The island of Svalbard, connected to Norway in the Arctic Ocean, is located at the point where the European continent ends. What makes this island so special is the fact that the sun never rises between October and February. It is very interesting to meet the first day of the sun after months of darkness. Here are the impressions of a traveler on the island of Svalbard…
The meeting points of approximately 2.600 population and 2 thousand 100 are here. Since the rest did not live in Longyearbyen, I did not include them in the number. Yes, there are also people living outside of Longyearbyen. Barentsburg, where 471 inhabitants live, is the northernmost Ny Alesund, home to the NASA base, with a population of 35, and Pyramiden, where only 6 live.
There is an animal in Svalbard who does not complain about the small number of people. The polar bears that are the main owners of these places… They live more than the number of people above and with all their wildness in their natural habitat. Even the white giant, which has a pole in its name, is the symbol and protection of these places. Every place outside the city limits belongs to them.
If you have a plan to go out of the city limits, you have to take a gun with you. This weapon is not to kill polar bears, but to scare you when you encounter it. When you kill, the penalty for killing people is waiting for you. Polar bear sign in the world only in Svalbard, which states that you cannot travel without weapons; “The danger of polar bear outside this area” is perhaps the most famous traffic sign in the world.
There are not only polar bears in these cold lands, but giant walruses, whales, seal fish, arctic foxes and polar deer, where they are unknown, freely roaming around the city, forbidden to feed. Well, whatever we saw, of course, we saw all of them in the museum, but we found our way out in the dark outside.
I guess our biological clock could not keep up with the region being constantly dark. We are hungry locally. We act unintentionally in a hurry and constantly look at the clock. As if we slept all day long and went out in the evening, we should hang out with interesting feelings as soon as we should be staying soon, we should go to bed and go to bed. While we are dealing with these people live their life in normal life with their luminous vests.
Although it is a Norwegian land, it has its own bylaws. They make their own choices and choose their managers. Even if you live for three years, you can even vote. If you ask “How do we live for three years?”, Everyone is given the right to live in Svalbard. Financing yourself what they want from you. You fulfill this condition either by working there or with your knowledge. You might think, “Who wants to live here?”
First and foremost, there are no bacteria and viruses here due to the extreme cold. This means zero illness. Yes, those who live here never get sick. Until I go from here to another place. Unfortunately, the disease will be stopped within 48 hours of leaving.
Education… They have a school that they claim is the ‘best school on the planet. Free and without exam. Children between the ages of 6-16 can receive education on any subject they want to learn. This can be an art branch, a sports branch or an academic course. The language you speak is not important. Because no matter what language the student speaks, if he is going to start education at school, a teacher who knows that language urgently is brought from Norway. In addition, they even have one of the most developed universities in the north of the world.
Low tax and high salary. The tax is almost half that charged in Norway. The wages earned in your job are also high, the win-win situation. I wouldn’t think of it if I thought of my whole sentence, “Northern lights remained in my south”. Yes, this is an incident. The Northern Lights, one of the most beautiful blessings Svalbard has offered us, have passed through our south for three days. Aside from our misfortune, there is a possibility that you can see the lights at any time, since it is 24 hours dark. It sounds pretty good.
Time has stopped here. We started to think it wasn’t past. The people from here reminded us that the time passed when they told them the day to see the sun. They are waiting for the day when the sun will be seen collectively in front of their northernmost churches on the 8th of March. They count the minutes, minutes of dawn. Here, each of us understands very well, how important the sun we see every morning and which we don’t care very much is actually.
These dark days also had a bright state. The sun was always drawing circles on the hill without sinking at that time. This situation sounded good to us at first, but people from here like darkness more. Because the bright period was creating a lot more trouble for their biological clocks. Their bodies and minds wanted to stay awake, they could not sleep. It may be nice for a short time, but we deserved what they said for a long time.
In addition to not seeing the sun for days, we have not seen any other creatures other than human. There are no trees and plants growing in Svalbard because of the frozen soil called ‘permafrost’ which extends 50 cm down from the ground. All needs come from the mainland. The only greens that grew were lichens and mosses that were visible in summer.
Due to this permafrost, the sewers and cable connections of the buildings always pass through the earth. Even buildings have no foundations, all of them are prefabricated. Also, it is forbidden to die in Svalbard, how? There are no cemeteries here. They bury the 35 people who died years ago, and when the snow melts and the snow melts, the dead bodies rise above the soil intact. When they see this, they decide to give up this job and take the dead to Norway.
We are constantly learning something new. These are things unlike anything we’ve heard before, just like the seed warehouse. There is a very special place here. Maybe it may sound simple, but when you stand in front of that door and think that the future of the world is behind it, its weight will make you chill like me. A warehouse built for the sustainability of life in a possible ‘extinction’ or famine. ‘Global Seed Vault’ is a warehouse where seeds from all species from all over the world are stored.
After seeing the huge radar and observatories after the warehouse that scan the space and the sky, investigate the climate and the ozone layer, we made sure that this place did a lot for our world. We have complex feelings on our way to our flight that will take us to Oslo. Can we live here? None of us have answered, but we are sure that this has been the most beneficial of our travels to date. We have reconsidered the factors in our life cycle, in which we cannot value or deserve the value it deserves. From now on, when I wake up every morning, I thank him for looking at the sun and seeing it.
Visits: 88
