We woke this morning a little stiff and sore from yesterdays adventure and one look outside at the pea soup fog (or low cloud) did not hasten our emergence from the comfort of bed. But eventually we got going and drove at a crawl along the remaining few miles to the entrance gate at Nordkapp. After paying our entrance fee of 490 Norwegian Kroners (that's right a little over US$80 for two people - these guys know how to run a tourist business) we drove into the car park, a large unpaved stoney affair, and joined the hundred or so other motorhomes parked there.

Nordkapp turned out to be something of a surprise. We had expected some kind of small settlement, but that's not what we found. Only three buildings. The entrance booth, a modest building near the car park and the main building housing the gift shops, some cafes and restaurants, movie theater, and various historical displays. That was it.

However the main building made up for our sense of under-whelm. It is quite a construction with most of it's facilities underground.

Once parked we donned our down winter coats (that's right it was cold and very windy) and headed for the main building along with everyone else. We cruised the gift shop, watched a good inspiring film about Nordkapp and strolled past the historical displays. Here is some of what we leaned.

It seems that the first tourist to this spot was an Italian monk/scientists (I could not reconcile these two occupations) who came here in 1556 as part of an expedition to understand how peoples could live in cold climates.

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The King of Siam (Thailand) visited the place in 1907 and had his name carved into a rock.

The first road to the Cape was constructed in 1956 and in that year a Cape to Cape (Cape Town to Nordkapp) automobile race was held.

There is now a hiking trail from the southern tip of Italy to Nordkapp.

Outside at the various lookouts the view was non-existent thanks to the mist, so we retreated to the camper to wait out the weather, venturing out periodically to see if things had improved. During the day there was a steady stream of cars, buses, motorcycles, motorhomes and bicycles coming up the road to the main building. We have concluded over recent days that this is Europe's equivalent of the US's trip to Alaska.

Eventually, about 9:00pm the mist started to part and the sun made an appearance and we braved the cold to get some photos and have a look around when we could actually see something. The sun persisted into the night so that we were treated to the midnight sun in all its glory. That is along with a thousand or so of our closest friends. At the magic hour of 00:00 all the cafes and restaurants in the main building seemed full, there were at least a dozen buses in the parking lot, and the main lookout was crowded with people.

Regardless of the crowd, it was still a magic moment.

We camped in the parking lot. No facilities and a rocky bumpy surface.