Compare and Contrast

Svalbard or Spitsbergen was featured here yesterday. Visitors to the blog were invited to consider the Expeditionary Voyage taking place there next July. Today is the shortest day of the year and the name of the administrative centre of Svalbard is at the other extreme, Longyearbyen. It developed as a company town and some of its houses (above) were given corporate, bright colours. Tobermory has a similar corporate background and, coincidentally, the island of Mull has an identical population to that of Svalbard, at 2667. However, the former has a land mass of 338 square miles contrasting with the latter's 23,561. Some difference of population density.

Scottish Islands Explorer - relishes places to compare and contrast
Digital Edition: available on the shortest and longest of days and nights