Day 2: Hostel Adventure

The next day we arrived in Honningsvåg at 11:45 am. The 17 hour journey had passed relatively quickly. It was probably because I was asleep almost the whole time.



A view of Honningsvåg from the Hurtigruten





Once in Honningsvåg we had to find our hostel where we would be spending the next couple of nights. Since the directions on the reservation sheet were not very clear, we decided to ask the front desk on the ship. The lady did not know where the hostel was so she got off the ship with us and asked a local man where it was located. He gave us brief directions and told us to travel 3 km out of town. Since we were youthful, we decided to walk to the hostel.

 

Emely, Antonia, and I enjoying our 10 Kroner ice cream

 Before our walk, we explored Honningsvåg which didn’t take long since the city was small. In the city center we stopped in a grocery store to pick up a few things. At the grocery store was 10 kroner ice cream! Since ice cream is usually double or even triple that price we couldn’t resist treating ourselves. We all enjoyed our ice cream even though it was freezing outside.

After treating ourselves, we decided to begin the journey to our hostel. The directions seemed pretty straight forward, but after about an hour, we thought maybe we had traveled too far since there were no more buildings and all we could see was open road with mountains on both sides. We were out in the middle of nowhere with only a few industrial buildings here and there. Since we were clearly heading in the wrong direction, we decided to stop at a nearby bus storage facility. In the facility were three men who drove the buses. We explained our situation and showed them our reservations. After looking over them, they started laughing and said we had missed our turn and traveled way too far.

Our room at the hostel





We were prepared to walk back, but one of the men offered us a ride. The four of us were chauffeured in a coach bus to our hostel. The man was so nice and we were very thankful for the ride.

  

We had finally arrived at our hostel. The hostel was a tall red building located right by the harbor. Once inside the lady at the hostel checked us in. Originally, the four of us had booked beds in a dorm, but upon arrival the lady decided to put us in rooms together. Callie and I were assigned to a room and Antonia and Emely in another. The rooms cost more, but the lady gave us the rooms at no extra charge. It was extremely nice of her to do that.

Our rooms were very cute and cozy. After unpacking a few things, we decided to explore the hostel. The hostel was very clean and the second floor had an elegant dining room area and a section which had a ton of couches to hang out on. Callie and I then went on a walk to explore the harbor area. Even though it was raining, it was wonderful to explore another portion of the little town.

Small fishery along the coast of Honningsvåg


While on our walk we came across a small fishery on the coast. The ring on the surface is used to hold fish. The fish grow up in this ring until they are harvested. The ring allows the fish to remain in their natural environment while growing and makes it easy for the fishermen to collect the fish during harvest.


The old textile mill along the shore in Honningsvåg


On our walk we also came across this unique building along the shore. The building could have served a number of purposes such as a textile mill or storage facility. It probably played an important role for this fishing community about half a century ago.

Once we returned to our hostel we all took hot showers since they were included in our hostel fee. Then we headed off to bed early since we had a day full of adventure ahead of us.