THE CRUISE - Bergen to Oslo...at sea

Day Twelve - Wednesday, 29th June

Today is another at sea day, and also another Black Tie night, so we are not sure where we will dine tonight. Can't go to the formal dining at 6.30, and other areas are also "restricted". The meal arrangements and the dress codes are too rigid in the areas they are applied to, and if you don't conform, then that only leaves you places like the Buffet, which can be limited in choice, depending on the theme for the night, or the Trattoria, but that has become very popular.

As we've said before, the cruise companies (at least P & O), are trying to replicate or recapture the eras in the early 20th C , when cruising was in its heyday, at least for the rich, and everyone dressed for dinner.

We saw quite a few couples who should not have bothered, and some seemed to be trying too hard, and fit in to evening clothes they perhaps wore a few years ago, (when they were slimmer!)

The other problem with the early dinner session, is that you have to go to the restaurant when you really want to be outside somewhere watching the scenery as you leave. 

Then again, the 8.30 sitting means that you don't get to finish eating until 10.00pm, and that's not good for anyone, (unless of course you are going to be up for hours). The thing that bugged me (G), is that we are excluded from the places they designate as "adhering to the ambience of the evening", (e.g. Formal clothes), yet those people who do dress up are allowed to wander around wherever they like.
Why would you get all togged up and still go to the buffet????

Thankfully the ship's doctor said Gordon could still have a drink, (wasn't he nice), and so having watched as much as we could sailing away from Bergen, we decided to try the food in the Glass House.
It was very pleasant and I had nice meal of steak with green pepper sauce, and Lee had Lamb and Rosemary sausage. 

Not much else to do except catch up with some email and this blog, and have an early night.
Tomorrow we get to Oslo.

THE CRUISE - Bergen

Day Eleven - Tuesday, 28th June

There were some quite spectacular bridges coming up the fjord into Bergen, and one of them we "missed" by only a few metres. The Captain had said that it all depends on the tides of course, and the height of the vessel, and so we just scraped through.

Bergen is quite large compared to Alesund, and a one time was the capital of Norway. It is built on a peninsular on what was probably moraine from glaciers, with bridges connecting the various suburbs.

Some of it dates back to the medieval period, and the Cathedral to around the 12th C. It was one of the ports of the Hanseatic League in the 1500/1600's, and the lovely old buildings in the oldest part of the town are where the merchants were based. The buildings attract lots of tourists and are special, in that they are so old and represent days gone by. However some have been rebuilt exactly as they were, after disastrous fires. There are many small alleyways, remeniscent of Diagon Alley (Harry Potter), and most of the buildings are now shops.

We came into Bergen on the shuttle bus, which used some tunnels which seem to be for the sole use of buses, as we saw no other vehicles in them, and it gets you right into the heart of the city in quick time. The rain had set in and so we found some Norwegian style rain hats, (like fishermen's hats), and they were much better than the hoods on our rain jackets.

Found a shopping mall for coffee and they do good coffee in Norway. They don't seem to do Flat White and so we've been asking for Cappuccino's, but they don't do chocolate on the top, so it ends up more like what we want anyway!

Again the tourist shops are geared up for lots of tacky stuff, but Lee found some nice X-stitch with Norwegian themes, and we got a small souvenir of the old wooden buildings.

Gordon had developed what was becoming an abscessed tooth, and was on antibiotics, and painkillers, and so having had enough, we headed back to the ship for lunch.

Tonight is another "Straight jacket night" and the theme in the buffet is Best of British, and we've had more than enough of that in the weeks we've been away! So, we opted for dinner in our room, and had some very nice Spaghetti bolognese, which was a good choice from a limited menu.

We watched the scenery from our room as we sailed away, but the fog came down and there wasn't much to see until a lot later

THE CRUISE - Olden

Day Ten - Monday, 27th June

Today we will be in Olden, which is another town in a fjord, but this fjord is nearly sixty miles long. We think we werte supposed to enter the fjord about 3.00am, and of course were asleep. The pilot had boarded at Alesund and will stay with us for a couple of days, and so obviously is needed to get in and out of these places.

Lee was up at about 6.30am and said it was just beautiful, with snow-capped mountains and streaks of snow and ice. Also some waterfalls coming down the mountains and settlements down near the water level, and later, patchwork of cultivated fields.

