In some areas of the world, the night continues after midnight and the day spreads out for weeks. Owing to the tilt of our Earth, some places near the poles receive uninterrupted sunlight during the summer months. Imagine no darkness at night and no night at morn. There, time is different; the hours melt and lengthen. In far northern villages, the sun never sets, and never sinks; it’s never gone. Fjords are all endless gold, and towns are running a full course past midnight. Deciduous forests lie there where the cold winds blow, and the horizons remain clear. Others are located just outside invisible circles around the globe that encircle frozen seas. Others stand in isolation, to be approached only after long, silent journeys. Each is an odd thing; it is like sunlight that refuses to go away and is almost alive. Watch it paint clouds as it should be bedtime, making it like it’s a dream.
Tromsø, Norway
Here it’s still midnight, but it’s a very hot one. Tromsø is high above the Arctic Circle, and summer days never end. During the months of late May through late July, the sun is never seen. Rather, it swoops low overhead and goldens peaks and water. Islands scatter and rock stretches deep about the coast, lit by light at all times. Rising quietly in the mountains, there is a town that does not sleep. Outdoor activities, hiking, laughing, and spending time near bonfires. Others call this night, but boats glide on calm waters. Every inch of space finds its festival, and they are all full of music that floats into the dawn. It is here that Tromsø gets numerous starts on many Arctic journeys. Imagine a sunny street that never sets, even in winter, like summer just won’t leave us.
Svalbard, Norway
In the far north, where the sun never sets, Svalbard is Norway‘s, but it is also ice. Sunlight does not set until almost September, and never sets in April; it just loops around. In the top-town of Earth, Days endlessly stretch, and Night glides away in the Glow of Light. The night is no more night, for the night shall be no longer. Unseen and nearby, glaciers crawl through valleys as polar bears pad across snowfields. Old mines roam the tundra, following in the footsteps of winter’s dreams. Here, shadows no longer move, and white terrain sucks the constant sun.
Reykjavik, Iceland
Reykjavik is just below the Arctic Circle, and in the summer, there are long days. The darkness is virtually absent around May-July, replaced only by soft twilight. Golden light remains beyond the hour of midnight, softly illuminating rooftops, hot springs, and lava beds with a peaceful glow. Menacing paint colours are used on houses, and steamy water spots are visible, and nature vibrates beyond the urban boundaries. These are long hours filled with music outdoors, after-dinner walks, and gatherings when most places sleep. A city in the North that never lets her eyelids fall.
Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
The Big Alaskan town of Fairbanks has light in the middle of the night. In the summer, it is not dark for a few hours, but in summer, sometimes seventy hours above the treetops. One dip short of the edge of the world, then a return of three degrees to the warmth of the sky. It’s golden, it’s not quite day, it’s not quite night, it’s a river of spruce and stone. There are water boats that skim along at slow speed, and shadows stretch sideways at clock times designed for sleep. Later, when the cold returns again, green ribbons again float up overhead, silent and far away. This latitude sings a song that is never ending, sun and dark, one and then the other. No need to hurry, here the land has its tempo.
Nuuk, Greenland
But, in those weeks around the summer solstice, when Nuuk sits on the edge of Greenland‘s southwest, the sun hangs above the blue sky without ceasing. Bleeds are day and night and happen in the open sky from early June to the end of July. Ruddy waters frosted in steep valleys, casting slowly shifting views in unblinking light. The people go down the trails, and the whales quietly move off to the sea, their breath and ripple are all they indicate. Festivals swell with hours and hours, and there are voices, drums and music that bleed over midnight. Here toward the north, the night vanishes, replaced by a light that diffuses stone, snow, sea. A location developed at the top of the globe, where sunshine falls upon all those it reaches.
Murmansk, Russia
Murmansk holds on to the Kola Peninsula beyond the top of Europe. Its summers are 40 or 50 consecutive nights of no darkness. Old concrete buildings in the built-up area are covered with golden light that falls over docks, slopes and those built when the USSR was still in place. This port is the gateway to exploration in the poles. A land where the sun never sets, where life goes on and on.
Rovaniemi, Finland
This is where the light of the midnight hour remains, spreading the softly golden hue for Rovaniemi beyond the time of evening’s descent. Right on the Arctic Circle, this capital of Lapland has a slow, glowing rhythm that breathes summer. The nights are hazy, and there is no darkness, one day and another. June turns to July without a further delay, sun shining down at the edge of the world every evening. Though it attracts visitors all year round, the summertime offers something different: wild rivers, open trails, quiet forests under a constant glow. Where reindeer graze by cabins, and kayakers glide down by the dim light of the dawn. Though the ground be warming, and the green leaf abounding, Christmas is still in the air.
These Are Places That Are Different
Here, in ten distant places, the night never ends, Midnight still bright. Understaring the sun beats into the steep cliffs of Norway, instead of the dark of night. Alaska, unfurled, frozen, in golden hours as long as pulled taffy. Greenland is silent under longer-than-expected nights. Everyone is influenced by the tilt of our planet, towards the light, in slow motion. When it’s time for bed, hikers stroll by open skies. The sun just brushes the edge of the world, then climbs back up again, no hurry to leave. One doesn’t need to stay awake, but it feels different now. Every night, darkness falls and time vanishes. There is a magic there, but not a magic that is fantasy-related; this is magic that is real, but Earth is turning just right.
