We flew from Oslo to Longyearbyen the capital of Svalbard, where our adventure truly began.
Alex filmed the entire landing with his cell phone. We flew over Longyearbyen and also over our ship MS Fram which lay already waiting for us in the bay. We were finally here!
Longyearbyen is located at 78° north latitude, some 1,000 km below the North Pole, making it the northernmost town in the world. Since only about 2,400 people live there, city is a big word and the locals themselves refer to it as “their village” when talking about Longyearbyen.
Longyearbyen gets its name from John Munroe Longyear, the owner of the Boston-based Arctic Coal Company, who founded a settlement here in 1906 to house workers in his coal mines. It was called Longyear City, which later became Longyearbyen in Norwegian. Today, only one coal mine remains active, owned by a Norwegian company.
After the signing of the Svalbard Treaty in 1925, Svalbard became a Norwegian municipality, but with a special status that makes it such an internationally orientated region. It has its own democratically elected council with powers of local government, and anyone can work there without needing a visa. The official language is Norwegian but people from all over the world work there, attracted by the sense of adventure, the unusual living conditions, research opportunities, or to study at Svalbard’s university UNIS.
Longyearbyen is no beauty but it certainly has character. The permafrost makes it impossible to dig in pipes, so everything we normally hide in our cities is visible here. Because of the permafrost, all the houses are on poles. There is a main street with stores, restaurants, and pubs. There are hotels, a school, a gym, a theater, a supermarket, and a hospital. There is a brewery, recycling center, a blues festival, Svalbard Pride, and even its own newspaper. If you want to learn more about daily life in Longyearbyen follow the Youtube by Cecilia Blomdahl.
We only had a short amount of time to spend in Longyearbyen, and it was incredibly crowded because there was a large Italian cruise ship in the port. Fortunately, we were able to walk with the group to the restaurant on the southern edge of Longyearbyen where we would have lunch, so we could still see quite a bit of the village.
Longyearbyen as seen from the plane.
Pink-footed geese with a chick on the hills around Longyearbyen.
The remains of an old coal mine on the hills around Longyearbyen.
Until here and no further without a gun.
Facts about Longyearbyen
- All residents must learn to handle a riffle.
- Outside Longyearbyen, you should always carry a rifle to protect yourself from polar bears. A polar bear may only be shot in self-defense.
- It is not uncommon to encounter a reindeer on the street.
- There is 1 supermarket, but amazingly well-stocked.
- Longyearbyen has a university with 350 students.
- Everywhere you can find the silent witnesses of the mining past, these are monuments that are protected.
- There is a high turnover in residents, on average people do not live in Longyearbyen for more than 7 years.
- There is no retirement home.
- No children are born here.
- No one is buried here (anymore) because bodies do not decompose in the permafrost.
- It is forbidden to import cats.
- 2.5 months a year it is dark 24 hours a day and 4 months there is 24 hours of daylight.
- Longyearbyen has a road network of only 50 km. Off-road driving is prohibited. In winter, you may do so with a snowmobile.
