Walking the streets of Kirkenes, Norway (plus a bonus at the airport)

The day after arriving, I walked around the far-flung town of Kirkenes, which is located just a few kilometers from Russia in the extreme northeastern part of Norway. It was raining, which added to the hardscrabble feel of the place. And the walk was great; I saw the downtown area, the shopping district (checked out some LPs in a Salvation Army), the church, and residential streets.
Then I drove to the Kirkenes Airport and tried to get footage of one of the small Widerøe propeller planes taking off or landing. It took quite a while, especially since the schedules were all messed up from the rain.
Then the capper: the trip's greatest Northern Lights show, reflected in the icy waters of the Bøkfjord in the evening. This video captures my stunning and memorable day in one of Norway's most notable towns, Kirkenes!
▶︎ BG Report → www.t1dwandere...
🗺️ EXTENDED AD-FREE VERSIONS → / t1dwanderer
Support this channel on Patreon to get access to all my full-length KZbin videos, past, present, and future. Extended videos have no ads. See full list of perks and support tiers on Patreon. All earnings go toward building this channel.
🗺️ FREE NEWSLETTER → / t1dwanderer
Follow me on Patreon (for free) to get my weekly newsletter, which features behind-the-scenes info, travel stories, and links to new KZbin videos before they're public.

[@williampettersen3397]

Hi there man, don’t know if you remember me, i’m the restaurant manager at Scandic Hotel Kirkenes and my name is William. i surely remember you, thank you for your stay with us, and it was lovely to see your video of our small town, if you ever consider coming back to Kirkenes, i will give you a personal tour. Best regards

[@T1DWanderer]

Great to hear from you! Kirkenes and Scandic were really fun. Thanks for everything; hope to see you again someday

[@IrinaKondrova-v1r]

You are great in reading russian words 👍 And all this movi is fascination!

[@rhyacinthlevrini6577]

I am glad you got to see the aurora! It was a fitting reward to you for your efforts in sharing with us your incredible journey. Tusen takk!

[@T1DWanderer]

You are quite welcome. I'm glad you've been watching along. Hope you see the next ones too, more northern Scandinavia is coming

[@rhyacinthlevrini6577]

@@T1DWanderer I wouldn´t miss an exciting new episode! I´m enjoying your exuberant commentaries along with the stark beauty of the landscape. Carry on!

[@larryjohnson6398]

Way cool love the Northern lights and the plane sorry had to get so wet thanks for letting us tag along have a great day

[@T1DWanderer]

Heh no problem, I think getting wet is inevitable on a trip up there in autumn

[@AZdesign12]

I was many times in Kirkiness, ( My brother lives in Kirkiness ) And I love Norway, hello from Boston!

[@AbdenourMohamed-b7m]

People in Kirkines speak Norwegian or Russian language?

[@IoIocaust]

​@@AbdenourMohamed-b7mNorwegian :)

[@ujjallayek785]

Ohhhh.....

[@ruff500]

@@AbdenourMohamed-b7m Norwegian

[@stepupin9076]

i just was there this weekend. definitely a neat little place. We saw some other tourists at the airport which surprised me because its out of tourist season and kirkenes is a small place with only 4000 inhabitants 😅

[@T1DWanderer]

Must be something that draws people in

[@zainulabdin1720]

I love Northern lights & northern Europe 🌍 natural beauty.....Russia , Norway Finland ❤....but Sweden is my personal favourite 😊.... nice to see beautiful corner of mother earth wao people living peacefully ths Great I am from Pakistan ( north of pakistan also extremely beautiful) 🇵🇰❣️🇦🇪 watching from dubai ... Hope If I can travel 🧳 to North of Europe someday! Love it ☹️...

[@joebehrdenver]

Great content! The infrastructure for a town of 3,500 is impressive.

[@T1DWanderer]

No town or village neglected in Norway

[@ilyanizhnik6874]

Kjempe fint stadet. Virker vakker i regnet.

[@ruff500]

3:48 Сябры - "Friends" this is Belarusian folk rock band from the 70s

[@T1DWanderer]

I should have bought it

[@poshemuuu]

Oh! I was reading coments hoping if someone notice this! ))

[@norwegianroads2152]

There are at least couple of villages in Finnmark with prewar buildings. There is one, Bugøynes, about 1.5 hour by car from Kirkenes. The sign says that anchoring is forbidden and that there is a discharge pipe. The sign is placed there by Sydvaranger Gruve, which was the local mining company.

[@T1DWanderer]

Great information, thanks!

[@arcticblue248]

The regional airports are connected to the hubs like Kirkenes, Alta and Tromsø, the smaller airports are also important to the fact that in whole Finnmark you only have 2 hospitals, one are in Kirkenes, one are in Hammerfest, then you have one in Tromsø. So if you get very ill you are sent to the hospital either by helicopter or airplane ... and then you have the passengerplane too (Widerøe). Vadsø, Vardø, Båtsfjord, Berlevåg, Mehamn, Honningsvåg, Hammerfest, Hasvik ... (not sure if I forgot any now ?).

