Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ance for the town's residents. Traditionally, a week of celebrations to dispel the weeks
of winter darkness begins once the first of the spring sun's rays touched the forehead of
someone standing on the top step.
South of the church and the steps, wooden pillars emerging from the permafrost are all
that remains of the original settlement; again, the houses that once stood here were burned
to the ground during WWII.
Furtherintothevalleytothesouthliesahauntinglittle graveyard withitssimplewhite,
wooden crosses with dates. It dates from the early 20th century and includes the bodies of
seven young men in Longyearbyen who were struck down by the Spanish flu in October
1918, a virus that killed 40 million people in Europe, Asia and North America.
From here there's a fine view across the valley to the evocative remains of former Mine
No 2 .
Activities
You'll be disappointed if you restrict yourself to scruffy Longyearbyen and you'll leave
with little sense of the sheer majesty of Svalbard's wilderness. Fortunately, there's a dizzy-
ing array of short trips and day tours that vary with the season. The tourist office's weekly
activities listdetailsofmanymore.Alloutingscanbebookedthroughindividualoperators
(directly or via their websites; see the boxed text, Click here ) or online at the tourist office
( www.svalbard.net ) .
In the section that follows, we only cover half- or full-day excursions; for multiday ex-
peditions, contact the operator directly.
Summer
BIRDWATCHING
More than 160 bird species have been reported in Svalbard, with the overwhelming
number of these present during the summer months; apart from a few stray individuals,
the only species to overwinter in the archipelago is the Svalbard ptarmigan. If you're in
Longyearbyen in summer, among the common species you're likely to see are the barnacle
goose, king eider, common eider, Arctic tern, purple sandpiper, glaucous gull and snow
bunting; the best chance for sighting these species is in the Adventdalen delta southeast of
the centre on the road to Mine No 7. A little further afield, especially on the boat trips to
Barentsburg or Pyramiden, the little auk, black guillemot, puffin and fulmar are among the
mostcommonlysightedspecies.Sometouroperatorsrunshortboattripstothe'birdcliffs'
 
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