- North Cape information and useful advice
- North Cape what to see and places to visit
- North Cape what to eat, typical products and specialties
- North Cape photo gallery
North Cape information and useful advice
North Cape (Nordkapp in Norwegian) is a rocky promontory located at the northern tip of theisola di Magerøya, In the municipality of Nordkapp, in Northern Norway.
It is known and celebrated for being the northernmost point of continental Europe, visited every year by many "pilgrimages”By tourists and adventure lovers, especially on motorcycles.
The promontory, located at 71 ° 10 ′ 21 ″ north latitude, is 307 meters high overlooking the sea and was named in 1533 by the English explorer Richard Chancellor.
Being well beyond the Arctic Circle, the North Cape never sees the sun set during the summer: from 11 May to 31 July it is therefore possible to admire the phenomenon of the midnight sun.
Conversely, in winter, for two and a half months, the sun never rises.
This is due to the fact that the Earth's rotation axis is tilted about 23 degrees with respect to the solar equator.
Capo D'Orlando holidays advice
Note that North Cape, in reality, it is not exactly the northernmost point of Europe: the "roof" of the continent is located a little further west and is the promontory of Knivskjellodden, always located onisola di Magerøya, at a latitude of 71 ° 11 ′ 08 ″ and reachable only via a long dirt path.
Furthermore, since both the North Cape and Knivskjellodden are located on an island, the northernmost point of continental Europe is to be considered more properly Capo Nordkinn, also called Kinnarodden, which is part of the municipality of Gamvik, in the peninsula of Nordkynn.
North Cape what to see and places to visit
1 ° day
We landed at Oslo on time, and a nice representative (male) of the Nordic race was waiting for us, complete with a “FRANCHINI” sign who gave us the car.
We start immediately taking the "E6" the road that will take us to the North Cape.
The climate is splendid, it is hot and the sun is still high.
We are in August, so we will not see the "midnight Sun".
We skirt the lake Mjosa and at 19.00 we decide to stop at a campsite on the coast.
The cost is low because the bungalow, although very nice, does not have a bathroom, sink, sheets or pillow.
Luckily we brought our sleeping bag.
We are Gjøvik, and honestly there is nothing, apart from a Japanese restaurant where we reluctantly have dinner.
In this period the sun disappears on the horizon, but leaves a rather clear penumbra; in fact when we wake up, thinking it is daylight, it's just four o'clock.
So, at 7 we are already up, and at 8 and a half we are at Lillehammer, Maihaugen Museum, a park with Norwegian houses from the 1700s.
Capo D'Orlando where to eat well and spend little
We leave for Trondheim, 350 km further north, on the E6, at ninety per hour (very strict controls lead to respect the limits), on a two-lane road.
And finally at 20 we are at the goal.
The hotel, a must after the campsite, is located in the center, on the peninsula, and costs us 165 thousand lire, but with breakfast.
2 ° day
The impact with the Norwegian breakfast is at least curious.
We find a buffet with every good thing, where together with the classic jams, black and white sandwiches and with all kinds of cereals, corn flakes, yogurt, pieces of cod in various sauces, vinegar, onion, turnip dominate.
After a first reluctance we dive into the tastings, and I must say that they are fantastic and you will almost never stop.
The harvest, we visit the city, with the splendid Cathedral, in gothic style from whose tower you can see the whole of Trondheim.
Head north again, a Volvay we come across an ancient drawing of a reindeer (Bøla Rein), then wonderful forests await us up to Namsskogan.
3 ° day
Continuing on the E6 we find the Fiskemfoss, really noteworthy waterfalls, and at 15 we are at the lake Svartisen, where we embark to go and climb the glacier of the same name, the second in Europe.
Having landed on a lunar landscape, a path barely outlined by red flags leads us to the glacier after three kilometers. It's cool, and the sweat made to get here immediately makes us shiver and blanket.
We leave, but immediately we deviate for the Grønligrotta, where we find a magnificent apartment where we will spend the night.
4 ° day
The visit to the cave is a bit difficult, but pleasant, however, I must honestly admit that ours caves of Frasassi give you several points.
We resume our journey and finally we are at "Arctic Circle”And the temperature is very cool.
Then we come to Bodö and the ship for Lofoten, where we are headed, has just left.
We take the opportunity to go and see what happens when two fjords cross, creating incredible eddies, and to admire these truly wonderful forests.
It is overcast, and since Bodö doesn't seem to offer much, we decide to embark at 21pm.
5 ° day
Arrival at Lofoten it was "distressing".
All closed and dark (we arrived at one o'clock): everything seemed completely uninhabited.
The three houses that make up the last village of the main island, we park the car, take out the sleeping bags, lower the backrests and sleep.
At 7 o'clock, with wolves weather, we walk north through the islets and meet Queen, a beautiful village full of "wilds“, The fishermen's houses, which they now rent to tourists.
Thus, between empty fences (used to dry cod), bridges, coves, charming villages (Flastad deserves the mention, because it has a very white and very suggestive beach), we arrive at Leknes at 10 where, finally, we have a coffee.
After 130 km we arrive in a dream village, Henningsvaer, where we find a hotel (discarded the Rorbu, very suggestive but very uncomfortable and very expensive, for not having a bathroom).
Dinner, then Fisksuppe (fish soup), smoked salted cod for Federico and boiled for me.
To digest, we take a stroll in this corner of paradise, among the squeak of seagulls (hundreds), l’aroma pungent fish, cats (not quite Norwegian) very affectionate and meowing, silences and cold, in truth, given the season, pungent (10 °).
6 ° day
We leave the Vesteralen, with the regret of not having been able to do the whale safari, due to bad weather, and we return to the mainland by ferry-boat to Gryllefjord and after having crossed the fjord we arrive at 60 km from Tromso.
7 ° day
After visiting the museum of Tromso and a walk in the center, we continue north, skirting beautiful fjords.
We are already in Lapland, and the tourist stalls are numerous, even if we expected something more "characteristic" and less touristy.
Also today, and I would say, finally, we crossed our first reindeer.
This E6 never seems to end, however now it is even quite boring, as the landscape has changed.
Now there are only small shrubs, and a lot of tundra and above all the rain, it continues, which certainly does not help the good mood.
The open-air museum of Alta is a "collection" of rock engravings that are part of the Unesco world heritage, that is, considered extremely precious.
Continuing, we find Hammerfest, known for being considered the northernmost city in the world, and, curiosity, home to the "Findus“, Which of course we do not find.
At the next refueling, we discover that we are 70 km from KĂĄfjord, embarkation for the island of North Cape, and taken by enthusiasm, we arrive at the embarkation, this time on time.
On the island, after leaving the main road, you can reach it Kamøyvær, a delightful village that welcomes us with a fantastic sunset.
North Cape what to eat, typical products and specialties
Just as fantastic is the welcome of this lady, Havstua, which runs a number of wilds super equipped and a restaurant, the best of the whole trip, where he serves us a (whole) pan of reindeer soup and then some boiled catfish, really delicious even now I can smell it.
We are euphoric, and after dinner we walk the 30 km that separate us from NordKapp.
We visit the museum, and savored the moment, we return to our Rorbu.
Wake up calmly, and, after yet another super breakfast (now also salmon, fresh and smoked), let's go back to North Cape, where between a rainbow and a bitter cold, we take our photos.
The time has come to change the direction of travel, now we are heading south, a Stockholm, and quickly, to be able to taste the South Western Norway.
The journey continues .. go to the second part!
North Cape photo gallery
