Papay Arctic Adventure

It has been another beautiful day here today, we had been expecting some wind which with the already low temperatures can be pretty bracing, thankfully we managed a walk before the breeze arrived. 

Lovely sky colours at this time of year

Following the pathways, great area for walking

Something we had overlooked a little was that throughout the winter as soon as we get off the boat (or indeed on the boat..) we will be fighting with ice, after having both taken a wee trip already we are on the lookout to buy some spikes for the bottom of our shoes. walking like a penguin to the shower might soon be a thing of the past! Hopefully it will make exploring easier anyway, we have found the well walked forest and hill tracks to be lethal, spending more time holding on to trees or sliding on our bums, tourists eh!? 

After effects of studded tyres... icy car park

Despite the slippy ground we had a lovely walk today, we were earlier this year pointed in the direction of the Trondenes kirk but had ran out of time for going to it, so we made our way over the hill towards it. 

Trondenes kirk

Impressive old building

The Trondenes kirk is the most northernmost medieval kirk in Europe, completed around 1435 it's an impressive building, the church from what we read on the information boards has some extraordinary features due to the church having vast funds at the time. There are three German triptychs and an incredible pulpit, this kirk stands tall noticeable from the surrounding area. The area of Trondenes was of great religious importance between 1030-1500s. 

Religious history is just part of this areas past, within a stones through of the church there are remains from WW2, where a nazi prisoner of war camp stood between 1942-1945. The prisoners were from the Red army, Russian Soviet army. Captured during the summer of 1942 in Russia, the German army moved the POW to Norway to exploit as slave labour. The poor treatment of the POW saw many die during the winter months of 42-43, several young men died on a daily basis as a result of low food rations and ill treatment.

1200 POW at a time were held at the camp, living in basic plywood huts, surrounded by armed guards on watch towers and double layers or barbed wire fences. Through the war around 14000 of the 100000 soviet prisoners of war died, there was graves of some 403 of these at the kirk, but when the Cold War broke out the Norwegian authorities decided to move all soviet POW graves to one place and so there are only photographs as evidence.