Svalbard Museum in Longyearbyen.

There is also an Orthodox chapel built in memory of the victims.Russian plane crash Tu-154 in 1996.

Finally, in Barentsburg you can see one of the two northernmost monuments to Lenin (the second is in the Pyramid) and other traces of the Soviet presence, such as a plaque of honor and steles with communist slogans. Moreover, in last years the city is being actively restored, and now, in comparison with photographs and reviews of ten years ago, it is quite a positive sight.

And, of course, when arriving in Barentsburg, one must not forget to stroke the world's only illegal polar cat Kesha, who is not prevented by illegality from being a favorite of tourists and the local population.

Pyramid and Grumant

Pyramid is a village at the foot of a pyramidal mountain that once played the role of a "showcase of socialism": the Soviet government sought to demonstrate to the Norwegians the advantages of living in the USSR and did not spare anything for the happy inhabitants of the Pyramid. Those who found these timesbelieve they lived in paradise .

In 1998, however, the village was abandoned and managed to gain the fame of a ghost town before they guessed to take advantage of it, turning it into a popular tourist attraction.

Now only a few people live here permanently, but excursions are held quite regularly.

Grumant is one of the names of the archipelago: it is believed that the Russian Pomors knew it under this name back in the 16th century, long before the Norwegians appeared on the horizon. Those, as proof of their historical correctness, refer to the Icelandic sagas, whose heroes conquer the "cold shores" (Svalbard) in the XII century. The debate about who was the first has been going on for many years, but it was from the Pomor name of the archipelago that the name went settlement... The mining village of Grumant was mothballed in 1961 when coal reserves were depleted.

For tourists, of interest here are the abandoned Railway Grumant Colebuchta and several surviving buildings.

If you want to get an even more complete picture of Svalbard, you can go to the northernmost permanent settlement - the Norwegian research center Ny-Ålesund and to the village of Sveagruva, where the most productive mine in the archipelago is located. Of course, if you have a license for a weapon - after all, traveling between settlements without a gun, as we remember, is strictly prohibited on Svalbard.

Tourism in Svalbard, despite the difficult natural and weather conditions, is well developed, which allows everyone to enjoy the exotic, watching the symbols of the archipelago, polar bears, and visit the now abandoned coal mines.

Where is the island of Svalbard located?

The Svalbard archipelago is located 1.5 hours flight from the North Pole, in the Arctic Ocean. The world map shows that the island of Svalbard is the northernmost part.

Interesting Facts about the island of Svalbard

Here are some important facts about the archipelago as a whole:

General information. Spitsbergen was discovered by the Dutch explorer Willem Barents. It happened in 1596. The area of Svalbard is 61 thousand square meters. km, coordinates 78.609928, 15.878962.
Special legal status. Not everyone knows who owns Svalbard. Meanwhile, since 1920, the archipelago has been part of Norway, but at the same time, having a special status, it is a demilitarized zone.
Double name. Spitsbergen is Russian name islands, and in Norway the archipelago is called Svalbard, which means "cold land".
Cooperation between the two countries on the islands. In addition to Norway, Russia is also involved in significant economic activity in Svalbard. Its industrial and research centers are located in Barentsburg on the island of West Spitsbergen, as well as in the mothballed villages of Grumant and Pyramida.

Major islands and cities of Svalbard

The archipelago includes 3 large islands (West Spitsbergen, Northeastern Land and Edge) and more than 1000 small islets, including Prince Karl, Barents, Wilhelm, White and Bear Land. The capital of Svalbard is. Of the largest settlements, it is worth noting Barentsburg, and.

Population

The population of Svalbard is about 2,600 people, of which 70% are Norwegians, 18.3% are Russians and Ukrainians, 0.4% are Poles. Longyearbyen is home to about 2 thousand people. The second most populous in Svalbard is the mining village of Barentsburg (about 470 people permanently live in it). Only a few people live in the Russian village of Pyramida on Svalbard during the summer season.

Climate

Svalbard has a rather harsh arctic climate, only in the west it is slightly softened by the warm Spitsbergen Current (this is part of the Gulf Stream). In summer, the air temperature on the coast is about + 4 ... + 6 ° C, at the height of winter it drops to −10 ... −14 ° C.

The relief and nature of the Svalbard archipelago

The islands have mountainous relief. The highest among the Spitsbergen mountains is the Newton peak (1712 m). The shores of the islands are indented; more than 50% of the area of the Svalbard archipelago is occupied. The most famous of them is on the island of Northeast Land, which is the second largest in Europe and 7th in the world. Ostfonna on Svalbard merges with the Serfonnaya and descends to the sea, forming icebergs.

Important features of these places include large deposits of coal and a large number of rocks with fossils of plants and animals. The Svalbard land is considered a seismically active zone, earthquakes up to 6-7 points on the Richter scale are possible here.

Flora and fauna on the islands

The vegetation on the island of Svalbard in Norway is predominantly tundra. Here you can see dwarf birches, polar willows, mosses, lichens, mushrooms, etc. The fauna of the mainland Svalbard is represented by such mammals as polar bears, reindeer, polar foxes, seals, bearded seals, whales, walruses, and beluga whales live here. Among 90 bird species, 36 constantly nest, but only polar partridges live on the archipelago all year round, the rest fly away to winter in warm countries.

Svalbard entertainment and attractions

On the Svalbard archipelago, tourists are offered:

In summer, fishing, kayaking, cruises, helicopter tours to the North Pole, trips to nature conservation areas are added to excursions in Svalbard. There are, including National park Northwest Spitsbergen and Svalbard Nature Reserve, floristic areas and wildlife sanctuaries.

If you are planning to travel on your own in Svalbard, you can also visit:

Accommodation and meals

How to get to Svalbard?

There are very few direct flights from Russia to the archipelago, and they are organized mainly for researchers and government officials. Flights to the only one on the island of Svalbard are operated by Norwegian Airlines and SAS. Norwegian airlines operate flights from Longyearbyen 3 times a week, more often during the season, and SAS planes run between Oslo and Longyearbyen, also at least 3 times a week. Arctic cruises on the Kapitan Khlebnikov ship are also organized to Svalbard.