Honningsvåg, Norway

Honningsvåg - a city in Norway, in the county of Finnmark. Located on the southern tip of the island of Magerø, on which are also the capes North Cape and Knivskjellodden - the northernmost point of Europe. The main settlement and administrative center of the municipality of North Cape. It was granted city status in 1996 year. In 1997, a law was adopted in Norway according to which only a settlement with more than 5,000 residents could be considered a city, but since Honningsvåg was declared a city before the law was passed, the status was retained. Thanks to this, it is considered one of the smallest cities in Norway, as well as one of the northernmost cities in Europe. The city's population, according to the latest census, is 2,541 people.

Honningsvåg is the closest port to the North Cape tour complex, having berths to accommodate huge cruise liners. Today, Honningsvåg is the third-largest port that receives about 100 passenger ships annually. Every day hundreds of tourists go ashore, where dozens of buses are already waiting for them and they take them to the North Cape viewpoint. In the city there are several banks, hotels, and there are restaurants and bars, Tax-Free shops with souvenirs.

The ancient Scandinavian form of the name of this place was Hornungsva(gr), which means “a bay under Hornungr Mountain”.

One of the rare sights of Honningsvåg is the monument to the St. Bernard Bamsey (1937-44). The dog belonged to the captain of the whaling ship "Torodd", and when Norway was occupied by Germany, the vessel went to Britain and became a trawler. Bamsey became not only the ship’s mascot, but also that of all Norwegian naval forces. During his service, he pulled a sailor who had fallen overboard, and also saved a lieutenant from an attacker with a knife. Bamsey died in the Scottish town of Montrose in 1944 from heart failure. The dog was buried with all military honors and posthumously awarded the medal for bravery. In 2006, a monument to Bamsey was erected in Montrose, and in 2009 in Honningsvåg they installed the same replica.

But the main attraction that draws tourists from all over the world to this tiny town is - the North Cape, the northernmost point of Europe. Honningsvåg is the main port of the North Cape, which ancient people believed was the end of the known world, as well as the starting point of a journey into nothingness. The 34-kilometer road between Honningsvåg and North Cape is especially beautiful, because it is the only true polar road in all of Europe.

The North Cape is a rugged coastline, indented with bays and coves, steeply rising from the foam of the surf to a height of 307 m. The cape is part of an ancient crystalline plate made of gray-black slate, withstanding the blows of waves for hundreds of thousands of years. From lakes deep in the cape, streams flow to the edge of the cliff, cascading down from it and forming picturesque cascades. The North Cape has long turned into a major tourist attraction with small houses in traditional Norwegian style, with roofs covered in turf. People come here not only to stand at the edge of Europe, but also to enjoy the northern lights: the North Cape is one of many places in Northern Norway where they can be seen in all their glory.

Honningsvåg is located in the subarctic climate zone. Despite the fact that the city is the northernmost point in Europe, the climate here is not as harsh - due to the Gulf Stream current. Summer here is short and cool. The average daily temperature in July is about 20°C.

Winters in Honningsvåg are also not as cold as in other areas located at the same latitude.

Every year, about 800 mm of precipitation falls here, mostly as snow during 150 freezing days per year.

In the gardens of Honningsvåg even in winter, green trees grow, although they rarely grow higher than 1 m. The main problem of these places is the constant dense fogs and rains that form when the water of the warm current comes into contact with cold Arctic air masses.