Hammerfest likes to call itself the northernmost town in the world, although to do so it must rely on definitions that exclude some rather substantial settlements. More legitimate claims to fame include that of being the Polar Bear city (although none have ever lived on the island on which it is located) and as the home of an obelisk marking a primary measurement point for the Struve Geodetic Arc (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Huh? From 1816 though 1855, the Russian astronomer Struve supervised a triangulation project northwards through Europe from Ismail on the Black Sea all the way to Hammerfest to prove that Newton was right and that the Earth isn’t perfectly spherical, but is flattened a bit at the poles. So, this was the end of the road.
Hammerfest, suffering the same fate as Kirkennes, has only one building that survived WWII. It also boasts a church designed to look like cod drying racks. Oil and gas are tremendously important, with tax revenue pulling in US$20 million for a town of 10,000 inhabitants. All of the oil and gas is exported. Norwegians rely on hydropower and wind.
All along the coast you can see scatterings of houses that have only one way in or out.
Acquaculture, primarily salmon farming, is another important industry.
But, tourism due to scenery like this also helps keep the lights on through those long winter nights. This was a stretch of water we motored through at night on the way north. It was nice to see it at dusk.