[@T1DWanderer]

Great way to get around, I would think. And not too expensive!

[@kiemarii]

@@T1DWanderer great way to travel, massively expensive. Sometimes plane trips within Norway''s borders are more expensive than flying from wherever you live, to for example Italy (checked a to/from trip between Tromsø and Kirkenes with wideroe, the cheapest option available ended up at 620 dollars for one adult with only carry-on luggage). It sucks cause in Northern Norway public transportation is extremely lacking compared to in/around the big metropolitan cities in Southern Norway, so unless you have a drivers license and a car it can be hard to reliably travel anywhere as boats/buses only have so many departures a day, and not to all areas. We've been fighting for a long time to get the rail system expanded to the rest of Northern Norway (with both Finland and Sweden showing interest in this because they could connect to it if it was built), but the government thinks it's too expensive and cost inefficient, and spend our tax money on ridiculously expensive accommodations for people who like to bike (one example) by building bike paths between cities down south that cost about the same as a couple of stretches of rail would, yet are used by less than half of the amount of people who would benefit from and use trainlines in Northern Norway if they were built.

[@stephanhuijz]

THANKS, BENJAMIN FROM AMSTERDAM. BLESS you in JESUS

[@KyPc0p]

Beautiful place

[@T1DWanderer]

Norway never disappoints

[@69degreesnorth]

The departures and arrivals vary because it stops several places before loop-de-looping back to start. It's like a flying bus. Sometimes there are no people getting off or getting on, then they skip a place. And sometimes the weather is bad. But Widerøes pilots are legendary, they are the last ones to toss in the towel because of wind and weather. Some say, they were born sideways, that's why they make excellent pilots.

[@T1DWanderer]

That sounds like such a fun way to hop around from town to town up there

[@rockystonewolf]

Well done, I love how you do these walkarounds. Kirkenes is interesting. A nice place with some eyebrow-raising stories to tell. The war, the mining and the close proximity to the Big Bear in the east.

[@T1DWanderer]

Thanks. I agree, Kirkenes is a really unusual and mysterious place with a lot of stories

[@calintravel]

Wow! Amazing!!!!

[@einarbolstad8150]

The hotel door is not supposed to lock immediately. The reason for that is that you are to be able to retreat back into your room in case of a fire alarm when you can't escape through the corridor. It gives you a few seconds to get back in the room without the key. If you just keep it closed, it'll lock automatically.

[@T1DWanderer]

Heh, another example of technology confusing me instead of helping me. Good idea

[@clarkmadrosen1780]

Beautiful video. Always wanted to go to Kirkenes. I have been to an airport, waiting to see a plane. I waited an hour and as soon as I drove away a plane lands or takes off. 😮

[@T1DWanderer]

Heh, isn't that always the way! Thanks

[@clarkmadrosen1780]

@@T1DWanderer yes. Never fails. Look forward to your next video. Thanks 😊

[@eckligt]

Two things: At 13:00, is the ship you spotted Hurtigruten, as you guessed at the time? Well, no but kinda yes. Hurtigruten have been operating on a government tender for many years (in fact, the company is a merger of several companies that previously shared the responsibility of operating the round-trip route, each owning some of the ships, but all using the same trademark). But due to EU regulations (which Norway has to follow because of our arrangement with them), it's somehow not permissable to have these kinds of government-sanctioned monopolies handed out to a single private company. So in recent years they extended the tender so that now two companies should operate the route, competing with each other. The company that won this second tender is called Havila Kystruten. (Fun fact: They had a difficult start, first delays with the pandemic, then some Russian ownership meant they couldn't get insurance and so couldn't sail. But they sorted it out and are operating now.) For planespotting, have you considered one of several apps/websites that track flights in real time? There is Flightaware, Flightradar24 and several others.

[@T1DWanderer]

Thanks for the info. Yes if I were more serious about plane spotting I might try those. As it was, I just found the Kirkenes website and decided to leave it up to Finnmark fate :)

[@inlandindieP35]

Good video. I have always wondered Kirkenes looked like. What day of the year were you in Kirkenes? Trying to assess time of year vs. fall foliage progression at that far north latitude.

[@T1DWanderer]

Thanks. This was in early October

[@mohammadshahbaz2193]

Thanks for lovely trip, Regards & Respect from Pakistan

[@m0bob]

Did you experience any tension between local people and Russian visitors? You are very lucky to have seen the Aurora Borealis. I am from London and I have never seen one, well not yet! There seems to be Salvation Army charity shops there than we have here. Thanks for your really interesting video. Take care.

[@T1DWanderer]

Thanks for watching. I saw no tension between anyone in Kirkenes. Yeah this Aurora was pretty amazing, the best one I ever saw

[@Elhendi2009]

The people in Kirkenes love the ruzzians. Even after the attack on Ukraine

[@Tsypras]

In Kirkenes there is a very beautiful friendship between Norwegians and Russians.

[@MD-zr1wy]

There is no tension between Russians and people from Eastern-Finnmark.

