Daniele Somenzi's Svalbard Islands

On 3 June 2001, leaving from Bologna with Lufthansa via Frankfurt, I arrive in Oslo, Norway, in the late afternoon. After a long time the dream of experiencing 24-hour sunshine has come true. The SAS flight, an MD80 bound for Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen), first stopped at Tromsø. Already from there, at 23:00, you could notice the brightness was remarkable; close to midnight it looked like 8 pm in summer back home. At 1:55 in the morning the plane lands at Longyearbyen, and in the middle of the night the sun was shining just above the horizon; from the right-hand windows you could see the mountains above us, I trust the pilot knows what he's doing. And indeed shortly after we land. It was broad daylight but I was terribly sleepy, how strange. The snow was by now at the melting stage, but from a few metres up the white was predominant.

A coach takes me to the only guest house; the other three are hotels with too many stars for my taste. Luckily at the Nibjen guest house there was availability; they are 5 big old houses, once used by the coal miners, now refurbished, very welcoming even if the price is very high, I can only imagine the other hotels then. I put on the plane's eye mask because of the too much light and sleep. From the excitement I didn't even think of lowering the blinds on the windows. I discover that in Longyearbyen and all over Svalbard there are polar bears. Well, I'd like to see one. I've brought my usual folding Graziella bicycle from Italy, so after opening it I go for a ride in the city, if we can call it that, I'd say rather a village. Some time ago, in the long winter night, an inhabitant became a polar bear's meal; now there are road signs warning against walking alone.

I was alone on my bike, if nothing else I was faster in flight. The few fearless ones on foot were with a dog, while the guy on cross-country skis had a rifle with him. I too could have hired a gun for the bears but I had no intention of doing solo hikes in the snow.

I was to stay in Svalbard 5 days, so I organised the excursions for the following days. First day, a bike ride at zero degrees to explore the surroundings, then an excursion into a local coal mine, a boat trip to a frozen bay, then a snowmobile excursion and a meal at a restaurant in the dark, to finish with the last excursion by boat to the Russian town of Barentsburg.

Description of the first excursion. We set off around 20:00, on a beautiful day, flat sea; shortly after a local Norwegian navy helicopter arrives and, for a drill, takes a passenger on board from the boat; I naturally enjoyed the whole thing, filming away. Boy, I had the helicopter just 20 metres from me, the noise of its rotors was like a Minardi Formula 1 car. Arctic birds and gulls accompanied us, then we all had dinner and I even got the engineer to take me into the engine room; the boat looked more like a classic tugboat, the kind you find in every port. My friend Fritz had a Timeport like mine (Motorola mobile); so I took the chance to charge it, since yours truly (the fool) had forgotten his in Italy.

At a certain point, having gone deep into the bay, the sheet of ice split as the boat's bow arrived, I was right at the bow, the noise was spectacular; a little further on a seal, or rather what was left of it after a polar bear had passed by. In the distance, with binoculars, many herbivores such as reindeer or white long-haired caribou. A big slab of ice breaks off after our incursion onto it; the spectacle is very intense and unique. Without a doubt it was worth coming on this tour. On the way back, as a final touch, the sun was high in the sky at our arrival and it was almost midnight, go figure!

Now I'll tell you about the midnight dinner excursion. Given the 24-hour sun, the whole point was precisely "the dark". The guy with the minibus came to pick me up at the hotel and then collected the others at their respective hotels, to take us to this round wooden hut around 20:00, where we all sat in a circle by candlelight, watching the fire in the centre of the hut, which roasted our sausages, chops, fillets and so on; the smoke came out through a hole in the centre; my neighbours were Norwegian, I happily chatted a bit. The boss of the "restaurant" explained to us all the slides he was projecting; he has sled dogs and every August organises a 7-day tour inside Svalbard among the snow and polar bears; before I die I'd like to do it, even if the price is around 250 euros a day. It must be an incredible adventure.

For someone who has done rafting, parachuting, slept in a tent with lions outside, dived, done motocross and gone on a 50cc moped from Massa to Frankfurt and back, an experience like that is a must.

Excursion no. 3: pick-up with the usual minibus, a few km and here we are at the recently closed mine. We all have to leave every electronic device and camera to avoid explosions from sparks; firedamp is a gas present everywhere. Dressed in blue overalls against the cold, with a yellow helmet and a torch on it, we follow the guide. I'd never been in a mine before; a very interesting experience, learning how they worked with a year-round temperature of -4°C, and to think that only 30 km away at Barentsburg the Russians keep extracting coal from their mine 24 hours a day. On the way back, near the exit, we could all take up our devices again and take photos. The outside light was blinding; our pupils had by now got used to the dark.

Excursion to Barentsburg. We set off from the small harbour with the usual "Origo". We sail for 3 or 4 hours towards the Russian town (inside Norway), the sea blue, really blue. On arrival a Russian woman guides us, naturally speaking English, and explains everything about the most isolated town in the world. From there one can only leave by boat or helicopter. At a certain point I broke away from the group and went off alone. Barentsburg is really poor, it looks like us in the post-war period; there are no cars and only 5 or 6 km of roads, and all around snow, mountains and fjords. Very beautiful for me as a tourist, but these poor people are there to work in coal mines so they can bring home a few roubles. Before boarding I took a bit of the very clean sea water, to bring to my display case in Italy. And I enjoyed this tour a lot too.

Another night in Longyearbyen (a Norwegian village) where there's only one resident Italian, a certain Stefano from Turin. A walk on the ridge right behind the guest house, all the way up to the old coal mine, I really enjoyed it, watching there in June the birds chasing each other to mate, a kind of Arctic, Juventus-coloured birds, seen only on Quark. A little fox was bringing its cubs a freshly caught prey.

The last excursion of this special trip of mine was the most beautiful and intense; money no object, over 100 euros for three hours, by snowmobile 20 km inside Svalbard on the visual hunt for polar bears. We were 3 snowmobiles, wrapped up against the cold, with helmets; at a certain point a mini snowstorm separated us, but the guide at once stopped. He had a GPS and towed a sled with tent and provisions to spend the night in case of emergency, and naturally rifles for the bears.

The return with a SAS flight to Tromsø and Oslo airport, then an overnight stay in an armchair at the same airport. The next day, a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt and Bologna, where the white Fiat Tipo was waiting to take me away from Parma to Massa Cinquale. To conclude, that evening I saw...