Svalbard Norway

Svalbard
a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic . The archipelago is located north of mainland Europe , approximately midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole.
The largest island is Spitsbergen and Longyearbyen is the administrative center. First used as a whaling base but later abandoned...but in the early 1900's coal mining revived the life of the communities and island....present day only one active mine exists as the demand for coal has decreased...tourism not keeps the island alive.

The archipelago has an arctic climate, but with significantly higher temperatures than other areas of the same latitude. The flora benefits from the long period of midnight sun to compensate for the dark season. Svalbard is a breeding ground for large amounts of seabirds, but is also home to polar bears, mountain artic foxes, reindeer and marine mammals. Seven national parks and twenty three nature reserves cover two-thirds of the archipelago, and largely protect the unspoilt and very fragile nature that characterizes Svalbard. Sixty percent of the archipelago is covered by glaciers, and the islands have many mountains and fjords...truly a once in a lifetime trip...what made it even more special was visitng with two member families in our branch that live there.

Leaving Tromsø and heading to Longyearbyen on Svalbard

Some of the snow looked like it was floating on top of the mountains.

Welcome to Longyearbyen.

This is how far away everything is.

They have no trees or grass, but the permafrost does have some fun flowers,

The city church.

Longyearbyen church in summer

pano view of the view of the church in summer

Svalbard reindeer are shorter and stockier than the ones on the mainland,

remains of the old city after the Germans burned it.

Snowmobile crossing.

Remains of the first coal mine in Longyearbyen.

This is the gymnasium and swimming pool.

The school - grades 1 - 12.

They grow some vegetables and sell them to the restaurants in town.

Another abandoned mine. They decorate this one at Christmas time and call it Santa's workshop.

Some of the old cabins have been turned into restaurants.

The reindeer wander through the town and are not afraid of people.

The cemetery in town is mostly miners who lost their lives in accidents at the mines. It is now illegal to die on Svalbard. If you get sick they ship you out.

Coins left at the cemetery.

Memorial to the miners who died.

Longyearbyen at the edge of the fjord.

This is where they gathered the coal to send down to the ships.

Old town bell.

Sundial up on the hill.

looks like it is 7:30p

These may look like old power lines...but they are the way they sent the coal in buckets from the mountains to the fjord. If you look close you can see the buckets.

Dock where they loaded the coal into the ships.

A road out of town.

This is the "World Seed Vault". One seed of every kind of plant is stored in here. There has only been one withdrawal - wheat seeds from Egypt.

Carlos and Emilia Gerez-Sousa - our hosts for the week.

Emilia with their dog.

There are more different kinds of snow vehicles than we have ever seen.

They have more snowmobiles in this town per capita than anywhere .

we stayed with the Gerez family second floor on the left in the front building.

old mining coal cars

Spring is here on Svalbard - The geese and other rare birds are back.

arctic tern

houses in town.

this sign is at the airport.

This is as far as you can go without a gun, or guide with a gun.

The sled dogs are all in pens with high fences around them to keep the bears out.

Notice the rifle holder on the snowmobile.

This is the fire station.

This is where the coal was gathered to and sent down to the fjord for loading in the ships.

This is the old one.

Polar bear in the church and town hall, it doubles as both a community center and church.

When you come in the church or any of the buildings they have you take off your shoes and put on crocs.

Coal buckets.

Dog sledding int the summer.

Elaina Gerez and her dog Emma.

This polar bear is in the entrance to the grocery store in town.

The geese come and nest right outside the dog kennel.

The stark rocky terrain has a beauty all its own.

This boat is the one that our friend uses to pick up icebergs for their iceberg water business.

This is the boat we went on to see the part of the island.

This mountain top has many satellite dishes from countries all around the world for scientific research.

Leaving town and heading out to sea.

These are the bird cliffs - many different types of birds live here.

One of the unique birds is the puffin

The little white dots are birds along the shoreline.

These arctic birds flew along with the boat all afternoon.

The mountains are so rugged and majestic.

this is ice floating in the water.

The crew cooking our lunch, bbq at sea.

BBQ reindeer ribs, whale and salmon with pasta salad and bread.

we can see a polar bear in front of the glacier with our binoculars - the captain is going to try and get closer for a better view

fascinating to watch. We stayed observing it for over 30 minutes

You can see the bear and part of a beluga whale in the water by him.

The captain said that we were 30 of about 6,000 people that were lucky enough to see a Polar bear out here.

this is what the polar bear was hoping to catch - beluga whales

This is the Norenskiöldbreen glacier - one of the largest on Svalbard.

This is the Russian city - now a ghost town of Pyramiden. It was once a thriving coal mining town.

our guide.

These 5 people were on a ski trip above Pyramiden - we were picking them up.

you will notice there is one with a rifle for protection.

the guys in green is watching for the polar bear that they sighted earlier in the morning.

We docked next to the ice and all went out to walk on the ice. It was too far out to be able to visit Pyramiden in town. Only three people reside there year round.

Everyone had to wear life jackets.

Our crew member with his gun.

Looking towards the glacier were we observed a second polar bear.

Hard to see with the naked eye but with our binoculars it was easy to see - another bear is out in the distance with a seal he has caught

Out walking on the ice.

the edge of the ice we are walking on does not look very thick.

A lighthouse on the shore.

A teepee frame - Sami?

There was a house at the foot of this mountain.

And a boat upon shore.

Leaving Pyramiden and heading back out to sea.

Longyearbyen from the boat.

Our captain.

Some of the RIB boats- the travel faster and closer to things.

This is a Russian boat docked

last week in May temperatures in Longyearbyen

reindeer outside of town.

this is frozen water on the fjord just across from Gerez apartment

A coal mine no longer in use.

Berents base camp

Antenna to track the northern lights.

view from up at mine #7.

These are the dogsledding kennels outside of town. All enclosed in high fences.

Sleds on a rack

Seal hanging - protein for the dogs

more kennels on the side of the hill.

Dogsledding is a big time tourist attraction up here.

A town with no stop signs or street lights.

parking lots on Svalbard have electrical chargers to put in car to keep battery warm so it will start up again. Need to use it most of the year if you park in town

This is the university and museum. Come in, take off your shoes, and enjoy.

It was a nice interesting museum

Pyramiden - Russian mining town we couldn't get to due to ice

At the university they have you take off your shoes, to help keep things clean.

Longyearbyen, a town founded by John Longyearbyen as a coal mining town, is very quaint and unusual.

It seems to survive in a very harsh climate.

A winter wonderland, with the midnight sun, and northern lights is a tourist destination that we will not forget.

Lots of sleds up on racks so they can get to them in the deep snow.

shorter and shaggy reindeer

arctic fox starting to change from winter to summer fur

arctic fox with it' winter coat still.

Boss & Jamilah's first hand knit sweater for him

Somehow lost or misplaced the photos of Quereshi family on the camera...don't know how but we can't find them so here are some from the fb pages.

Raad, Thor, Boss, Jamilah, Jamal and Chanthavone

Boss is a retired sled dog.

Jamal ans Chanthavone

Jamilah and Boss

This was going to be our 2nd boat tour to Prince Charles Island & Forelandet National Park to observe the Walrus on the island but Thursday was a holiday and the boat tours were cancelled, the following follows will give you an idea of what we were to see

the boat docks on the island and you are able to get up close to take pictures of these critters....it you can stand to get close enough...the smell is something else they say