Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
RECLAIMED & RECYCLED
Ssemjon Gerlitz, the sparky German owner of Holmvik Brygge, has lived year-round
in Nyksund for a decade and more. Over the years, he and his team of helpers have
gleaned, picked and scavenged what could be salvaged from Nyksund's crumbling
buildings and incorporated them into higgledy-piggledy Holmvik Brygge, where
every room's different, each with its own personality.
Two things in particular keep him here, at road's end. Modulating his rat-a-tat de-
livery for just a millisecond, he slows to speak of the lure of silence, nothing but the
rhythm of wind and waves for most of the year. Then, changing a gear, of his sense
of communion with long-gone fisherfolk ('Every rusty nail I pull out was hammered
in by someone who lived and worked here') and, once again in overdrive, of the
sheer energy of this splendid place where mountains tumble to the sea.
Thebakeryandpostoffice,heartofanycommunity,shutupshopinthe1960sandnearly
everyone else left in 1975 after a storm destroyed the mole. The last inhabitant, blacksmith
Olav Larsen, packed his bags in 1977.
Sheep and vandals took over but slowly, over the decades, life has been breathed back
into this charming, remote settlement. Nowadays, modern Nyksund boasts a summer pop-
ulationofaround60andsomehalf-dozenhardysoulshackitthroughouttheharshwinters.
Thistinycommunitymanagestosupportanactivesummerculturalprogramandasmall
museum (
www.nyksund.as
;
11am-5pm mid-Jun-mid-Aug)
.
Holmvik Brygge
CAFE-GUESTHOUSE
76 13 47 96;
www.nyksund.com
;
s/d Nkr450/800; lunch Nkr95-220, dinner
Nkr165-365; year-round)
This cosy, hugely welcoming guesthouse and cafe in itself
justifies the detour. You can either cater for yourself or eat at its Holmvik Stua, where the
food's locally sourced and the fish smoked on the premises.
STØ
The small, distinctive fishing village of Stø clings to Langøya's northernmost tip. From
late May to mid-September,
Arctic Whale Tours ( 76 13 43 00;
www.arcticwhaletours.com
)
mount one (two in high season) six-hour whale-watching
cruises (adult/child Nkr795/500) daily. On the way to the sperm whales' feeding grounds,
boats pause to view sea-bird and seal colonies.
