It is only by day that you arrive in Murmansk in summer. Always by day, never by night! The polar day, never by night! The polar day knows no sunset. "Murmansk", some say ironically "oh, that's some place indeed. Winter all the year round - and what's left is summer, sure enough." And yet Murmansk does have a summer. It is, of course, very unusual and you'll never see anything like it somewhere at Moscow or Orel. No oppressive heat, no thick foliage, no singing birds. Only doves cooing on the eaves of the many-storeyed houses and timid sea-gulls squeaking over the bay.

Nevertheless, it is well worth the while to visit Murmansk and ramble through its streets late in July or early in August, even if for the sake of feeling the fantastic charm of the polar day, when the tireless sun shines all night long leaving one wondering about the time, and when noisy and indefatigable boys play football late into the night, forgetting all about bedtime. Murmansk in the evening is a beautiful sight when the glittering disk of the sun seems to rest on the very tops of the hills, which are called "sopkas" here. A thin haze blurs the outlines of the houses, the brine-soaked moorajes, and ships of every size riding at anchor in the Kola Bay. The town seems to be painted in water colours.