May 7th - Hurtigruten (Hammerfest)

 Our ‘get off’ location today was Hammerfest.  Not a particularly interesting town as most buildings are relatively newish. The reason for this was due to the ‘scorched earth’ policy instigated by the Germans when retreating from here during WWII.  We did have a bit of a roam around though and found some Reindeer wandering through the streets. 

One interesting thing we did see though was a survey point and memorial (the UNESCO listed Meridian Column) to Frederich von Struve who, in the early 1800’s, used these to establish the exact size and shape of the earth (see here). 


Top/Centre: The Meridian Column 



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