Looking at the Russian cyrillic it’s my first realisation that, although we’re still on Norwegian landmass and I’ve never visited Russia before, we’re very much back in the USSR.Ī guide walks over to us and introduces himself as Sasha. I’m in the second half, watching as the first group sets off towards the Pyramiden settlement in a little minibus with a polar bear crest on its side. We stand on the pier as our boat group is split into two. Amongst the ghosts.Ī map of Pyramiden, Svalbard Meeting Sasha, our Pyramiden tour guide I’m more amazed by the handful of men who choose to keep living there still. People seem fascinated by the fact that Pyramiden is a ghost town. So when I realised that my Arctic expedition from Scotland to Svalbard would actually lead me straight to this surreal place, I could barely contain myself. Like many would-be urban explorers, the idea of exploring an entire town abandoned to the elements – and one that’s isolated at the very top of the world, no less – gave me goosebumps of the best variety. I’ve long harboured a desire to visit Pyramiden. ![]() I choose to hang back, watching the way they behave while warming my hands, red-raw with the Arctic cold, on the back of my neck. Our boat drops anchor and I watch as the hordes of tourists jump eagerly onto the rickety boardwalk before we’ve even properly docked cameras out immediately, as soon as their feet touch the creaking wood. Their stoicism is completely at odds with the pent-up energy of my fellow boat passengers, all itching to explore Pyramiden. Two Russian men in long dark trench coats stand waiting silently on the dock, with rifles slung across their chests. Ever since, the streets, buildings and once-loved possessions have been left to the Arctic elements.įrom the deck of our boat, my first glimpse of Pyramiden is like something out of a spy film. ![]() This is Pyramiden, a Russian coal-mining settlement which was hastily abandoned by its residents in 1998. It’s generally known as the northernmost town in the world: about a thousand people live and work here, despite its remote location above the Arctic Circle.īut there’s actually another place which deserves the ‘northernmost-everything’ accolade – except it’s virtually uninhabited. High up in the north of Norway in the Svalbard archipelago is a town called Longyearbyen. Welcome to Pyramiden, Svalbard: population 7
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |