A glimpse of the city of Longyearbyen in Norway/visitsvalbard
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Get to know Longyearbyen.
The capital city of the Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, and lies on the island of Spitsbergen, which is in the Arctic Ocean, about halfway from Norway to the North Pole.
The city's population is just over 2,000, and it is considered the northernmost permanent settlement in the world (more than 1,300 km north of the Arctic Circle).
This bizarre city has belonged to Norway since 1925 and has more polar bears than people, a thriving community of Reindeer and countless very strange laws. For example, you can enter it freely without the need for a visa, but if you decide to do that you will have to stay away from cats that are not allowed to be kept as pets and you will have to carry a gun. Oh, and you really better not die or give birth there. Why? That's the law Cecilia
Blumdahl, one of the local residents, said: "This is a beautiful place, but also scary and dangerous.
Not only the nature makes this place amazing, but also the people.
In general, no one was born in Svalbard and that means that everyone who lives there, did so by choice and this creates a community of people with a passion for the place they live."
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The islanders have adopted some interesting laws to protect their wildlife - which includes a variety of birds, from puffins to the Arctic tern - and themselves.
The ban on cats has been in place since the 1990s, when Norwegian authorities deemed cats too susceptible to rabies and intestinal worms and believed they posed too much of a risk to humans.
In another attempt to protect the human population - humans are not allowed to die and be buried on the island.
Terminally ill people are being flown off the island to live out the rest of their days elsewhere after it was discovered that bodies of patients buried during the 1918 flu epidemic had not yet decomposed and the ice they were buried in still contained live strains of flu.
The Norwegian government ruled in 1950 that it was against the law to die and be buried within the city limits and the cemetery on the island stopped accepting new bodies.
Anyone who dies suddenly is quickly flown away to be buried elsewhere.
Not only is it forbidden to die there, but also to be born: weeks before a pregnant woman's due date, she is legally obliged to travel to the continent to give birth there.
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Another law states that islanders must always carry a gun.
This legislation was put in place to ensure that anyone traveling outside the main settlement could protect themselves from possible polar bear attacks.
There are about 3,000 polar bears on the island, compared to about 2,500 people - and despite the law (or because of it?) there have only been five cases of polar bears attacking people in recent decades.
The residents are prohibited from using weapons inside the settlement, and in many of the public places on the island there are signs that clearly state: "It is forbidden to use firearms."
And that's not all.
On February 9, the Norwegian government announced that it would tighten the already strict laws and Andras Bjerland Eriksen, the Minister of the Environment clarified: "We are now tightening the environmental regulations in Svalbard to strengthen the protection of flora and fauna."
The new laws prohibit the use of unmanned drones and snowmobiles on the sea ice, and state that marine motorized traffic must be at least 150 meters away from the sea lions.
One of the local residents, Blumdal, told the British Sun: "Living in Svalbard is not the easiest task out there, but it is very rewarding."
More on the same topic:
Norway
glaciers
The Arctic Ocean