During my time visiting

Svalbard

I lost 4 lbs (2 kilograms). Moreover, it happened easily and without me noticing! We didn't starve - on the contrary, we ate a lot of good food. However, we were always going somewhere, and, as a rule, we usually went uphill.  The ascents were easy, both girls and teens from our company easily overcame them. Altogether this trip, for me, was ideal in terms of a balance between physical activity and comfort. And above all - we were not in a rush. Outside was a polar day, and the most popular joke was: "Do not hurry - you have time before dark".
A few words about the fauna of Spitsbergen. Archipelago has seven national parks and many animals can be found right in town - deer, belugas, and polar foxes. Svalbard's hallmark are aggressive terns, that defend their territory by nose-diving on passersby. It's harder to see polar bears and walruses: in the summer they stay in the northern part of the archipelago, and in the winter they migrate to the south. However, we got lucky...

It was our last day in 

Barentsburg

. That morning, we took a walk through the neighborhood:

We climbed the mountains and left the Russian town behind us:


This was our group - a guide and three girls:

At the highest point there are antennas and transmitters for communication with the mainland:

This is a good place to launch the copter:

On the other side of the fjord you can see white "blankets" of glaciers. Bryde's Creek is situated right there:

This is a view of Barentsburg:

And this is the center of the town. Two colorful houses in the foreground are residential. There is also a sports complex, hospital, etc.:

Our girls were admiring the view of the fjord, while we were doing push-ups:

When we were leaving, a cute walrus climbed out on shore and began to pose for the camera:

It was not afraid of people at all, rather we were scared of this enormous animal so we did not get too close: 

When he got tired from turning his head, the walrus laid down and we went to board the boat:

We headed for 

Longyearbyen

:

Just look at these incredibly beautiful clouds. Slowly, like a dense mass, they fell through the ridge and spread out over the slopes:

And we met several birds along the way. Gulls constantly accompanied us on the water and circled near the boat:

And we saw puffins:

There are many varieties of puffins but they all have black and white plumage, large beaks and short wings that are adapted for swimming. By the way, these birds have a very fast wing-beat frequency - about 400 per minute:

We also saw seals over the side of the boat:

The farewell look at Barentsburg. In the next article we will go to the abandoned village of Pyramiden.