Svalbard

The next country on my list is Norway. I decided however to initially look away from the mainland. Svalbard is unique in the world for many reasons.Svalbard is an archipelago located north of Scandinavia. I have visited the mainland of Norway many times but, I've never been to Svalbard. This is mainly because of its remoteness and as I'm a dependant to my family I've been unable to convince them to bring me there thus far.




The main town in Svalbard is called 'Longyearbyen'. Longyearbyen is the most northerly town (not settlement) in the world. Only beaten by Atlas which is not permanently inhabited. The Norwegian government has been able to keep Svalbard populated by making it a so called 'tax haven'. This means that the inhabitants do not pay tax there. However, even though there is always a reasonably sized population(roughly ~2500 people) they are not necessarily living there permanently. Scientific researchers move to Svalbard for perhaps a year at a time and then leave again. Nasa for example has a research base at 'Ny-Ålesund'. This has been hugely successful with people working there for a period of time and earing large sums of money. Tying in with science and research, the so called 'Doomsday Vault' is situated in Svalbard. This is basically an enormous seed vault. Which could save the world in a post-apocalyptic scenario. However, it saw its first withdrawal in 2015 due to the Syrian conflict.




Tourism is a major industry in Svalbard. Many people visit to experience the natural beauty. Many people may enjoy hiking or camping. Many people would recommend that one should visit three separate time: once during the winter, when there is 24 hours of night, once in the summer when there is 24 hours of day and, once in the middle twilight period between the two. Many people also come during the winter in order to see the Aurora Borealis. There is however, many more accessible places to view these.












Credit: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8803/29209961393_33b11db5b8_b.jpg





The physical geography of Svalbard is staggering. There are two main islands, with small 'lands' to divide them up.It is home to many glaciers, fjords, rivers and, mountains. The highest peak in Svalbard is 'Newtontoppen' at 1'713m. Its largest glacier is 'Austfonna' at 8,492 km² .

Svalbard, in conclusion is a place to which I'd love to travel. Getting there is however not that easy. Firstly, one can fly directly from Oslo to Longyearbyen, many of the Norweijan fjord cruises now make a stop in Longyearbyen in Svalbard. Personally I would prefer to fly there should I decide to visit.

Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed.

Jonah