71°N THE NORTH CAPE A trip to the top of the world
Many of us have an adventurous inner explorer. Something within us that longs to find out what lies around the next corner, or is on the other side of a mountain or perhaps an ocean. We want to reach as high or as far as we possibly can. We want to find out… What does it look like there? What does it feel like to be there? For such fortunate few, a place like the North Cape (Nord- kapp) will be high up on their list. Europe’s northernmost point, the final frontier between civilization and the North Pole.
kilometres from the North Pole. In the Northern Lights season, catching a display of the aurora across the vast polar star-studded sky from atop Nordkapp is a truly special moment. This unique experience can only be compared to seeing the Midnight Sun from the same point at the height of the Nordic summer.
Visiting
There is a certain solidity about Nordkapp. A geological confi- dence within this nearly vertical cliff that rises 307 meters straight out of the sea at 71°10’21’’ north of the equator, and becomes a plateau from which you can view the world to the north. Beyond this is the horizon to the top of the world. And it is perhaps exactly this reali- sation that evokes emotions this place is so fa- mous for. The Italian Negri wrote in 1664: “Here I stand at the North Cape, the outermost tip of Finnmark, at the end of the world. Here, where the world ends, my curiosity ends as well, and I turn for home happy.” When you are standing here on a clear day the word “endless” takes on a whole new meaning. You are now a mere 2,080
the North Cape is just one of more than 60 different
excursions you can join along the
Norwegian coast.
The North Cape was actually named by the English naviga- tor Richard Chancellor, who sailed past it in 1553 looking for the Northeast Passage north of Siberia to India. In 1873 the Swedish-Norwegian King, Os- car II, was here. Back then there were no roads leading up to the plateau. The king walked up the 1008 steps from Hornvika with his court in tow. When he final- ly reached the top, he spoke to them – and possibly also to him-
self: “This proud mountain is the last stone in the shimmering silver diadem which crowns the head of the Scandinavian peninsula.”
Although you are neither Negri nor Oscar II, you may still have a desire to experience the an- swer to the question: What does it feel like to be standing at the top of the world at North Cape?
When you are standing on the plateau, look down at the little whale-shaped peninsula to the west: this is Knivskjellodden. At the very tip of this, you would be even closer to the North Pole.
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© Ørjan Bertelsen
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