The MS Finnmarken docks for 3.5 hours at Honningsvag on the winter 2016/17 schedule. There were two excursions available, but we decided just to have a wander around the town.
Honningsvag is situated on the island of Mageroya, and 34 km from the North Cape. The Nordkapp community has approximately 3,300 inhabitants.
I had researched things we could do during our walk about, top of my list was the Artico Icebar. We found the Icebar easily as it’s situated on the harbour front, unfortunately it’s only open during the summer!
We explored a little further and saw the Perleporten, which is a theatre and cafe where you can watch a production of “Our Northernmost Life” at 13:00 every day. Tickets cost 190 NOK. It’s a lovely building and has an interesting gallery / gift shop in the basement called “Once upon a dream”.
I didn’t spot the famous Bamse Statue of the St Bernard’s dog during our wander. It’s in honour of a puppy brought to Honningsvag who served with his master on board a Norwegian Navy minesweeper during WW11.
However we did spot a gorgeous husky dog, live in a window display! He was quite happy lying in the window watching the world go by.Everyone else in the streets seemed to be pushing or running with these cool shopping sledges. We spotted a few by the shops, but was too scared to have a go in case we’d nicked someones that was shopping inside!
We liked the look of the Arctic Sans cafe for our lunch, it was a popular choice with many tables occupied by a mixture of locals and Hurtigruten passengers. I opted for a bowl of fish soup to warm me up after exploring, it was fabulous! Made fresh to order, it took a little time, but it was so worth the wait.
The soup was cream based, with slivers of carrot and spring onion, there were chunks of white fish and pale orange fish fillets, which melted in the mouth. The soup was served in an interesting bowl, sprinkled with fresh herbs and slices of bread. Hopefully a dish we can recreate at home in the future.
It was almost time to board the ship, so we walked past the North Cape Museum which is situated right on the harbour and has information & exhibits about the history of the North Cape and nearby Bird Sanctuary. Entry is 30 NOK for adults.
There were some cool boys toys in Norway, the quad snow ploughs looked good fun.
Honningsvag is a picturesque harbour town, surrounded by snow capped hills and festive window displays when we visited in December 2016.
