Wanli Xunbaiye

Aug 8, 2022

At the northern tip of Europe, at the northern tip of Mager Island, Norway, on the edge of the Arctic Ocean. It was midnight on July 20, 2015, in the middle of summer. The sky was bright and the wind was cold.

When I was a child, I heard adults say that there is a place in the world where the sun never sets. I felt very strange when I heard that, and thought that it would be great to play all the time without having to sleep. Later, I learned in school that in the North and South Poles, there is a period of time in the summer when the sun does not set, and there is a period of time in the winter when the sun does not appear, and I learned why. In the 1980s, there was a movie called "White Night Escape". Although I have never seen it, I know that it tells the story of escape in the Siberian Pole. It turns out that when I was a child, I heard that there is a name for the situation when the sun is still shining at night, and it is called "white night".

Out of curiosity when I was young, I always wanted to see the White Night in the Nordic Pole. I used to travel, and to take care of my wife and children’s interests, I even went to South Africa, but I didn’t go to the Nordic Pole. But I always miss the white night, so in 2015 I rejected the temptation to go to Greece to see the little white house, and insisted on going to Northern Europe. I also insisted on going to the Arctic Ocean to watch the midnight sun, to experience the white night and watch the sun that never sets.

My wife and I, along with my brother and sister-in-law, invited several relatives and friends, a total of 11 people, to join the tour group. At about 0:30 in the morning that day, I took a Finnair flight, which took nearly ten hours and flew directly from Hong Kong to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. After waiting at the airport for about three hours, I took a Finnair domestic flight north for about an hour and a half to Ivalo. I had a Western buffet lunch at the hotel restaurant there, and then took the tour bus again. Driving north, crossing the border into Norway, the destination is the northernmost city in Northern Europe, Honningsvag on Mager Island. Mager Island is connected to the Nordic mainland by an undersea tunnel.

The circle is at the northern tip of Europe, the northern tip of Mager Island in Norway, on the edge of the Arctic Ocean.

The circle is the North Point of Norway where you can see the sun setting, and the arrow is where the hotel is.

After arriving at Konningsvag, we stayed at the Scandic Honningsvag Hotel. We took a shower, had a buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant, rested for about half an hour, and then set off to Mager, the most beautiful place in Northern Europe. In the North Point of the island (Nordkapp), the time is 11:30 pm on July 20th, late at night in the hot summer, but the sky here is still bright, it is a real white night! The temperature was below ten degrees Celsius and the wind was quite strong. I was busy taking pictures, but later I felt that my finger bones were hurt by the cold wind. It was such a strong summer cold wind.

After traveling for about thirty hours, my buttocks were sore, my feet were swollen, and I felt exhausted. I also endured ordinary-tasting airplane meals and simple Western-style buffets just to be here, at midnight, in Europe. At the northernmost point, looking at the midnight sun, blowing the cold summer wind, and looking at the Barents Sea (Arctic Ocean), it satisfied my childhood curiosity, fulfilled my dream of experiencing the white night, and fulfilled my decades-long wish!

Is it worth it?

So worth it! Especially when I experience it with more than a dozen relatives and friends I can talk to!

The North Point of Mager Island can be said to be one of the northernmost places in Europe. There is a visitor center hall with cafes, restaurants, post office, souvenir shop, small museum and film and television hall. There is a big signboard at the entrance of the hall, which reads: North Cape (NORDKAPP) 71° 10′ 21″. Mohe, the northernmost city in China, is: 52°58′13″ north latitude, and the Arctic Circle is 66°34′ north latitude, so the North Cape of Norway is It's inside the Arctic Circle. Walking towards the seaside from the lobby, there is a model of the earth, and many people take photos here.

North Point 71° 10′ 21″ (Northern Latitude)

At twelve o'clock at midnight, the clouds covered the sun that never set. The tour guide explained to me that there is only a 30% chance of no clouds covering the midnight sun in a year. The sun sets near the horizon, stops falling, and gradually rises again. This is the scene of the midnight sun. Unfortunately, there were clouds and we could only see the sun but not the sun. It was past midnight, and there was still sunshine. Under the midnight sun, we returned to the Scandic Konings Cloud Hotel with the tour bus.