North Cape and Mythical Creatures

Sailing along Norway’s magnificent coast — Part 6

Introduction

We’re going to see what a far northern landscape looks like and even discover some trolls. No not the type we have on the internet! Have you ever wondered what real trolls look like? You might be surprised at how ugly they are. But then again, you might not. At least these ones are in a “sweet place”.

The North Cape

Nordkapp, or the North Cape, is a bleak, barren, windswept headland that gets the credit for being the northernmost point of the European land mass — but actually it isn’t.

North Cape Plateau — Credit: Andy Read

The next big peninsula to the west is, in fact, the northernmost point of the European land mass. However, the English navigator Richard Chancellor labelled it North Cape in 1553 and that has been good enough for most travellers ever since.

We visited the North Cape Hall — built partly by being blasted out of the rock — to see a multi-media show. This showed off the plateau and its dramatic 307 m (1007 ft) drop down to the Atlantic Ocean at its best. We could only imagine. Trust me, it wasn’t raining…