Nordstjernen: Møllerfjorden and Ny-Ålesund

Evening, day three: We stopped in Møllerfjorden where Lloyds hotel can be seen on the beach.

This is a building (shack, actually) from as long back as before 1928, maybe even dating back to 1912-14. The peculiar name comes from the original owners of the area, the German shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd, and it has been a popular goal for tourist ships for more than a century.

Five stars, no less.


A bit cramped, but cosy.



Beachlife, with clothes ...


And without.



Today was William´s turn to swim - plus quite a few of the other passengers. I didn´t go in this time - once was enough (for the record, it was 2C when I went in in Magdalenefjorden, 3C here. Hah).


More beachlife: a bar...


... sunbathing.


Amazing weather, amazing place!



On day four, the weather had changed completely. Here´s Nordstjernen in port in Ny Ålesund.



And here´s the world´s most northerly post office.


Ny Ålesund was founded as a coal mining community in 1916, and so much history has taken place here that I won´t go into all. The famous Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen spent a lot of time in the area, and there´s still a bust of him here.


This train was restored in the 1980´s, it´s a remnant from the mining days, and looks forlorn on these shores - particularly in such weather.


In 1962, after several tragic mining accidents, there was a heated political debate, and the Norwegian prime minister Gerhardsen had to step down. Since then there has been no coal mining in Ny Ålesund, but scientists from ten countries have settled here. During the summer there can be as many as 130-140 people here, while during the winter there are only 30-40.

China is one of the countries that do research here, and they have placed two stone lions (weighing 1,6 tons) in front of their entrance, to guard off evil spirits (or more likely polarbears).


The weather didn´t keep us long in Ny Ålesund - it was pretty disgusting, actually, and a great contrast to the weather a few hours earlier. After Ny Ålesund we saw the Krone-glacier and some other stuff, but I didn´t take pictures . After that the ship went straight to Longyearbyen.

Of course we saw a lot of stuff that I haven´t mentioned (thousands of birds, for instance), but I´ve only included tidbits and highlights here. The map underneath shows approximately our route along the coast.


And thus ended our Svalbard-cruise ... and in a few days our year in Svalbard. Hm.