Longyearbyen - perhaps you have heard the name before. It is the most northerly permanent settlement in the world and home to around 1700 people. It is on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard - often known as Spitzbergen - half way between the very north of mainland Norway and The North Pole.
Longyearbyen is really only a hundred and twenty years old. It grew because of coal mining and owes its name to an American mining investor called John Munro Longyear. Fishing has also been an important industry and nowadays there is some tourism with associated facilities and a scientific research centre
Svalbard Church - the most northerly church in the world
The North Pole Expedition Museum
Surprisingly, Google Streetview has covered the roads around the remote township. I believe this was done by a Danish man on a bicycle in June of this year. I don't know his name but I would like to thank him for dodging the polar bears and suffering the cold. I clipped my four pictures of Longyearbyen from his Streetview imagery.
The shoreline at Longyearbyen
Well, you learn something new every day; and how odd that it is has a good sized Thai population. Who knew of such a thing way up there!
ReplyDeleteIt is an oddity.
DeleteA friend went on a cruise there last year. It's a very interesting but severe place.
ReplyDeleteI would love to go there too but I will have to settle for Streetview.
DeleteThose cleaning people must be fit to be tied.
ReplyDeleteIn Thailand everybody wears ties. (American: neckties)
DeleteLooks bleak! Strangely, I was looking at a map of the world yesterday, ( checking where one of the " Worldle " answers was) and particularly noticed Svalbard. I had heard of it from reading the Northern Lights books.
ReplyDeleteI have also become a Worldle addict Frances.
DeleteI must visit. Do they have a 5 star hotel?
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly they do have some decent accommodation there but not 5 star. You'd have to cosy up with coal miners.
DeleteSounds like a village in Wales. "Longyearbyen"
ReplyDeleteNo. That would be Llongyearbyen.
DeleteLooks dreary!
ReplyDeleteI think that's because of the snips I have shared. There are other scenes where the sun is shining brightly.
DeleteIt's a name that's always fascinated me, so thank you for clarifying it's origins. Not a place for an extended holiday, the beach looks pretty grim and the sea most uninviting! I wouldn't mind a short visit but the accommodation might be a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI was going to make the comment "wait until the cruise ships start to arrive", but I note that Red knows someone who has been up there on a cruise. Hardly the sort of place for these new super-ships with 7,000 passengers.
No. I think some smaller cruise ships ply the Arctic region in summertime.
DeleteIt looks lovely, peaceful and quiet apart from the polar bears that is, but there is NO way I would ever go somewhere so cold. I like the sound of Svalbard better than Spitzbergen.
ReplyDeleteIs it because you don't approve of spitting Elsie?
DeleteYes, how did you know?
DeleteThe climate of Longyearbyen must be hard for the Thais to adjust to. It must seem like the most dreary place in the world to them!
ReplyDeleteIn Thailand it is summer the whole year long but in Longyearbyen the winter months are especially dark and cold.
DeleteI sure hope that Danish man on the bike got a bonus for this job.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I might stop for a brief visit, living in an extreme environment like this, even a scenic one, is not something I desire.
ReplyDeleteThere is a ferry from Norway that stops there and goes onto Iceland. Thomas Heaton, a landscape photographer on YouTube, took his camper van there this summer. https://www.youtube.com/@ThomasHeatonPhoto . I think I would enjoy the adventure.
ReplyDeleteI really don't think I could live in a place like that. I do enjoy a bit of cold weather, but that is overkill! I have heard of Svalbard before, but I had never really seen photos of the place.
ReplyDeleteI don‘t mind bleak places as such, but bleak AND cold AND dark I could not bear. Thankfully, I am more fortunate than the Thai people who had to leave home and family and friends behind in order to earn money, and ended up there.
ReplyDelete