This was my first time experiencing the polar night and, to be fair, I had always imagined the winter at northern latitudes to consist of never-ending darkness, as if it was constant night-time. I found out that, although the sun doesn't rise above the horizon for a few weeks (for Murmansk it's around 40 days each year), there is still some, although very limited, daylight to do some activities.

The astronomical twilight starts at 7 AM, but the sky is still indistinguishable from what we think of the proper "night". Nautical twilight, when the sky slightly lightens up on the horizon, starts at around 9 AM, and by 11 AM the civil twilight has started and the light stays around the same until 2 in the afternoon, when it starts getting darker and it becomes night again over an hour. It was cool to see the Polar Night first-hand!

My dream was fulfilled! I finally set foot in Murmansk, a place I had been dreaming of visiting since I was -4 years (minus four). At 2° above the Arctic Circle, it is the largest city you can find at these latitudes. And despite its remote location, it is actually very well connected with the rest of Europe via major highways and railways. In order to minimize health risks, I took the decision of flying directly from Moscow: the flight fare was around £100.

And by the way, the region of Murmansk is the 14th Russian Federal Subject I've been to in my life. As you know, I'm planning to visit every federal subject of Russia.

Here's where I stand as of now:

Moscow ✔️
Moscow Oblast' ✔️
Saint Petersburg ✔️
Leningradskaya Oblast' ✔️
Vladimirskaya Oblast' ✔️
Yaroslavskaya Oblast' ✔️
Ivanovskaya Oblast' ✔️
Krasnodarskij Kraj ✔️
Tulskaya Oblast' ✔️
Tatarstan Republic ✔️
Tverskaya Oblast' ✔️
Nizhegorodskaya Oblast' ✔️
Kaluzhskaya Oblast' ✔️
Murmanskaya Oblast' ✔️

Which means I'm at 14/85. Still 71 to go! Hopefully a lifetime will be enough ⚠️

Norway and Finland are much closer to Murmansk than any other large city in Russia (200 km vs 900 km). Why did people move so far north? Why did people colonize a region which is so cold and sees no daylight during winter? Mainly for its natural resources: the three major industries are mining, energy, and transportation. There are a few large deposits of nickel, iron and other minerals. In the whole region there are entire towns built
around extraction and processing plants.

Still, Murmansk is one of the fastest shrinking cities in Russia! Its population was around half a million people at the times of the Soviet Union, and according to the 2010 census less than 300,000 people still lived there.

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