The Arctic is an icy world surrounding the North Pole and a strange and wonderful world of ice, snow, land and water.

To experience this region we travel by ship. Soon everyone is on board and our adventure can begin.

The route leads north along the coast which is separated by deep fjords. We arrive at Kongsfjorden, our first Spitsbergen destination with the 14th July Glacier cloaked in fog. To the rear, steep scree slopes and sheer rock walls and, in front, a glacier breaks off into the Arctic Ocean.

At Ny Ålesund we reach the northernmost permanent settlement in the world. Coal mining was the basis of the settlement and many people came to this desolate place. Later, the extraction of coal became unprofitable and it was virtually abandoned.

A harp seal flees from its ice floe in the Arctic Sea and soon a group of hungry polar bears hunt it down. Polar bears have sensitive hearing and an excellent sense of smell and are able to scent seals up to a kilometre away. They can also track prey beneath a one metre thick sheet of snow and ice.

One glacial valley after another opens up into the passage between Spitsbergen and Edgeøya. The captain navigates the ship between large ice floes that gradually become icebergs.

The icy world of the Arctic is a habitat for rare wildlife, bizarre landscapes and great explorers. A realm of freezing cold, the largest wilderness on Earth, and one of its last natural paradises!