Longyearbyen is the largest settlement in Svalbard. In many ways it still has the slightly ramshackle appearance of the frontier town that it originally was. Signs of the mining industry are everywhere and all the industrial structure is close by the residential and commercial areas. The settlement is small overall and everything is kept compact to keep a zone safe from bears.
Additionally, all the infrastructure that we are accustomed to having buried under the streets is above ground on stilts, and highly visible - water and sewage pipes, electricity and broadband cables. This is because of the permafrost and the seasonal freezing and thawing of the ground surface. Anything buried is heaved upwards, pipes fracture, cables are damaged:
(Not my photo)
There is an old cemetery on a hillside above the town. The headstones are still in place but the bodies have been taken elsewhere because they, too, were heaved to the surface by the permafrost. Anyone now dying in Svalbard has their
body flown elsewhere (further south) for burial.
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| docking in Longyearbyen |
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| the tourist welcome on the quayside, with information and stalls selling souvenirs, local goods and guided excursions |
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| looking out under our mooring ropes at local shipping |
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| across the fjord |
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| residential units in the town |
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| the shopping centre |
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| more residential units, on the road out of town |
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| in the shopping centre - a large puddle left by recent rain |
(Not my photo)
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