The morning was overcast coming into Olden, but very still, and it is an absolutely beautiful place. The cruise line wasn't running any shuttles as we were within walking distance to the town centre, which itself wasn't very big, but quite flat at this level. Everything else, (as you can see), is UP!. 

We did notice some of those little sight-seeing trains standing near the wharf, and after breakfast we went ashore and talked to the man standing near one of them. He said his tour would go through the town and around a small lake and back to the town, where we could hop off and have a look around. It took a little while to fill all the seats, because there was no information supplied by the ship and we all had to work out for ourselves that these tours were local and available. After all the seats were filled, we set off, and they did a very helpful commentary in English, that gave us some of the history of the area.  

Tales of the farmer's wife who had to trek up into the hills and tend the herd, and milk the cattle, and so there were little houses dotted all up the slopes.

We also saw a 400 year old  stone bridge, which was the only connection between the two sides of the river. It has since been replaced but is still standing. The torrent of water through here was tremendous, and so strong and loud, and this was Spring, so you could imagine what it might be like in heavy rain periods! 

We stopped by the lake and there were trout (?) jumping, and then on to another spot by the raging river, where we all took photos, and then Lee and I got off in town near the lovely white wooden church. Really quite interesting if for no other reason in that on only one side of the church, some of the pews had what looked like antlers sticking up from them. I think they might have been used as hat/coat racks, but can't be sure.

Stopped in town for coffee and a browse through some tourist shops and actually found some nice things, but so much other stuff seems to be centered on Trolls and Elks/Moose and is a bit tacky. We got a really nice runner for the coffee table in a Scandinavian design. 

Then a walk across to another side of the fjord, where you can look back on the town and the ship. There were many passengers walking back, and all those we spoke to or heard from, said the local tour was just wonderful, and how much they had enjoyed it. 
Take note P & O!!!!

Having had a very pleasant day in Olden, it had started to rain as we left the town, but we found a spot on the Planet Deck (?), and had a good view of the different side of the fjord as we left.
Later we found a spot on the Terrace Bar, which is across from the Trattoria, and had equally lovely outlook as we progressed down and out of the fjord.

As you leave, and depending on the tide, the ship has to pass under several sets of power cables crossing the fjord, and these are marked at their lowest point with coloured (orange) balls shaped things, and even tho the captain knows what he is doing, (aided by the pilot), it seems quite scary as you pass under them! The captain had said that about five years ago, another ship's captain had actually hit them and blacked out half of Norway, and was hit with a hefty fine.

One of Gordon's favourite photos.

 
We will leave you with more photos of this beautiful area of Norway...

Nearing the End...

Just a short post to say we have been delayed in the postings due to re-arranging our office set-up here at home.

Now that we are back and not anticipating any big holidays for some time, we have started doing the things we promised we'd do when we got back! That is, all the things that have been put off for the last two years, for various reasons.

So, for those of you who might read this, stay tuned, we are nearing the end!!!

THE CRUISE - Alesund

Day Nine - Sunday, 26th June

Alesund is beautiful! We have the whole day here, and we saw the pilot come on board around 7.45am. The scenery from our balcony was superb, with the fjords and the backdrop of the mountains, with patches of snow, and what seemed to be glaciers.

Even before entering the fjord, the water was calm, but once inside it was like a mirror. There are islands near the entrance, and across to the south we could see a couple of long bridges, but they were a long way from Alesund.

(I wanted to try and put in a lot of photos from here on, and maybe do a link to them, rather than have them all here. However I haven't been able to work out how to do it yet, so the few that appear here will hopefully suffice and show just how pretty and different these Norwegian towns are.)

 It took a while to dock, but all was in place and we could go ashore about 9.00am. Trouble was, it was Sunday, and they don't seem to do much on Sunday, at least until after lunchtime, and we were hard pressed to even get a cup of coffee. 

Most of the buildings date from around 1904-06, and were built after a disastrous fire in 1904 which destroyed 500 houses. The rebuilding was done relatively quickly, with support from other parts fof Norway and even Germany and other areas. The style is mostly Art Nouveau, and we went to the Art Nouveau Museum and they had a coffee bar!! The building itself was originally an apothecary (pharmacy), and they had kept all the fittings from the shop  like the counters and the drawers which had held the compounds etc.
There was also a "Time machine" which is actually a presentation showing the fire and the devastation of the town. It was so well done, and fascinating to see how people coped after such an horrific event. Other exhibits upstairs were a vast collection of early postcards, along with some beautiful examples of glass and ceramics. In another section were the architectural drawings and plans, and examples of the crafts used to rebuild the city.

