Sharon Sparlin: LONGYEARBYEN NORWAY

Longyearbyen Norway is a city on the island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard Islands, north of the mainland of Norway. In addition to being one of the most treasured Northern European cruise ports, Longyearbyen has the largest population in Svalbard with about 2,300 inhabitants.

Longyearbyen is named after an American, John Munro Longyear, who set up the Arctic Coal Company and the coal mines in the area.

There are some interesting quirks in this part of the world. For instance, most restaurants, museums and homes require guests to take their shoes off before entering. Also, something that certainly caught my eye - visitors are not allowed to venture outside of the city limits due to polar bears. You know you are at the city limits when you see the Polar Bear warning signs.

The Norwegian Star docked in Longyearbyen on Sunday June 18, 2023 at 9am.

Our docking spot

Coming into Longyearbyen

Weather forecast for the day was high of 40 degrees with a chance of rain. I stepped off the ship at 9:30am.

You will find a small information center at the port.

Port Information Office / brown building with red window trim

My only goal for the day was a trip to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. I also like riding a local bus but unfortunately there are none in Longyearbyen.

As I left the port I turned left and headed to the city center. My GPS indicated it was 1.37 miles to the downtown information center. The walk is mostly flat until you get to town center.

Along the way I spotted a vacant taxi and hired him to drive to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

The Seed Vault is only 5 miles from the port but one can’t walk past the Polar Bear warning signs which are posted at each end of the city. You MUST be on a bus tour with a local guide or be in a taxi to cross the warning signs.

I asked our driver to take Marci and I to the Seed Vault and then return us to city center. He agreed. The total cost was 216NOK for the two of us. This is $21.45USD as of this writing or $10.73 per person.

The Seed Vault is a backup facility for the world's crop diversity, providing long-term storage of duplicates of seeds conserved in genebanks around the world.

Entrance to the Seed Vault Photo: Public Domain

One of three halls inside the Seed Vault Photo: Public Domain

The seed facility consists of three halls, each with a base measuring about 9.5 x 27 meters. Each hall can accommodate 1.5 million seed samples, giving the Seed Vault a total capacity to store 4.5 million seed accessions. To date the holdings in the Seed Vault are close to 900,000 seed samples. Only one of the three halls is in use and is cooled to minus 18 degrees Celsius and equipped with shelves for seed boxes.

The seed storage area itself is located more than 100 meters inside the mountain and under layers of rock that range beetween 40 and 60 meters thick.

It provides security of the world's food supply against the loss of seeds in genebanks due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease and natural disasters. It opened on February 26, 2008. Within one year the storage unit had a total of 400,000 seeds. As of June 2021, the vault houses 1,081,026 distinct crop samples, representing more than 13,000 years of agricultural history.

Seed Vault is the building on the right

Our taxi driver dropped Marci and I in the city center close to the downtown Tourist Information center. I stopped in and picked up a map and some general information.

As I walked around the city I couldn’t help but notice that hardly anything was open. It seemed that most places opened at noon, some at 2pm and several at 5pm.

The COOP building was open so I checked that out but otherwise, I walked around taking photos and waited until North Pole Expedition Museum opened.

Library and Cafe

Reindeer Skins for Sale

A little large for Marci

Street art

Snow mobile parking lot

Post Office

Reindeer in town

Coal mine buckets

At 11:30am I walked by the Kroa Pub, only 200 feet from the tourist information office, and noticed it was open. By now I was ready for a break. I was impressed with the décor, size and ambiance of this place. They served Polar Bear beer and a nice selection of food.

After a nice break at Kroa Pub I made my way to the North Pole Expedition Museum. The entrance fee is only 15NOK or $1.50USD as of this writing.

I decided to walk the 1.37 miles back to the port. Norwegian Cruise Lines greeted us with hot chocolate, a very nice touch. Our ship, the Norwegian Star, remained docked in Longyearbyen until 2:00am so at midnight I went out on the deck and took pictures so I could experience the “Land of the Midnight Sun”.