[@Thatsmldude]

Ty for being Were i live❤❤❤

[@Atipat12]

AMAZING 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@valentinasegoviaherrera5397]

I Will he there in 29 days❤ grettings from chile

[@T1DWanderer]

Great! Enjoy

[@iselingrip]

Im in kirkenes 😅😅

[@bjrgjohannessen5184]

You should have taken a short trip by plane back and forth when you where there. Not that expensive to see northern Norway from a birds view..

[@T1DWanderer]

Yeah I have been thinking that ever since I saw those little airports...

[@sisselhansen3915]

Yes, it's beautiful in Nordnorge, the islands in Troms fylke, too, like Bjarkøy, Senja, etc, are just magic, people are so happy, there, too 🎉! P.s. Did you see any "Aeroflot - planes"?? That Widerøe airplane was super with it's propells!

[@m.j.222]

Can you travel there by public transport without a plane or ship?

[@T1DWanderer]

I would imagine there's a bus but I don't know for sure (?)

[@StelyannIvan]

Beautiful place kirkenes

[@T1DWanderer]

Sure is

[@k.gulskogen90]

The Russian church has made a statemant that Kirkenes is russian soul. By Mitrofan. It was given away from Russia, in 1826.

[@Barley150]

That was fun, especially waiting for the plane. The aurora was amazing, really. I wonder if that town, being at the juncture of Russia and NATO, is different now, during the Ukraine war.

[@steinarhaugen7617]

The relationship between Norway and Russia is not good now. Norway, of course, supports Ukraine. This affects the northern areas and especially it applies to Kirkenes

[@arcticblue248]

It affects all our towns up near the russian border, we have several russians here in my town too (one of the B's he had in a previous video), norwegians who married russian women and just russians who have come over here to work. As far as I know atleast ... most of them do support Ukraine, and too many of them (russians here) feel guilty and blame themself in a way wich is unfair. Personally I don't hold it against them, russians who live in my town are first of all my townspersons where people comes from originally I do not care about.

[@steinarhaugen7617]

@@arcticblue248 Yes, we need to distinguish between Russian leadership and the Russian people.

[@ruff500]

I have friends living in Russia who are all against the war and putin

[@T1DWanderer]

A Norwegian I met earlier on the trip did mention that there are a lot of Russians in Kirkenes who don't want to be involved in the war

[@PrimeTimeTravelers]

What an interesting place! Kind of scary being that close to Russia?? Love your walk around vlogs. We are catching up slowly but surely with your vlogs. Love your channel as always. Keep in touch! We have a huge 3 and half week road trip planned this summer to New England. We will have a series of vlogs too if you want to see them, come follow us this summer! Have a great weekend Jeremy!

[@T1DWanderer]

Thanks, looking forward to your trip as I know you are. No, Kirkenes isn't scary; the border is nearby but all seemed quiet

[@PrimeTimeTravelers]

@@T1DWanderer great to hear it's safe but it has to feel strange being so close. Talk soon

[@exentr]

@@PrimeTimeTravelers Kirkenes it a no go Nato area for Russia.

[@dimazanya2568]

@3:46 shoulda bought that album.

[@T1DWanderer]

I know; I didn't want to carry around a vinyl LP in my backpack but it would have been worth it I think...

[@synthesaurus]

@@T1DWanderer it is amazing and rare :)

[@lamwen6620]

Omg i did seemy car

[@iselingrip]

I liv in kirkenes 😂😂😂😂😂

[@clips9801]

Æ e fra Kirkenes

[@bj.9765]

Lastima que no entiendo inglés para entender lo que dice , Pero las imágenes son excelentes grasias por. Impartir . Los comentarios si los entiendo por que tienen traducción al español. Yo soy de Guatemala y muy agradecido por tu video .

[@T1DWanderer]

Thank you! Espero que puede entender la traducción de KZbin :)

[@alexclement7221]

"Grense", very close to the German "greinze". Back in the cold war times, the East German border police were officially the 'Greinzepoliezi', shortened to the 'grePo'; these were the guys who would shoot at you if you tried to climb the Berlin Wall....

[@thomasnorb4077]

The word in German is spelled Grenze not "greinze". Norwegian and German are Germanic languages. Also, it's spelled Grenzpolizei, not "poliezi".

[@kidstrickshots125]

Who Else lives in kirkens i do

[@T1DWanderer]

Interesting place

[@Atipat12]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@robloxplayer2258]

It's pronounced as ' shirkenes' instead of kirkenes

[@T1DWanderer]

My Norwegian pronunciation needs a lot of help

[@moha-qs1vw]

hi dear hope u doing well..ijust have russian visa can i visit kirkenes ..im at the moment at murmansk

[@T1DWanderer]

Sorry, I'm not sure

[@MD-zr1wy]

You can only visit Kirkenes if you get a Norwegian visa, or if you have been a resident of a border town on any side of the border for a certain time. Meaning, a Russian who lives in Nikel can visit Kirkenes (without regular visa) and a resident in Kirkenes can visit Nikel (for example).

[@Atipat12]

😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