The city is built around a couple of waterways, and many flats and units look out over the water. It is fairly high-density, but so well done and so attractive. The photo below shows just how big the ship was, in comparison to the buildings

The ship is in the centre background!!

When I went back into town later, to get a poster we'd seen of Alesund Doors, there did appear to be some restaurants open, so I suppose they come alive after lunch. I also checked out a gallery whose windows we looked into, with the most beautiful paintings, but it was still closed. I would have bought something there, if there was a way to get it back home safely!

The sailaway was a singalong (!), and so we watched the ship leaving from the promenade deck, and then to our allocated restaurant, to make an appearance. They must have thought we were never coming back to the table, but this organised style of eating is OK, the meals are nice and the servings are of a good size, but not our style of things. I guess we are "loners" in that sense, and prefer to do our own thing most times. After dinner we went back up to one of the top decks and watched some more scenery as we left Alesund.

THE CRUISE - Akureryi (Iceland) to Alesund (Norway)

Day Eight - Saturday, 25th June

Another quite cold day, and we are at sea all day on the way to Alesund. The sea was incredibly calm as there was very little wind, and we were sailing across the Norwegian Sea, which is part of the North Atlantic, and having expected to get some rougher seas in this area, it was almost as still as one of the Scottish lochs!

There were reports of people having seen whales yesterday and today, but we didn't see any. That would have been special.

We tried the lunch on offer in the Glass House, for a change, and there is a surcharge, in that you pay a small amount and choose from a list of six things. We had some hummus and bread, and salmon fishcakes and also some huge tempura prawns. All very nice and a just enough for lunch.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the sea, and later our usual drinks in the Glass House with our favourite waiter, Mukesh. He and many others are from Mumbai in India, and they are often away for many months, and so he was looking forward to the end of this contract. He is such a lively and friendly character, and very good at his job, but also willing to chat and find out about his passengers.
(How about that smile!)

The theme in the buffet is Italian tonight, but we tried for the Trattoria again and got in before the crowd, but this wasn't going to happen again, as word had got out and there would be vast queues every night from now on! We both had some really nice calamari, and then had chicken (G) and lasagne (L)

THE CRUISE - Akureryi (Iceland)

Day Seven - Friday, 24th June

Today we are due to get to Akureryi about noon, and only have half the day there. Lee woke up at 4.00am, and saw that we were sailing quite close to shore and there were rugged cliffs of snow and ice, and spectacular scenery including one rock mass that was almost a perfect pyramid.

As we sailed down the fjord, there was more scenery with cliffs, mountains and snow and ice. The most spectacular scenery is actually at the entrance, and as you get further in there are settlements and villages and areas under cultivation, and we thought the areas in here might be a little more sheltered and lend themselves to 'farming'.

At the end of the fjord, there is actually a small airport, with a causeway across from town to other areas. Lee thought she'd heard that the Azura was the largest ship to have visited Iceland, and it did take a while to dock. It was moored starboard side in, and because it was later in the day, we could actually watch the docking procedure.

The ship was just about "in" the town, and so we didn't need shuttle buses, just those for the people going touring. It is a small town, and with Reykjavik being only 180,000 people, and the rest of Iceland about the same, this town was small by comparison. Fairly cool at about 8 deg, and threatening rain, so we walked into town and had a look around and found some shops which had some interesting things, but particular T-shirts with rune alphabets on them, we thought Jeremy would like, but they didn't have the correct size. Got a couple of other small things with the Euros we had left.

Akureryi also has a very striking church, in a similar style to the one in Reykjavik, but not so grand, and with a long stairway leading up to it so we just took photos.

Again, ,many of the buildings are coloured and some seemed to be clad in corrugated iron, which seems a little thin for the climate, but maybe they have special insulation? However the overall effect of the building colours, roofs and styles is quite pleasing. 


Not really wanting to have lunch ashore we headed back to the ship for a quiet lunch and then a nap.
Tonight's sailaway is at 6.30pm, and there were still passengers coming back from tours at 6.00, and because we weren't going to the set meal time, we lined up again at the Trattoria, and were third in line and so got a very nice table for two at the window, and enjoyed a very pleasant dinner, watching the other side of the fjord pass by on our way out towards Norway.