londonphotopunk

08/09/2026

So our voyage ends in Bergen. Despite being stuck here longer than planned due to flight disruption back in the UK — there are worse places to be marooned.

07/09/2026

07/09/2026

Ålesund — Norway's Art Nouveau town.

🔸Spread across seven islands on the west coast in Møre og Romsdal, with mountains and fjords all around.
🔸On the night of 23 January 1904, a fire tore through the town, 11,000 people left homeless, all within a few dramatic hours.
🔸 Over 50 architects arrived from across Norway and rebuilt the entire centre in stone, brick and plaster in just three years (1904–1907).
🔸Out of the ashes came European Art Nouveau blended with National Romanticism, Viking ornamentation and stave-church motifs. The façades are decorated with flowers, dragons, faces and mythical creatures.

06/09/2026

Kjeungskjær Lighthouse
Nicknamed “The Red Sailor” among seafarers. Kjeungskjær lighthouse was from the start a manned lighthouse, with a lighthouse keeper and his family. This arrangement lasted from 1880 to 1947.

03/09/2026

Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard — 79°N, the world's northernmost year-round settlement.

🔸Went from coal-mining town (closed after a string of fatal accidents) to international Arctic science hub in 1968.
🔸Now 10 nations run research stations here, studying a region warming faster than anywhere else on Earth.
🔸Reindeer and arctic foxes wander through town. Unfortunately none were seen on our visit, but I did see a couple of seals. 😍
🔸Only 30–40 people stay here through the winter months.
🔸Visitors need permission just to set foot here. Thank you!
🔸Amundsen launched his North Pole airship expedition from here in the 1920s, his statue still stands.

02/09/2026

Longyearbyen — the world's northernmost town!
🔸There are more polar bears than people.
🔸Midnight Sun from April–August (24hr daylight), then total darkness during Polar Night from October–February.
🔸You're not legally allowed to die here, the permafrost won't let bodies decompose, so anyone terminally ill is flown to the mainland.
🔸Home to the "Doomsday Vault" the Global Seed Vault protecting the world's crop seeds in case of catastrophe.
🔸Founded in 1906 as a coal mining town — you can still spot old mining structures on the hillsides.

12/07/2026

Room with a view. Perfect respite from the London heatwave.

01/07/2026

Hoverfly on a budding clematis.

08/05/2026

Rickshaw spotting
, transport, Japan, Hakodate

29/04/2026

Hopped on a Nagasaku traditional tram.